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SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian's Suit Against Prison Guards | Bloomberg Law

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SCOTUS Blocks Rastafarian's Suit Against Prison Guards | Bloomberg Law

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909 segments

0:02

This is [music] Bloomberg Law with June

0:05

Graasso from Bloomberg Radio.

0:08

>> It is undisputed that my client has

0:10

alleged an assault that is just brazenly

0:12

illegal. Uh he was at respondents mercy

0:16

in federally funded custody when he

0:18

handed them a copy of controlling

0:19

precedent holding the RLupa protected

0:21

his right to keep his hair long. They

0:23

threw it away, handcuffed him to a chair

0:26

and shaved him bald. Damon Landor is a

0:28

devout Rastafarian who hadn't cut his

0:31

hair in two decades following his faith

0:34

in which dreadlocks are a sacred symbol.

0:37

So when he was transferred to a

0:38

Louisiana prison with just weeks left on

0:41

his 5mon sentence, Landor handed prison

0:44

guards a copy of an appeals court

0:47

decision holding that cutting religious

0:49

prisoners dreadlocks violated federal

0:52

law. But a guard threw the ruling into

0:54

the trash. And despite Landor's pleas,

0:58

he was handcuffed to a chair and held

1:00

down as his kneelength dreadlocks were

1:03

cut and his head was shaved. During oral

1:06

arguments, the Supreme Court justices

1:08

condemned Landor's treatment and the

1:11

blatant disregard of his religious

1:13

rights. Here's conservative justice Amy

1:15

Coney Barrett.

1:17

>> Look, the facts of this case are

1:18

egregious. So, if on the facts we were

1:21

looking for a case in which there should

1:22

be money damages, this is it. But it

1:25

turns out this case wasn't it. Today in

1:29

a six-to3 decision, the court's

1:31

conservative majority ruled that Landor

1:34

cannot sue the prison officials who cut

1:37

off his dreadlocks, finding that the

1:39

religious land use and institutionalized

1:42

persons act, better known as Raulupa,

1:44

can't be used to hold those who violate

1:47

inmates religious rights financially

1:49

responsible. The opinion was written by

1:52

Justice Neil Gorsuch, who telegraphed

1:54

that conclusion during the arguments.

1:57

>> The circuits are unanimously against you

1:59

and have been for many, many, many

2:01

years. So saying that something awful is

2:04

going to happen, it's all whatever's

2:06

happened has happened, right?

2:07

>> But the liberal justices disagreed. and

2:10

in a descent by Justice Katanji Brown

2:13

Jackson expressed concerns that now

2:16

state prison officials will have little

2:19

incentive to follow the law regarding

2:21

the religious rights of inmates. My

2:24

guest is Richard Garnett, a professor at

2:25

Notre Dame Law School and director of

2:28

the school's program on church, state,

2:30

and society. Rick, what's your reaction

2:33

to this decision and the implications of

2:36

this decision? The result in this case

2:39

and the Landor case is not surprising

2:43

given the way the oral arguments went.

2:45

It was clear that the justices or at

2:46

least a majority of them were very

2:49

focused on the federalism issues in this

2:51

case. And that's what makes this case

2:53

kind of tricky. It has a religious

2:54

freedom dimension for sure because the

2:57

facts involve a really shocking

2:59

violation of a prisoner's religious

3:01

freedom rights. But there's also this

3:02

kind of technical constitutional law

3:05

question about the power of Congress to

3:07

authorize certain kinds of lawsuits. And

3:09

so, you know, some of the reactions to

3:12

the case, I think, are misguided

3:13

[clears throat]

3:14

in the sense that I I've seen some

3:16

reports that, oh, this is just the court

3:17

not caring about a minority religion. I

3:19

think that's not the right way to think

3:21

about it. Um, you know, a group of the

3:23

justices, the six and the majority here,

3:25

have a pretty consistent vision of

3:27

federalism, and they believe that there

3:29

are limits on the federal government's

3:31

power to authorize certain kinds of

3:34

relief against state officials. Now, I

3:36

should confess, I filed a brief on the

3:37

side of the prisoner in this case. In my

3:39

view, the right answer was that this

3:41

action was authorized. But the reason

3:44

the court ruled against him in my view

3:46

was not because it was unbothered by the

3:49

egregiousness of this violation, but

3:51

because they just didn't think the

3:52

federal government had the power to

3:53

authorize the suit. So what this means,

3:55

in my opinion, among other things, is

3:57

that state governments need to really

3:59

step up and make sure they provide

4:01

meaningful relief for prisoners whose

4:04

religious liberty rights are violated by

4:06

officials as Mr. Landor's clearly were.

