BREAKING: Supreme Court Takes Case on How Long Criminal Aliens May Be Detained |
The Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari to hear Genalo v. Black, a petition by the Trump administration seeking to overturn a Second Circuit decision placing due process limits on how long the government can detain criminal aliens. As the solicitor general’s brief framed the question:
Under 8 U.S.C. 1226(c), certain criminal aliens are required to be detained pending a decision on whether they are to be removed from the United States. In Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281 (2018), this Court held that Section 1226(c) prohibits the release of such aliens on bond. The Court reserved judgment on various constitutional issues on which it had ordered supplemental briefing, including whether the Due Process Clause requires bond hearings for certain Section 1226(c) detainees and, if so, what kind of bond hearing. Respondents here are two criminal aliens detained under Section 1226(c) for 7 and 21 months, respectively, pending their removal proceedings. The court of appeals held that each respondent’s detention had become “unreasonably prolonged,” such that due process entitled him to a bond hearing with the burden placed on the government to justify his continued detention by clear and convincing evidence. . . . The questions presented are: 1. Whether there is a point at which an alien’s detention under Section 1226(c), pending a decision on whether he is to be removed, becomes “unreasonably prolonged,” such that due process requires a bond hearing. 2. If so, whether, in such a bond hearing, due process requires placing the burden on the government to justify the alien’s continued detention by clear and convincing evidence.
Under 8 U.S.C. 1226(c), certain criminal aliens are required to be detained pending a decision on whether they are to be removed from the United States. In Jennings v. Rodriguez, 583 U.S. 281 (2018), this Court held that Section 1226(c)........