Immigration Cases in the Supreme Court: The 2021 Term
The 2021 Term of the Supreme Court begins next Monday. The Court currently has three new immigration cases on the docket for the 2021 Term:
Issue: Whether 8 U.S.C. 1252(a)(2)(B)(i) preserves the jurisdiction of federal courts to review a determination that a noncitizen is ineligible for certain types of discretionary relief from removal. The Eleventh Circuit held that the court had jurisdiction to review a legal conclusion but not a fact finding.
A pair of cases involve immigrant detention:
Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez, No. 19-896 Argument not yet set.
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Issue: Whether an alien who is detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 is entitled by statute, after six months of detention, to a bond hearing at which the government must prove to an immigration judge by clear and convincing evidence that the noncitizen is a flight risk or a danger to the community.
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Garland v. Gonzalez, No. 20-322 Argument not yet set.
Issues: (1) Whether an alien who is detained under 8 U.S.C. § 1231 is entitled by statute, after six months of detention, to a bond hearing at which the government must prove to an immigration judge that the alien is a flight risk or a danger to the community; and (2) whether, under 8 U. S. C. § 1252(f)(1), the courts below had jurisdiction to grant classwide injunctive relief.
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As described by Amy Howe on SCOTUSBlog, the two immigrant detention cases:
“The justices granted review in Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez and Garland v. Gonzalez. Both cases involve noncitizens who have been ordered deported but claim they are entitled to `withholding’ protection – a form of humanitarian relief in which noncitizens cannot be deported to their home country because they may be tortured or persecuted there. The noncitizens argue that, after spending more than six months in immigration detention awaiting the resolution of their withholding claims, they are entitled to a hearing before an immigration judge to determine whether they can be released on bond. Two federal appeals courts agreed with the noncitizens.”
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The following case addresses non-immigration issues in a criminal case involving an asylee in the Boston marathon bombing case:
U.S. v. Tsarnaev (Argument 10/13/2021). Issues: (1) Whether the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit erred in concluding that Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s capital sentences must be vacated on the ground that the district court, during its 21-day voir dire, did not ask each prospective juror for a specific accounting of the pretrial media coverage that he or she had read, heard or seen about Tsarnaev’s case; and (2) whether the district court committed reversible error at the penalty phase of Tsarnaev’s trial by excluding evidence that Tsarnaev’s older brother was allegedly involved in different crimes two years before the offenses for which Tsarnaev was convicted.
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My best guess is that the Court will add a few more immigration cases to its docket to round out the 2021 Term. The Court decided five immigration cases in the 2020 term and eight in the 2019 term. Stay tuned!
KJ
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