WASHINGTON (Reuters) - The U.S. Supreme Court on Thursday ruled in favor of an ethnic Serb woman who was stripped of U.S. citizenship when she lied about her husband's military service after Yugoslavia's collapse.

The justices sided with Divna Maslenjak, who had her citizenship revoked and was deported to Serbia after being convicted of breaking immigration law by falsely stating her husband had not served in the Bosnian Serb army in the 1990s.

The justices threw out a lower court ruling in favor of the government and sent the matter back to that court for further consideration.

When the case returns to the Cincinnati-based 6th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the court could still find that her conviction was valid because her statements were material to her bid to gain entry.

(Reporting by Lawrence Hurley; Editing by Will Dunham)