A list of landmark Supreme Court cases related to racial discrimination usually begins with Dred Scott v. Sandford (1857), passes through the “separate but equal” finding of Plessy v. Ferguson (1896), and ends triumphantly with Brown v. Board of Education (1954). A longer list might include Yick Wo v. Hopkins (1886), Korematsu v. United States (1944), and Loving v. Virginia (1967). The impressive book under review helps make the case for why United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) should be among these decisions of first-order historical significance.
The case is duly celebrated as a major legal victory for Asian Americans. At a time when Chinese laborers were barred from entry to the United States and Chinese residents were denied naturalization rights, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that Chinese born in the United States were entitled to birthright citizenship under the Fourteenth Amendment. Drawing upon past studies that situate Wong...