4:10

Raulupa was designed to protect the

4:12

religious rights of inmates. So why

4:15

doesn't it work for this inmate whose

4:18

religious rights were I mean everyone

4:20

agrees clearly and blatantly violated?

4:24

>> Yeah, this is and I apologize for

4:25

getting into the weeds a little bit, but

4:27

Raulupa is a special kind of statute.

4:29

It's authorized by what we call the

4:32

spending power, which means that it's

4:34

not so much a direct regulation as it is

4:37

a deal. The Congress says to the states,

4:39

"If you want this money, then you have

4:42

to agree to comply with this

4:45

understanding of religious liberty

4:46

rights." The wrinkle in this case is

4:48

that Mr. Landor wasn't suing the state.

4:51

He wasn't suing the state prison. He was

4:53

suing the the prison employee in that

4:56

employees personal capacity. So, you

4:58

know, you're not suing the prison.

4:59

You're suing, you know, Officer Jones.

5:02

And the thing is, Officer Jones never

5:04

took any federal money. So, he didn't

5:06

make this deal with the federal

5:08

government. So, according to the court,

5:09

since officer Jones, that's not his

5:11

name, I'm making that up, didn't make

5:13

the deal with the federal government,

5:15

that means that the federal statute

5:16

doesn't authorize a lawsuit against

5:19

Jones. And it's all based on these kind

5:21

of, you know, firstear law school

5:23

constitutional law debates about the

5:25

regulatory powers of Congress and how

5:28

much power Congress has to attach

5:30

strings to the money it spends. And

5:32

there's a long tradition of the court

5:33

saying, you know, there are limits on

5:35

the strings you can attach to money. So

5:37

again, nothing in today's opinion denies

5:40

that the officers behave badly and that

5:42

Mr. Landor's religious freedom was

5:44

violated. It's that the particular

5:46

relief that Landor was seeking, that's

5:49

a, you know, money damages lawsuit

5:50

against an individual wasn't authorized

5:53

by the statute or couldn't be authorized

5:55

by the statute. So the majority said

5:58

that state employees didn't consent to

6:00

face lawsuits in their personal

6:02

capacities when Congress passed Raula.

6:05

As a practical matter, when would an

6:08

employee willingly consent to be sued?

6:10

And Justice Katanji Brown Jackson in

6:12

descent said today's decision magically

6:15

transforms a federal statute into an

6:18

invitation to be accepted or declined

6:21

deemed binding only if each particular

6:24

defendant has explicitly agreed to be

6:26

penalized. I mean to the average person

6:29

the dcent makes sense.

6:30

>> Well and again I was on that side in the

6:32

end. I do think she oversimplifies the

6:34

federalism issue. There's plenty of

6:36

precedent to the effect that these

6:38

regulatory spending arrangements do

6:41

function kind of like a contract. That

6:43

said, in my view, the better ruling

6:45

would have been to say that when the

6:47

state entered into this effectively

6:50

contract with the federal government and

6:52

took on the burdens to respect the

6:54

religious liberty of inmates that

6:56

because these folks are the employees of

6:58

the state, those folks kind of take

7:00

employment subject to the requirements

7:03

that are laid on their employers. And

7:05

that includes what the statute calls

7:07

appropriate relief, which if you really

7:10

want to get in the weeds, that's kind of

7:11

what this case really came down to is

7:13

what counts as appropriate relief. So, a

7:15

concern that Justice Jackson raised and

7:17

that I share, even though I think she

7:19

oversimplifies a bit, is that, you know,

7:22

the incentives on state prison employees

7:26

to respect religious inmates rights,

7:29

those incentives are going to be muted a

7:31

bit if they're not subject to damages

7:34

for, you know, egregious violations. I

7:36

mean, this wasn't kind of a judgment

7:38

call, reasonable minds can disagree kind

7:40

of thing. It's very clear on the facts

7:41

of this case that Mr. Landor's rights

7:43

were again outrageously violated. And so

7:45

there's a concern and this is one of the

7:47

concerns that Justice Jackson raised and

7:49

that I share is that the effectiveness

7:51

of the statute which I mean as you said

7:54

earlier June the point of the whole

7:55

statute was to protect prisoners

7:57

religious freedom rights is going to be

7:59

weakened or undermined if that kind of

8:01

what do you want to call it stick is uh

8:03

is pulled away.

8:04

>> Could Landor have sued the state and the

8:07

state prison system?

