On April 2, 2026, the day after the U.S. Supreme Court took up the meaning of the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment in Trump v. Barbara, a criminal defendant in Alaska is relying on the Citizenship Clause to defend against allegations he “falsely” claimed to be a “U.S. citizen” on state forms.
Michael Pese was born in American Samoa. Yet federal statutes and administrative policies label him a “national, but not a citizen of the United States.” Based on these laws, state prosecutors are pursuing multiple felony charges against Pese and other American Samoan residents of Whittier, Alaska, who had followed the guidance of local officials to check that they were “U.S. citizens” in the absence of any box for “U.S. nationals.” If convicted, each face up to 5-10 years in jail.
Pese filed a motion to dismiss all charges on the grounds that he is a U.S. citizen based on the Citizenship Clause of the Fourteenth Amendment.
“The state’s criminal targeting of my family simply because we were born in American Samoa is extremely painful. Last week I had to bury my mother, who the state continues to prosecute even after her death. As cancer weakened her body, she was forced to worry about whether her kids might go to jail and what would happen to her grandchildren if they did,” said Michael Pese. Last year Alaska charged Pese, his mother Miliama Suli, and several siblings with felony perjury and voter misconduct. “We have gone from feeling like valued members of the community to feeling like unwanted criminals. This is not just wrong, it’s unconstitutional.”
Neil Weare, Co-Director of Right to Democracy, who represents Michael Pese and his wife, Tupe Smith, who the state is also prosecuting said, “The Constitution is clear. If you are born under the sovereignty and jurisdiction of the United States, as Michael Pese was, you have a right to citizenship, full stop. No president, congress, or state official has the power to change that,” said “The text and history of the Citizenship Clause demonstrate it applies in States and Territories alike. As a result, all charges filed against Michael Pese must fail – he is a U.S. citizen.”
“So long as the people of American Samoa continue to choose to be under the U.S. flag – as they have for the last 125 years – the Constitution gives people born in American Samoa the right to U.S. citizenship,” said American Samoan attorney Charles Ala’ilima, who also represents Pese and Smith.
“Federal officials imposed the status of ‘non-citizen’ U.S. national on American Samoans in the 1920s over the unanimous objections of their leaders at that time. This denial of citizenship was as unconstitutional then as it remains today.”
