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 | | The Court of Appeals affirmed, holding that petitioner had standing to sue, but concluding that the §1409 require ments imposed on a child like her, but not on the foreign-born, out-ofwedlock child of an American mother, were justified by governmental interests in fostering the child's ties with this country and with her citizen parent. |
 | | Section 1409 draws a distinction based on the gender of the parent, not the child, and any claim of discrimination based on differential treatment of illegitimate versus legitimate children is not presented in the question on which certiorari was granted. |
 | | Section 1409 also serves two other important purposes that are unrelated to the determination of paternity: the interest in encouraging the development of a healthy relationship between the citizen parent and the child while the child is a minor; and the related interest in fostering ties between the foreign-born child and the United States. |
| caselaw.findlaw.com /scripts/getcase.pl?court=US&vol=000&invol=96-1060 (15675 words) |