8:08

>> Yeah. So this is about a particular

8:10

cause of action and you know there are

8:12

almost certainly other ones that in

8:14

theory could have been available to him

8:16

and you know again my my hope is that

8:18

some states will respond by making sure

8:21

that they create additional causes of

8:24

action for prisoners like this. But you

8:25

know there's a tendency and we all we're

8:26

all familiar with it that it's easy to

8:28

kind of lose sight of prisoners and

8:30

their rights. You know out of sight out

8:33

of mind we tend to other our prisoners.

8:35

But it isn't it isn't the case that this

8:37

decision means that Landor would never

8:40

have any relief for this kind of

8:41

violation. The decision is limited to

8:44

relief under this particular statute.

8:45

>> The court in 2020 allowed Muslim men to

8:49

sue over their inclusion on the FBI's

8:51

nofly list under a sister statute, the

8:55

Religious Freedom Restoration Act.

8:57

Explain why the same reasoning didn't

8:59

apply here.

9:01

>> Yeah, this is an important distinction

9:02

or at least it was to the court. So, the

9:04

Religious Freedom Restoration Act is not

9:07

a spending power statute. It's a statute

9:09

that rests on Congress's power to

9:12

enforce the 14th amendment and it's a

9:15

statute that only applies to the federal

9:17

government. Raulupa is on the one hand

9:20

much broader. It applies to not only the

9:23

federal government but the states. On

9:24

the other hand, it's also narrower

9:26

because the basis for it, the

9:28

justification for the Raulupa statute is

9:30

this spending power and the lines of

9:32

doctrine about Congress's power under

9:34

the 14th amendment are just different

9:37

from the lines of precedent about

9:39

Congress's power under the spending

9:40

clause. And again, I know this is really

9:42

the kind of thing that makes normal

9:43

people's eyes glaze over. So, I

9:45

apologize to anybody who's listening to

9:46

it, but but for legal purposes, it

9:48

really does make a difference which

9:50

power a Congress is using. And with

9:52

Raulupa, because it was only applying to

9:54

the federal government, these federalism

9:56

concerns are not in play. Congress is

9:58

perfectly within its rights to subject

10:00

the federal government to various

10:02

standards of liability and to create

10:04

causes of action against the federal

10:05

government. But because we have a

10:06

federalist system, it's more complicated

10:08

when Congress imposes standards on the

10:11

states and that's what explains the

10:13

difference.

10:13

>> Can you explain why this would be a, you

10:15

know, there was an ideological split,

10:17

why it would be a conservative liberal

10:19

split on this? Again, this is

10:21

generalizing with these labels and so

10:23

on, but it tends to be the case that the

10:25

conservatives are more interested in

10:27

federalism, and it tends to be the case

10:29

that the liberals are more friendly to

10:33

Congress's power to create causes of

10:35

action. What divided the court was not

10:38

the importance of religious freedom. I

10:39

mean, you know, a couple years ago, we

10:41

had a case involving a Muslim prisoner

10:43

who wanted to grow a beard, and it was 9

10:44

to zero. uh everybody agreed on the

10:47

importance of that under Raulupa, but

10:49

there was no question about federalism

10:50

in that case because the cause of action

10:52

wasn't against uh the person in his

10:55

individual capacity. It was against the

10:57

prison system. So the justices, you

10:59

know, whether they're appointed by

11:01

Democrats or Republicans, they all agree

11:03

that the religious freedom rights of

11:05

prisoners are important, but divided

11:06

them here were these, you know, issues

11:08

that divide them in lots of cases.

11:10

again, debates about federal power and

11:12

debates about the ability to create

11:14

causes of action.

11:15

>> We've talked before that, you know,

11:17

there's been a string of victories for

11:19

religious liberty. Is this the first in

11:22

a long time where there was a defeat,

11:24

you might say, for religious interests?

11:26

>> I'm thinking out loud here, it is the

11:28

first in a while. So certainly religious

11:31

freedom claimants have done well with

11:34

this court. Now, I suppose some might

11:36

say, for example, that when a claimant

11:39

filed a lawsuit against the War Memorial

11:42

Cross in the American Legion case that

11:44

they were seeking to vindicate their

11:45

religious freedom and they lost. But I

11:47

think it's certainly true that this

11:49

court has been friendly to religious

11:50

freedom claims. But, you know, I can't

11:52

think of any of those claims that

11:54

involved the same federalism concerns

11:56

that this one did. Probably the last

11:58

case I can think of where the religious

12:00

freedom claimants lost was Trump versus

12:03

Hawaii, which was a challenge to the

12:04

so-called Muslim ban that the Trump

12:06

administration had put into place early

12:08

in its first administration, I think.

