Honorary citizenship of the United States Honorary citizenship of the United States A person of exceptional merit, generally a non-United States citizen, may be declared an honorary citizen of the United States by an Act of Congress or by a proclamation issued by the President of the United States, pursuant to authorization granted by Congress. Eight people have been so honored, six posthumously, and two, Sir Winston Churchill and Mother Teresa, during their lifetimes. For Lafayette and Mother Teresa, the honor was proclaimed directly by an Act of Congress. In the other cases, an Act of Congress was passed authorizing the President to grant honorary citizenship
First Amendment to the United States Constitution claiming entitlement to military awards that a person did not in fact earn. In "United States v. Alvarez" (2012), the Supreme Court struck down the Act, ruling that the First Amendment bars the government from punishing people for making false claims regarding military service or honors where the false claim was not "made to effect a fraud or secure moneys or other valuable considerations." The decision was a 6–3 ruling, but the six justices in the majority could not agree on a single rationale for it. The Supreme Court has determined that the First Amendment also protects citizens from being