Luna Torres v. Lynch

Docket No.	Op. Below	Argument	Opinion	Vote	Author	Term
14-1096	2d Cir.	Nov 3, 2015 Tr.Aud.	May 19, 2016	5-3	Kagan	OT 2015

Holding: A state offense counts as an "aggravated felony" for purposes of Section 1101(a)(43) of the Immigration and Nationality Act, which contains a long list of offenses that can render a non-citizen deportable and further specifies that an offense listed in the statute is an aggravated felony whether it is in violation of federal, state, or foreign law, when it has every element of a listed federal crime except one requiring a connection to interstate or foreign commerce.

Judgment: Affirmed, 5-3, in an opinion by Justice Kagan on May 19, 2016. Justice Sotomayor filed a dissenting opinion, in which Justices Thomas and Breyer joined.

SCOTUSblog Coverage

Opinion analysis: An emerging divide over text vs. context in interpreting federal immigration law? (Steve Vladeck)
Argument analysis: The surprising absence of canons from a debate over the meaning of ambiguous statutory text (Steve Vladeck)
Argument preview: Can a state-law crime be “described in” a federal statute that has a unique jurisdictional element? (Steve Vladeck)
Criminal law grants for the October Term 2015 (Rory Little)
Petition of the day (Maureen Johnston)

Date	Proceedings and Orders (key to color coding)
Jan 13 2015	Application (14A770) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from February 5, 2015 to March 9, 2015, submitted to Justice Ginsburg.
Jan 16 2015	Application (14A770) granted by Justice Ginsburg extending the time to file until March 9, 2015.
Mar 9 2015	Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 10, 2015)
Apr 2 2015	Order extending time to file response to petition to and including May 11, 2015.
May 6 2015	Order further extending time to file response to petition to and including May 18, 2015.
May 18 2015	Brief of respondent Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General in opposition filed.
May 27 2015	Reply of petitioner Jorge Luna Torres filed.
Jun 2 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of June 18, 2015.
Jun 22 2015	DISTRIBUTED for Conference of June 25, 2015.
Jun 29 2015	Petition GRANTED.
Jul 9 2015	The time to file the joint appendix and petitioner's brief on the merits is extended to and including August 18, 2015.
Jul 9 2015	The time to file respondent's brief on the merits is extended to and including September 22, 2015.
Jul 16 2015	Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner Jorge Luna Torres.
Aug 18 2015	Brief of petitioner Jorge Luna Torres filed.
Aug 25 2015	Brief amici curiae of National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, et al. filed.
Aug 25 2015	Brief amici curiae of National Immigrant Justice Center, et al. filed.
Aug 28 2015	Motion to dispense with printing the joint appendix filed by petitioner GRANTED.
Sep 9 2015	SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, November 3, 2015
Sep 10 2015	Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit.
Sep 16 2015	Record received from U.S.C.A. 2nd Circuit is electronic.
Sep 22 2015	Brief of respondent Loretta E. Lynch, Attorney General filed.
Sep 29 2015	CIRCULATED
Oct 14 2015	Reply of petitioner Jorge Luna Torres filed. (Distributed)
Nov 3 2015	Argued. For petitioner: Matthew L. Guadagno, New York, N. Y. For respondent: Elaine J. Goldenberg, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C.
May 19 2016	Adjudged to be AFFIRMED. Kagan, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Kennedy, Ginsburg, and Alito, JJ., joined. Sotomayor, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Thomas and Breyer, JJ., joined.
Jun 20 2016	JUDGMENT ISSUED

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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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  In case in which the plaintiffs allege that a Maryland congressional district was gerrymandered to retaliate against them for their political views: (1) whether the various legal claims articulated by the three-judge district court are unmanageable; (2) whether the three-judge district court erred when, in granting plaintiffs’ motion for summary judgment, it resolved disputes of material fact as to multiple elements of plaintiffs’ claims, failed to view the evidence in the light most favorable to the non-moving party, and treated as “undisputed” evidence that is the subject of still-unresolved hearsay and other evidentiary objections; and (3) whether the three-judge district court abused its discretion in entering an injunction despite the plaintiffs’ years-long delay in seeking injunctive relief, rendering the remedy applicable to at most one election before the next decennial census necessitates another redistricting.
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  (1) Whether a 93-year-old memorial to the fallen of World War I is unconstitutional merely because it is shaped like a cross; (2) whether the constitutionality of a passive display incorporating religious symbolism should be assessed under the tests articulated in Lemon v. Kurtzman, Van Orden v. Perry, Town of Greece v. Galloway or some other test; and (3) whether, if the test from Lemon v. Kurtzman applies, the expenditure of funds for the routine upkeep and maintenance of a cross-shaped war memorial, without more, amounts to an excessive entanglement with religion in violation of the First Amendment.
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Cases argued	43
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Luna Torres v. Lynch

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Featured Posts

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

Opinion analysis: Interesting 5-4 coalition holds that the ACCA reaches robberies that require force sufficient to overcome resistance (Corrected) – Rory Little

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