12:10

>> Thanks so much for your insights today,

12:12

Rick. That's Professor Richard Garnett

12:14

of Notre Dame Law School. Coming up next

12:17

in another 6 to3 decision, the court

12:19

sides with the Trump administration on

12:22

green card holders. This is Bloomberg.

12:27

The Supreme Court sided with the Trump

12:29

administration today in an immigration

12:32

case dealing with the government's power

12:34

over green card holders returning to the

12:37

country. The 6 to3 decision down

12:39

ideological lines centered on an

12:42

immigration officer's decision to put a

12:45

green card holder on immigration parole

12:48

when he returned from a short trip to

12:50

China because he'd been accused of a

12:52

thirdderee trademark counterfeiting

12:54

crime. The conservative majority in an

12:57

opinion by Justice Clarence Thomas

13:00

reversed the second circuit court of

13:02

appeals and said that the immigration

13:04

and nationality act doesn't require

13:07

border officers to establish by clear

13:10

and convincing evidence that the green

13:13

card holder had committed a crime

13:14

involving moral turpitude. While the

13:17

dissenting liberal justices in an

13:19

opinion written by Justice Katanji Brown

13:22

Jackson said that the decision

13:24

effectively sentences the green card

13:26

holder to immigration limbo before he'd

13:30

been convicted of any crime. Joining me

13:32

is Leon Fresco, a partner at Holland

13:35

Knight and the former head of the office

13:36

of immigration litigation in the Obama

13:39

administration. Leon, will you start

13:41

with the basics about green card holders

13:45

and what happens when they re-enter the

13:48

country?

13:48

>> Sure. So, here is what happens when a

13:52

person obtains a green card or what is

13:55

also known as lawful permanent residence

13:57

in the United States. The common

14:00

conception is that that person can just

14:02

stay permanently in the United States

14:04

and if they want to become a citizen,

14:06

they can become a citizen. But if they

14:08

don't want to become a citizen for

14:09

whatever reason, maybe if they're from a

14:11

country that they'll lose their

14:13

citizenship from there, so they don't do

14:15

it, then that's fine, too. But that's

14:17

actually not true. There are ways you

14:19

can lose your green card. And one of the

14:23

ways you can lose your green card is if

14:25

you commit a criminal offense that is a

14:28

deportable offense. So what happens is a

14:31

lot of times people don't realize these

14:35

sort of interplays between the green

14:37

card law and the immigration law until

14:39

they travel outside of the United

14:41

States. And so here's what happens when

14:43

you travel outside the United States.

14:45

When you travel outside of the United

14:47

States and you try to reenter, you show

14:50

your green card to the Customs and

14:53

Border Protection official who is at the

14:56

airport. And 99 out of 100 times that's

15:00

not a big deal. They swipe your green

15:02

card and they let you in the country.

15:04

But what the law says is that if you in

15:09

the intervening time that you traveled

15:12

or we didn't realize it before and now

15:15

we're just realizing it for the first

15:17

time that you committed some sort of

15:20

criminal offense, then it's not a taken

15:23

forranted thing that you just reenter

15:26

the United States with your green card.

15:28

What they basically say in the statute

15:31

is you start from scratch again having

15:34

to prove that you are entitled to be

15:38

admitted in the United States. And so

15:41

the question in this Supreme Court case

15:44

is what happens in a world where the

15:47

person was accused of the crime and in

15:51

this case it was a crime of trademark

15:53

counterfeiting. because a Chinese

15:55

citizen who was charged with trademark

15:57

counterfeiting. So what happens when

15:59

it's a person who's charged with a crime

16:02

but not convicted of a crime? And so if

16:06

this person had never left the United

16:08

States, they could never be placed into

16:11

deportation proceedings unless and until

16:15

they actually were convicted of the

16:19

crime. the charging wouldn't change

16:21

anything because if they were innocent

16:23

then that would not lead to any

16:26

deportation. But this issue did not

16:30

arise with the person just staying in

16:32

the United States. This arose where a

16:35

person becomes a lawful permanent

16:36

resident in 2007. They get charged for

16:40

the crime in May of 2012. they leave the

16:45

United States and then try to re-enter

16:49

the United States while the charge was

16:52

pending. And so at that point, the

16:55

Customs and Border Protection says,

16:58

"Look, in this situation, you don't get

17:01

the presumption that you are a lawful

17:03

permanent resident who just gets to

17:06

reenter the United States. We treat you

17:08

like everybody else who if you are

17:12

charged with a crime don't get to just

17:16

enter scot-free. So what we're going to

17:18

do is yes, we'll let you enter because

17:21

you do have this green card, but we're

17:23

not going to let you enter as a lawful

17:25

permanent resident. We're going to enter

17:26

you in as a parole e. And that way when

17:32

we try to deport you, if you try to use

17:35

your lawful permanent residency as a

17:39

defense to deportation,

17:42

you will have the burden of proof to

17:45

show that you're not deportable as

17:47

opposed to the government having the

17:49

burden of proof to show that you are

17:51

deportable. And so that's what happened

17:54

here.

