S Ct Grants Cert in Three Immigration-Related Cases

Yesterday, the Supreme Court agreed to hear the following immigration-related cases:

Dada v. Keisler, 06-1181 Question presented: Whether filing of a motion to reopen automatically tolls the period during which a noncitizen must depart under a voluntary departure order.

United States v. Gonzales, 06-1646 Question Presented “Whether a state drug-trafficking offense, for which state law authorized a ten-year sentence because the defendant was a recidivist, qualifies as a predicate offense under the Armed Career Criminal Act.” Although this is a criminal case, the government’s certiorari petition identifies U.S. v. Corona-Sanchez, 291 F.3d 1201 (9th Cir. 2002) (en banc) as the source of the problem in the Ninth Circuit’s decision in Gonzales. In Corona-Sanchez, the Ninth Circuit held that a California petty theft with priors conviction was not an aggravated felony because the defendant’s maximum authorized sentence was six months, which was the sentence for petty theft, and did not include the enhancement for being a recidivist offender. If the Court agrees with the government it is hard to imagine how Corona-Sanchez could survive.

Ali v. Achim, 06-1346 The petiton challenges heightened AG waiver standard under which noncitizens convicted of violent or dangerous crimes would not be granted waiver of inadmissibility under INA § 209(c), except in extraordinary circumstances).

SCOTUS blog has links to cert petitions and other documents filed in the cases.

KJ