By Lawrence Hurley
WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The Supreme Court said on Thursday it will decide whether U.S. citizens have the right to object if the government denies their spouse a visa, taking up a case involving a naturalized American citizen from Afghanistan whose Afghan husband was barred.
The case concerns Fauzia Din, who sued the government when her husband, Afghan citizen Kanishka Berashk, was denied a visa in 2009 on the grounds that he had worked as a payroll clerk for the Afghanistan government when it was controlled by the Taliban, an Islamist militant organization.
The U.S. government cited a law that allows consular officials wide discretion to deny visas to those linked with "terrorist activities."
Din sued, seeking review of the decision, but a judge in California dismissed her claim in June 2010. The San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals revived the case in a May 2013 ruling in favor of Din, saying the government had not given a legitimate reason for denying the visa.
Berashk, who married Din in 2006, had worked for the Afghanistan ministry of social welfare from 1992 to 2003. The Taliban controlled the country from 1996 to 2001.
Din, who is originally from Afghanistan, sought asylum in the United States in 2000 after fleeing the Taliban in 1996, according to her lawyers.
A ruling is expected by June.
The case is Kerry v. Din, U.S. Supreme Court, No. 13-1402.