17:55

This was an appeal from a second circuit

17:57

decision, but there's a split in the

17:59

circuits on this issue. Probably one of

18:02

the reasons why the court took this

18:03

case. So, there was a circuit split

18:06

between the second circuit who had ruled

18:08

in favor of the foreign national and

18:11

previous decisions from the fifth and

18:13

the ninth circuit that said, "Hey, wait

18:15

a second. In these cases, why doesn't

18:18

the border patrol that's at the airport,

18:22

why don't they have to do exactly the

18:24

same thing an immigration judge would

18:26

have to do if this person had never left

18:28

the United States, which is essentially

18:31

wait to see if they're convicted of the

18:34

crime before they strip someone of their

18:37

lawful permanent residency. So that's

18:39

what the second circuit said. The

18:41

government appealed that decision

18:43

because they didn't want to shortcut the

18:47

ability of the border patrol to find

18:50

people with criminal issues at the

18:51

airport and place them in removal

18:53

proceedings. They view that as an

18:55

important safeguard for America that you

18:58

know it's we don't think about people

19:00

until they try to reenter. That's a good

19:02

sort of like reminder. Hey, this person

19:05

exists. Let's check their background.

19:07

And so they like that that reminder

19:09

exists in the system. And so they ask

19:12

for a Supreme Court review. And when the

19:14

government asks for a Supreme Court

19:15

review, they usually get it. And in this

19:18

case, it turns out the Supreme Court

19:19

held today 6 to3 that yes, Customs and

19:23

Border Protection at the airport does

19:25

not have to actually put you through

19:29

sort of a little mini hearing or wait

19:31

until you're actually convicted of a

19:33

crime. They are more than capable or

19:36

legally able to now after this decision

19:39

take someone who's been charged of a

19:41

crime but not convicted of a crime and

19:44

conditionally allow them in the country

19:46

with what's called a parole which is

19:48

just basically a legal fiction that even

19:51

though your body's in the US your legal

19:53

body is still waiting to see what will

19:56

happen after a hearing and so they said

19:59

they can do that and then at the time of

20:02

the immigration court hearing. Now, the

20:05

burden will be on the foreign national

20:07

to prove that they shouldn't be deported

20:10

as opposed to the burden being on the

20:13

government.

20:13

>> The six conservatives didn't say there

20:16

had to be any standard. The second

20:18

circuit had said clear and convincing

20:20

evidence of the crime at the border, but

20:23

there's no standard at all to it could

20:24

be the intuition of the officer. The

20:27

court actually did leave open the

20:30

separate question of what appropriate

20:32

evidentiary standard, if any, applies at

20:35

the border. So, you're correct. At the

20:37

moment, it's totally up to the

20:39

discretion of the Customs and Border

20:41

Protection whether to say I think

20:44

there's something wrong with your

20:46

immigration status that I'm not going to

20:48

just accept your green card as evidence

20:50

that you should be lawfully permanently

20:52

admitted to the United States. instead

20:54

I'm going to just parole you in and let

20:56

an immigration court figure that out.

