Girouard v. United States
E362105
U.S. Supreme Court case
conscientious objector case
immigration law case
legal case
naturalization case
Girouard v. United States is a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held religious pacifists could become naturalized citizens without being willing to bear arms in defense of the country.
All labels observed (1)
| Label | Occurrences |
|---|---|
| Girouard v. United States canonical | 1 |
How this entity was disambiguated
This entity first appeared as the object of triple T3488662 — resolving that mention is where its identity was fixed. The disambiguator weighed these candidate entities and picked the highlighted one (or “None”, minting a new entity). This is how homonymy is resolved: the same surface form can point to different entities.
NED1
Entity disambiguation (via context triple)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Girouard v. United States Context triple: [United States Supreme Court cases of the Stone Court, includesCase, Girouard v. United States]
-
A.
Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
-
B.
Abrams v. United States
Abrams v. United States was a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of antiwar activists under federal law and is best known for Justice Holmes’s famous dissent articulating the “marketplace of ideas” concept in free speech jurisprudence.
-
C.
Gelbard v. United States
Gelbard v. United States is a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed whether grand jury witnesses could refuse to answer questions based on the government's alleged illegal use of wiretap evidence.
-
D.
United States v. Gratiot
United States v. Gratiot is an 1840 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld broad federal authority over public lands under the Constitution’s Property Clause.
-
E.
Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States is a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly narrowed the application of the Smith Act by distinguishing between the advocacy of abstract doctrine and the advocacy of concrete action to overthrow the government.
- F. None of above. chosen
- G. Unsure - the case is ambiguous/there is not enough information to decide.
NED2
Entity disambiguation (via description)
gpt-5-mini-2025-08-07
Target entity: Girouard v. United States Target entity description: Girouard v. United States is a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held religious pacifists could become naturalized citizens without being willing to bear arms in defense of the country.
-
A.
Reynolds v. United States
Reynolds v. United States is an 1879 U.S. Supreme Court case that established the distinction between protected religious belief and regulable religiously motivated conduct, holding that the Free Exercise Clause does not excuse individuals from compliance with otherwise valid criminal laws such as those banning polygamy.
-
B.
Abrams v. United States
Abrams v. United States was a 1919 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld the conviction of antiwar activists under federal law and is best known for Justice Holmes’s famous dissent articulating the “marketplace of ideas” concept in free speech jurisprudence.
-
C.
Gelbard v. United States
Gelbard v. United States is a 1972 U.S. Supreme Court case that addressed whether grand jury witnesses could refuse to answer questions based on the government's alleged illegal use of wiretap evidence.
-
D.
United States v. Gratiot
United States v. Gratiot is an 1840 U.S. Supreme Court case that upheld broad federal authority over public lands under the Constitution’s Property Clause.
-
E.
Yates v. United States
Yates v. United States is a 1957 U.S. Supreme Court decision that significantly narrowed the application of the Smith Act by distinguishing between the advocacy of abstract doctrine and the advocacy of concrete action to overthrow the government.
- F. None of above. chosen
Statements (44)
| Predicate | Object |
|---|---|
| instanceOf |
U.S. Supreme Court case
ⓘ
conscientious objector case ⓘ immigration law case ⓘ legal case ⓘ naturalization case ⓘ |
| areaOfLaw |
First Amendment to the United States Constitution
ⓘ
surface form:
First Amendment law
constitutional law ⓘ immigration law ⓘ |
| branchOfGovernment |
Judicial branch of the United States government
ⓘ
surface form:
judicial branch of the United States
|
| citationStatus | leading case on naturalization and conscientious objection ⓘ |
| constitutionalContext |
First Amendment free exercise of religion
ⓘ
interpretation of "attachment to the principles of the Constitution" in naturalization law ⓘ |
| country |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| court | Supreme Court of the United States ⓘ |
| decisionDate | 1946 ⓘ |
| effect |
Expanded eligibility for naturalization of religious pacifists
ⓘ
Overruled or limited earlier restrictive interpretations of the naturalization oath regarding bearing arms ⓘ |
| historicalSignificance |
Influenced later treatment of conscientious objectors in U.S. law
ⓘ
Marked a liberalization of U.S. naturalization standards for religious objectors to war ⓘ |
| holding |
Religious pacifists may be naturalized as U.S. citizens without agreeing to bear arms in defense of the United States
ⓘ
Willingness to bear arms is not an absolute prerequisite for naturalization if refusal is based on sincere religious belief ⓘ |
| involves |
military service obligations
ⓘ
oath of allegiance ⓘ |
| jurisdiction | federal jurisdiction of the United States ⓘ |
| languageOfProceeding | English ⓘ |
| legalIssue |
conscientious objection
ⓘ
interpretation of the naturalization oath ⓘ naturalization requirements ⓘ religious freedom ⓘ |
| partyRoleOfGirouard | naturalization applicant ⓘ |
| petitioner | Girouard ⓘ |
| principle |
Refusal to bear arms for religious reasons does not demonstrate lack of attachment to the United States
ⓘ
Sincere religious pacifism is compatible with attachment to the principles of the U.S. Constitution ⓘ |
| recognizedRight | accommodation of religious pacifism in naturalization process ⓘ |
| relatedConcept |
conscientious objector status
ⓘ
duty to bear arms ⓘ naturalization oath ⓘ religious pacifism ⓘ |
| respondent |
United States of America
ⓘ
surface form:
United States
|
| result | decision in favor of the petitioner ⓘ |
| subjectMatter |
eligibility for U.S. citizenship
ⓘ
religious objections to military service ⓘ |
| timePeriod | post–World War II era ⓘ |
| typeOfDecision | majority opinion decision ⓘ |
How these facts were elicited
The pipeline generated the facts above by prompting gpt-5.1 with this entity's name + description and the instruction below.
Instruction
You are a knowledge base construction expert. Given a subject entity and a description of it, return factual statements that you know for the subject as a JSON list of dictionaries(triples), where keys must be "subject", "predicate" and "object". The number of facts may be very high, between 25 to 50 or more, for very popular subjects. For less popular subjects, the number of facts can be very low, like 5 or 10. # Requirements - If you don't know the subject at all, return an empty list. - If the subject is not a named entity, return an empty list. - Include at least one triple where predicate is "instanceOf". - Do not get too wordy. - Separate several objects into multiple triples with one object.
Input
Subject: Girouard v. United States Description of subject: Girouard v. United States is a 1946 U.S. Supreme Court decision that held religious pacifists could become naturalized citizens without being willing to bear arms in defense of the country.
Referenced by (1)
Full triples — surface form annotated when it differs from this entity's canonical label.