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American Samoa is the only unincorporated territory of the United States where the inhabitants are not American citizens at birth. This means American Samoans are denied the right to vote, run for elective federal or state office outside American Samoa. In the case Fitisemanu v. the United States, three American Samoan Utah residents sued to be recognized as citizens. A Utah judge says it was unconstitutional for the US to deny birthright citizenship to American Samoans under the 14th Amendment and sided with Fitisemanu. It was eventually overturned by an appellate court in Denver.
A major reason from the appeals court is to not force citizenship onto American Samoans. American Samoa government leaders and others opposed the lawsuit because they are concerned that automatic citizenship could disrupt cultural traditions, such as communal land ownership and social structures organized around large, extended families led by matai, those with hereditary chieftain titles.
Drawing on the views of the American Samoa people is one of the more gratifying aspects of the ruling, said Michael Williams, an attorney representing the American Samoa government, which intervened to oppose the lawsuit.
“It is also vindication for the principle that the people of American Samoa should determine their own status in accordance with Samoan culture and traditions,” he said.
American Samoans can attain US Citizenship. They would have to apply for it.