20:59

Every time the Supreme Court does

21:00

something like this, it always leads to

21:02

a subsequent case that needs to clarify

21:06

this. I understand an incrementalist

21:08

approach generally. But whenever

21:10

something like this happens, it's

21:12

inevitable where two or three more years

21:15

of just chaos occurs because the Supreme

21:18

Court didn't want to give an evidentiary

21:21

standard in the first place here. And

21:24

the Supreme Court ultimately doesn't do

21:27

that in this case because in between the

21:30

time of this fact pattern and now the

21:35

person does actually get convicted of

21:38

this counterfeiting offense. And so the

21:41

court figures, okay, if this person is

21:43

convicted of the counterfeiting offense,

21:46

then it's not really important that we

21:49

go down this road because it's not going

21:51

to make a difference in this case. this

21:53

person. Now, the only decision left is

21:56

whether this counterfeiting offense is

21:58

what's called a crime involving moral

22:00

turpitude or it isn't. And that comes

22:03

down to the concept of whether it's

22:05

really considered a moral offense like a

22:08

murder or a rape or a burglary or

22:11

something or is it considered a pure

22:13

regulatory offense? And if it's a pure

22:16

regulatory offense, then this person

22:17

won't be deported. But that's the point

22:19

is the court basically leaves this more

22:22

important issue of for another day of

22:25

what the border patrol whether they have

22:27

any standards at all before they can

22:30

decide to reject your green card and

22:32

conditionally let you in the country as

22:34

opposed to lawfully permanently letting

22:37

you in the country and so yes that's yet

22:40

another uncertainty now for even people

22:43

who have been here 20 30 years

22:45

>> so Leon who is going to make that

22:47

decision ision about whether the crime

22:50

is one of moral turpitude

22:53

>> that will now be made first by an

22:55

immigration judge who's an employee of

22:56

the department of justice. It's going to

22:58

get remanded all the way back down. It

23:00

gets remanded to the second circuit, but

23:02

the second circuit will remand it down

23:04

to the board of immigration appeals who

23:06

will remand it back down to the

23:08

immigration judge and then it'll work

23:10

its way back up to the second circuit

23:13

because presumably the immigration

23:15

court, especially now in the current

23:18

climate, will probably rule that it is a

23:21

crime involving moral turpitude. And

23:23

then it'll be up to the second circuit

23:25

who no longer has to defer to the

23:27

immigration courts anymore under the

23:29

loper bright line of cases which says

23:31

look when there's a legal issue there's

23:32

a legal issue this isn't really anything

23:34

we have to defer to here. So in the end

23:37

this decision is going to be made by the

23:39

second circuit who will have to decide

23:42

whether this individual's counterfeiting

23:45

conviction actually constitutes a crime

23:47

involving moral turpitude. So Leon, the

23:50

three liberal justices dissented and

23:53

Justice Katanji Brown Jackson wrote that

23:56

the decision to put the green card

23:58

holder on immigration parole effectively

24:02

sentenced him to immigration limbo

24:04

before he'd been convicted of any crime.

24:07

She wrote, "I worry that the court has

24:09

now handed the government a massive

24:11

blank check." Well, I mean, there's

24:13

definitely some merit to the argument,

24:16

and I don't see how even the majority

24:19

could dispute that they're really hoping

24:23

that the good faith of the men and women

24:25

in the Customs and Border Protection

24:27

continues to operate in good faith so

24:30

that this doesn't become an excessive

24:32

problem. Of course, if it becomes an

24:33

excessive problem, then the court's

24:36

going to have to revisit this. And this

24:37

is why I say these fact patterns tend to

24:40

lead and evolve into foreseeable

24:42

excessive problems. But they point out

24:45

in the dissenting opinion that one of

24:47

the main problems here is if the Customs

24:50

and Border Protection wants to sort of

24:53

proform invalidate your green card in

24:55

this manner, they can place you in

24:57

detention when they do this. And when

24:59

they place you in detention, then

25:02

depending on where they place you, if

25:04

they place you in some remote rural

25:05

area, you also will have very difficult

25:08

time in accessing an attorney. And if

25:10

you can't access an attorney, then you

25:12

can't make the defense as to why you

25:14

shouldn't be deported. And basically,

25:17

this whole thing can essentially lead to

25:20

a revocation of someone's green card by

25:22

default in a fact pattern where wouldn't

25:25

actually be lawfully permitted. And so

25:28

from that standpoint, the only thing

25:30

preventing this is the good faith of the

25:32

men and women working in the government.

25:34

And now we're going to have to see. You

25:37

know, usually the way this works is you

25:40

put constraints on the good faith,

25:43

hoping that people do operate in good

25:46

faith, but just in case they don't,

25:47

there are constraints so that people

25:50

know, hey, this will be reviewed by this

25:52

person, etc. But now we'll have to see.

