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2012 a process called Tuaua v. United States started as a complaint file in the U.S. District Court of Columbia. The Samoan-born Lele Tualua stood up along with four other American Samoans and the Samoan Federation of America to fight for birthright citizenship. In 2013, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia heard the case.

All of the five plaintiffs are connected by the fact that they were somehow harmed by the second-class status of their passport.

The US, as defendants, argued that the citizenship clause of the 14th Fourteenth Amendment „All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the state wherein they reside“ does not apply to the territory.

It is undeniable that American Samoa is “subject to the jurisdiction of the United States,” but the case’s key question was if this was enough to gain citizenship for American Samoa.