A New Supreme Court Nominee
President Bush today nominate 3rd Circuit Appeals Court Judge Samuel Alito for the U.S. Supreme Court. Alito, a former U.S. attorney who has been a judge for 15 years, is considered a favorite of the conservative movement and is Bush’s third pick for retiring Justice Sandra Day O’Connor’s seat. Bush is expected to announce the nomination at 8 a.m.on October 31.
Immigration profs may remember that Judge Alitoi wrote the Fatin v. INS, 12 F.3d 1233 (3d Cir. 1993) decision for the Third Circuit. This was one of the Iranian “veil” cases. The decision denied the petitioner relief but left an avenue open for possible relief. The CNN website is portraying the positive part of the Fatin decision.
ALITO HOSTILE TOWARD IMMIGRANTS: In two cases involving the deportation of immigrants, the majority twice noted Alito’s disregard of settled law. In Dia v. Ashcroft, the majority opinion states that Alito’s dissent “guts the statutory standard” and “ignores our precedent.” In Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, the majority stated Alito’s opinion contradicted “well-recognized rules of statutory construction.” [Dia v. Ashcroft, 2003; Ki Se Lee v. Ashcroft, 2004]
Theodore Cox wrote to the immprof listserve that “anyone doubt that alito will hammer us in immigration decisions, please read attached decision. He was extremely dismissive in oral argument. he ruled that even though chinese alien had established persecution based on forced abortion of girlfriend, asylum denied, since otherwise `problematic factual inquiries’ could arise.” See Chen v. Aschcroft (3d Cir. 2004).
for a link to Judge Alito’s immigration decisions, see http://www.ilw.com/search/results.asp?Fuzziness=4&Stemming=Yes&NaturalLanguage=No&sort=Date&MaxFiles=25&request=alito&index=%5C%5Cilw%5Cwwwroot%5CdtSearch%5CCases
HAPPY HALLOWEEN!
KJ