25:55

Will the good faith that has been given

25:58

in terms of this blanket authority to

26:00

the Customs and Border Protection be

26:02

abused or will it be used in a way that

26:05

is still very rare for criminal type of

26:09

cases and not just for all types of

26:11

lawful permanent residents re-entering

26:13

in the United States after visiting

26:15

abroad? I mean, is there an undercurrent

26:17

here of the administration trying to

26:21

undermine perhaps the security that

26:23

green card holders may feel? The idea is

26:27

to say since you don't actually have to

26:30

be convicted of a crime and you can

26:33

basically have this green card status in

26:36

a sense conditionally revoked while you

26:39

go through immigration court if the

26:42

Customs and Border Protection has any

26:43

reason to think that you committed a

26:46

crime as opposed to you are convicted of

26:48

a crime. then everybody is potentially

26:51

on notice that if there's anything on

26:54

your phone or anything on your laptop or

26:57

anything anywhere that someone at the

26:59

CBP could decide to inspect and decide

27:02

to say, "Oh, well, it looks like you've

27:04

committed XYZ,

27:06

then yes, you won't be allowed to enter

27:08

in the United States." So now everybody

27:11

has more incentive. First, as a factual

27:14

matter, yes, mind your P's and Q's, but

27:17

also I think you will end up seeing the

27:19

immigration bar start giving advice

27:22

about what types of electronics to bring

27:24

into the United States or or don't bring

27:26

any, leave them all here, etc. Because

27:30

the potential for application here, you

27:33

know, pretty much you confiscate

27:35

anybody's computer, you can you can find

27:37

something. And so you say, "Oh, you

27:40

know, there's a mattress, you didn't pay

27:41

your mattress tag violation or

27:44

whatever." And so from that standpoint,

27:47

it becomes very very complicated.

27:49

>> The most high-profile case of the term

27:51

probably is the birthright citizenship

27:53

case and also ending TPS status. I mean,

27:57

does this decision at all indicate the

28:00

way the court might go in other

28:02

immigration decisions to come or is it

28:05

separate? Well, I will say I was

28:07

surprised that this decision was six to

28:09

three. I'm not surprised that there was

28:12

a majority of votes for this decision

28:16

because at the end of the day, I think

28:18

it's incremental enough that the court

28:21

can come back if the CBP starts going

28:24

too overboard with regard to rejecting

28:26

lawful permanent residents and come back

28:28

and impose some type of evidentiary

28:31

standard. So I do think that part is not

28:35

surprising, but I do think that because

28:39

the oral argument there was a lot of

28:40

concern about how broad this thing could

28:43

be applied and yet they still wrote a

28:47

decision that at least for the short

28:48

term allows this doctrine of cancelling

28:52

people's green card so to speak at the

28:54

airport to be applied in as broad a

28:56

fashion as possible. meaning it hasn't

28:58

been constrained by this particular

29:00

decision. Then I do think maybe not

29:05

exactly in the birthright citizenship

29:07

case. Although we'll wait and see

29:08

because there are some things here where

29:10

they might let Congress actually do some

29:14

legislation, which they would never do

29:15

because the Congress won't have the

29:17

votes either way to pass anything on

29:18

this. But I could see something like

29:20

that now from the standpoint that it

29:23

seems that the court really is willing

29:26

to say that in any of these cases where

29:29

we are going to defer to the political

29:32

system in the way it would work normally

29:35

if it was full of good faith actors that

29:37

were all doing their job. Not like the

29:40

world that exists today where the

29:42

Congress can't really pass anything. And

29:45

in a world where people in the

29:48

administrative branch have sort of

29:51

changed depending on what administration

29:52

they're in how they operate and how they

29:54

view the law. They don't read the law

29:56

like an AI chatbot. They read the law

29:59

based on policy priorities of of

30:01

different administrations. They're still

30:03

willing to seem to give a lot of good

30:04

faith difference here. And so we'll have

30:07

to see whether that ends up being wise

30:09

or not.

