Holder v. Sawyers

Consolidated with:

Holder v. Gutierrez

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
10-1543	9th Cir.	Jan 18, 2012 Tr.Aud.	May 21, 2012	9-0	Kagan	OT 2011

Holding: The position of the Board of Immigration Appeals that an alien seeking cancellation of removal must individually satisfy the requirements of 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(a) – lawful permanent resident status for at least five years and at least seven years of continuous residence in the United States after a lawful admission – rather than relying on a parent’s years of continuous residence or lawful permanent resident status – is based on a permissible construction of the statute.

Plain English Summary: A statute provides that a foreign national may ask the Attorney General to decide, in his discretion, to cancel removal (deportation) if the foreign national meets certain criteria. Two of the criteria implicate length of U.S. residence and length of immigration status. The Board of Immigration Appeals, which is a part of the Department of Justice, interpreted the statutory criteria to forbid the transfer of a parent’s U.S. residence and immigration status to a child if the child cannot meet the criteria on his or her own. The Supreme Court held that the statutory criteria do not make clear whether such imputation is permissible. Because the statute is ambiguous, the Court explained that it would defer to the Board of Immigration Appeals’ reading of the statute as long as that reading is reasonable. The Supreme Court held the reading to be reasonable. This means that the interpretation of the Board of Immigration Appeals survives. A parent will not be able to transfer residency and/or status to a child to determine the child’s eligibility for relief from removal.

Judgment: Reversed and remanded, 9-0, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on May 21, 2012.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Opinion analysis: Deferring to (even more) limited relief from removal (Jill Family)
Argument recap: Imputing eligibility for relief from removal (Jill Family)
Argument preview: Calculating relief from removal (Jill Family)
Petition of the day (Marissa Miller)

Briefs and Documents

Merits Briefs for the Petitioner

Merits Briefs for the Respondent

Brief for Damien Antonio Sawyers

Amicus Briefs in Support of the Respondent

Brief for the National Immigration Justice Center in Support of Respondents

Certiorari-stage documents

Petitioner’s reply

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The Supreme Court released additional orders from the January 11 conference on Monday; the justices called for the views of the U.S. solicitor general in CSX Transportation Inc. v. Alabama Department of Revenue, Alabama Department of Revenue v. CSX Transportation Inc. and Toshiba Corp. v. Automotive Industries Pension Trust Fund.
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Editor's Note :

Holder v. Sawyers

SCOTUSblog Coverage

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Certiorari-stage documents

Featured Posts

Challengers urge justices to dismiss census case after district court ruling (Updated) – Amy Howe

Reargument analysis: Justices seek a “middle position” in takings litigation case – Miriam Seifter

Argument analysis: Justices have strong views about removal of class actions – Ronald Mann

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