''Immigration and Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr'', 533 U.S. 289 (2001), is a

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Supreme Court case involving

habeas corpus ''Habeas corpus'' (; from Medieval Latin, ) is a recourse in law through which a person can report an unlawful detention or imprisonment to a court and request that the court order the custodian of the person, usually a prison official, t ...

and INA § 212(c) relief (repealed 1997) for deportable aliens.

Facts

Enrico St. Cyr, a

lawful permanent resident A green card, known officially as a permanent resident card, is an identity document which shows that a person has permanent residency in the United States. ("The term 'lawfully admitted for permanent residence' means the status of having been ...

(LPR) of the United States for ten years and a citizen of Haiti, pleaded guilty to a

controlled substance A controlled substance is generally a drug or chemical whose manufacture, possession and use is regulated by a government, such as illicitly used drugs or prescription medications that are designated by law. Some treaties, notably the Single ...

violation in

Connecticut Connecticut () is the southernmost state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It is bordered by Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. Its capita ...

. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA), St. Cyr became "removable" for having been convicted of a controlled substance violation. ("The term 'removable' means—(A) in the case of an

alien Alien primarily refers to: * Alien (law), a person in a country who is not a national of that country ** Enemy alien, the above in times of war * Extraterrestrial life, life which does not originate from Earth ** Specifically, intelligent extrater ...

not admitted to the United States, that the alien is inadmissible under section 1182 of this title, or (B) in the case of an alien admitted to the United States, that the alien is deportable under section 1227 of this title."); see also ''Tima v. Attorney General of the U.S.'', 903

F.3d The ''Federal Reporter'' () is a case law reporter in the United States that is published by West Publishing and a part of the National Reporter System. It begins with cases decided in 1880; pre-1880 cases were later retroactively compiled by We ...

br>272
277 (

3d Cir. The United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit (in case citations, 3d Cir.) is a federal court with appellate jurisdiction over the district courts for the following districts: * District of Delaware * District of New Jersey * Easte ...

2018); Before the

Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 The Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act of 1996 (AEDPA), , was introduced to the United States Congress in April 1995 as a Senate Bill (). The bill was passed with broad bipartisan support by Congress in response to the bombings of th ...

(AEDPA)

, . and the

Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 The Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996 (IIRIRA or IIRAIRA), Division C of , made major changes to the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA). IIRIRA's changes became effective on April 1, 1997. Former United Stat ...

(IIRIRA),

, , Div. C. INA § 212(c) was interpreted to give the

U.S. Attorney General The United States attorney general (AG) is the head of the United States Department of Justice, and is the chief law enforcement officer of the federal government of the United States. The attorney general serves as the principal advisor to the p ...

broad discretion to waive deportation of certain LPRs. The AEDPA and IIRIRA, however, limited relief to LPRs and non-LPRs. U.S. Attorney General

John Ashcroft John David Ashcroft (born May 9, 1942) is an American lawyer, lobbyist and former politician who served as the 79th U.S. Attorney General in the George W. Bush administration from 2001 to 2005. A former U.S. Senator from Missouri and the 50th ...

argued that AEDPA and IIRIRA stripped him of the authority to grant St. Cyr any waiver. St. Cyr, who had pleaded guilty on March 8, 1996, which was prior to the enactment of AEDPA and IIRIRA, had

removal proceedings Removal proceedings are administrative proceedings to determine an individual's removability under United States immigration law. Removal proceedings are typically conducted in Immigration Court (the Executive Office for Immigration Review) by an ...

brought against him on April 10, 1997, after the enactment of these Acts, conceded removability but argued that he was entitled to a writ of habeas corpus. The U.S. District for the District of Connecticut accepted St. Cyr's habeas corpus application and agreed that the new restrictions do not apply to removal proceedings brought against an LPR who pleaded guilty to a deportable crime before the enactment of AEDPA and IIRIRA. The

U.S. Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit The United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit (in case citations, 2d Cir.) is one of the thirteen United States Courts of Appeals. Its territory comprises the states of Connecticut, New York and Vermont. The court has appellate juri ...

affirmed.

Issues

The Supreme Court answered two questions. The first one was procedural. Do the AEDPA and IIRIRA strip federal district courts of habeas corpus jurisdiction over deportable aliens as previously granted under ? The substantive question was whether the federal laws deny relief under INA § 212(c) to LPRs who would have been eligible for such relief at the time of their convictions?

Decision

In a 5-4 opinion, Justice John Paul Stevens wrote for the majority stating that

Congress A congress is a formal meeting of the representatives of different countries, constituent states, organizations, trade unions, political parties, or other groups. The term originated in Late Middle English to denote an encounter (meeting of ...

did not intend to strip the federal district courts of their authority to hear habeas petitions from deportable aliens, and that the AEDPA and IIRIRA did not deny relief under INA § 212(c) to LPRs who would have been eligible for such relief at the time of their convictions.. Stevens reasoned that the Supreme Court should interpret statutes as avoiding

constitutional A constitution is the aggregate of fundamental principles or established precedents that constitute the legal basis of a polity, organisation or other type of entity and commonly determine how that entity is to be governed. When these prin ...

issues, such as abridging the right to habeas corpus. He also argued that there is a presumption that administrative proceedings can be appealed to Article III federal courts.

Dissent

Justice Antonin Scalia dissented, arguing that the plain language of the AEDPA and IIRIRA stripped the federal district courts of jurisdiction to entertain habeas corpus petitions. He also argued that the majority was forcing Congress to use "magic words" to overcome the presumption of habeas corpus relief.

References

External links