30:10

>> Okay. Stay with me, Leon. Coming up next

30:13

on the Bloomberg Law Show, I'll continue

30:14

this conversation with Leon Fresco. The

30:17

case about alleged Venezuelan gang

30:20

members sent to a notorious El Salvador

30:22

prison back in March of last year is

30:26

still going on. I'm June Grao and you're

30:28

listening to Bloomberg. I've been

30:30

talking to immigration law attorney Leon

30:33

Fresco of Holland Knight. So now let's

30:35

go back in time to, you know, early in

30:38

the Trump administration and those

30:40

flights in March of last year where the

30:44

administration sent alleged Venezuelan

30:47

gang members to a notorious El Salvador

30:51

prison. That case is amazingly still

30:54

going on even though the Venezuelans

30:57

have been returned to their home and set

30:59

free. Oddly enough, this case is still

31:01

going on even though Venezuela is now an

31:04

ally of the United States. And so the

31:06

whole idea that remember the if these

31:09

deportations of Venezuelans that were

31:11

taken to El Salvador were all based on

31:16

the idea that Venezuela was an alien

31:18

enemy of the United States and that

31:20

people here were acting in sort of in

31:22

cahoots with the Venezuelan government

31:24

to be our enemy and and destabilize the

31:26

United States. And so even though all of

31:29

that has now changed, one, the

31:31

government hasn't actually withdrawn its

31:34

theoretical doctrine that's gone on in

31:37

other cases where these issues are being

31:38

appealed that there are still Venezuelan

31:41

alien enemies of the United States. So

31:43

that's going to be interesting. I don't

31:44

know what the government's going to end

31:46

up doing with that again given that

31:48

we're in this world where we have this

31:50

cooperation with the Venezuelan

31:52

government. But in this particular case,

31:55

you still have Judge Boseberg who

31:57

remains upset from the quote unquote

32:00

original act in this case, which is he

32:02

said orally,

32:04

bring the people back if they're on a

32:06

plane and don't send people to El

32:10

Salvador if they're not on a plane. And

32:12

yet people never got sent back and

32:14

planes didn't turn back and and people

32:16

got sent to El Salvador. And so even

32:19

though the Supreme Court said that he

32:21

didn't have jurisdiction to have that

32:23

case that needed to be filed as

32:25

individual habiuses by the people who

32:28

were subject to these orders and

32:31

couldn't be done as a class action in

32:33

DC. Judge Booseberg still said, "Yeah,

32:36

but if you lied to me in my courtroom, I

32:40

should still have contempt authority to

32:42

do something about that." And the DC

32:45

circuit in a three judge panel basically

32:48

disagreed with that and said, "Look,

32:49

this case has reached an end. You don't

32:52

have contempt authority to do anything

32:54

at this point. And even if you if you

32:56

want to try to issue a contempt order,

32:58

go ahead because you already know what

33:00

happened. So if you want to basically

33:02

hold former Secretary Gnome in contempt

33:05

or anybody else, that's fine. But what

33:07

Judge Booseberg wanted to do is hold an

33:09

evidentiary hearing with testimony

33:11

before he issued a contempt order and a

33:14

criminal referral and all of that. And

33:16

then now looks like the full DC circuit.

33:18

That's the decision says let's see

33:21

whether he can do this or not because

33:22

there was hundreds of judges who did an

33:24

AMA brief saying look judges have to be

33:27

able regardless of in the end whether

33:29

they're right or wrong still be able to

33:31

patrol their courtrooms for people who

33:34

will lie to judges. And so from that

33:38

standpoint, you know, we'll see if the

33:40

DC circuit ends up saying regardless of

33:42

whether there was jurisdiction or not,

33:45

you still can enforce your courtroom and

33:47

issue contempt orders for things that

33:50

happened while you puditively did have

33:53

jurisdiction over the matter. And then

33:55

if that does happen, I'm sure the

33:56

government will appeal to the Supreme

33:58

Court and the Supreme Court will have to

34:00

decide whether Judge Boseberg actually

34:03

can continue with this contempt issue or

34:06

whether it's over and we just move on to

34:09

another issue. I mean, I would say just

34:11

looking at the numbers that since the

34:14

full court has decided to hear the case,

34:17

it might be because a lot of the judges

34:19

are interested in reversing the 2 to1

34:22

decision that went against Judge

34:24

Boseberg, but that's just looking at

34:27

numbers.

34:27

>> And I mean, he's a very well- reggarded

34:29

judge in DC.

34:31

>> He certainly is, and he was subject to

34:34

repeated attacks by the attorney general

34:37

and the president. So before we go,

34:39

Leon, tell us about the cows.

34:42

>> So for 30 years, every administration

34:45

and every bipartisan presidency has said

34:48

you can't bring in temporary

34:50

agricultural workers to do dairy work

34:52

because you have to milk those cows

34:54

every day. The cows don't just

34:55

seasonally need to be milked. And the

34:58

Trump administration out of all the

35:00

issues that it could have picked decided

35:02

this is the one issue where we will take

35:04

the pro-immigrant stance and let people

35:06

bring in immigrant workers to milk the

35:08

cows even though they have to be every

35:11

day so they're not seasonal. Oh well

35:13

that's not our problem. We're going to

35:15

let them come in. And so clearly the

35:17

agricultural industry got a huge win

35:20

there.

35:20

>> And the cows are happy too I guess.

35:22

>> Yes. And the cows are happy as well.

35:24

[laughter]

35:25

We've talked about so many immigration

35:27

issues, Liam, but I never thought it

35:28

would be about milking cows. Thanks as

35:31

always. That's Leon Fresco of Honda

35:34

Night. And that's it for this edition of

35:36

the Bloomberg Law Show. Remember, you

35:38

can always get the latest legal news on

35:39

our Bloomberg Law podcast. You can find

35:42

them on Apple Podcast, Spotify, and at

35:44

www.bloomberg.com/mpodcast/law.

35:49

And remember to tune in to the Bloomberg

35:51

Law Show every week night at 1000 PM

35:53

[music] Wall Street time. I'm June

35:56

Graasso and you're listening to

35:57

Bloomberg.

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