Fourth Circuit For Now Rejects First Amendment Claims of Immigration Judge Union

Grace Dixon for Law360 reports that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit ruled yesterday that the national immigration judges union must pursue an administrative procedure to challenge a U.S. Department of Justice policy barring them from speaking publicly on immigration issues.

The National Association of Immigration Judges sought revive a suit challenging a policy that narrowed their ability to speak on matters related to immigration and the Executive Office of Immigration Review.  But the Fourth Circuit ruled that the union must follow the Federal Labor Relations Authority’s administrative procedures.

The case was complicated by the Trump administration’s decertification of the union.  The Biden administration changed course and recognizes the union.

Here is the unpublished per curiam Fourth Circuit opinion.  Judges J. Harvie Wilkinson, Paul Niemeyer, and Toby Heytens were on the panel.

The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University encapsulated the case as follows:

“The United States Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit today affirmed a lower court ruling that let stand a Department of Justice policy prohibiting immigration judges from speaking or writing in their personal capacities about immigration law or policy and requiring them to obtain prior approval on a broad range of other topics. The Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University challenged the policy in 2020 on behalf of the National Association of Immigration Judges (NAIJ), arguing that it is an unconstitutional prior restraint in violation of the First Amendment.”

KJ