INS v. St. Cyr case brief

INS v. St. Cyr case brief summary
533 U.S. 289 (2001)

CASE SYNOPSIS

On writ of certiorari to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit, petitioner Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) sought determination of whether statutory restrictions on discretionary relief from deportation applied to removal proceedings brought against respondent alien when he had pled guilty to a deportable crime before the statutory enactments.

CASE FACTS
The INS argued that statutory amendments to the federal immigration statutes had withdrawn the United States Attorney General's authority to waive deportation for aliens previously convicted of aggravated felonies and had eliminated federal court jurisdiction to decide whether such authority existed.


DISCUSSION

• The court concluded that the district courts retained habeas jurisdiction under 28 U.S.C.S. § 2241 because interpreting the cited amendments to entirely precluded review raised substantial constitutional questions under the Suspension Clause, U.S. Constitutional Article I, § 9, clause 2. 
• Moreover, the cited amendments did not contain a clear and unambiguous statement of constitutional intent to bar jurisdiction pursuant to § 2241, nor did they provide another judicial forum to decide pure questions of law. 
• Relief pursuant to8 U.S.C.S. § 1182(c) remained available for the alien, who was convicted pursuant to a plea agreement and who was eligible for § 1182(c) relief at the time of his plea, because nothing in the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, Pub. L. No. 104-208, 110 Stat. 3009 (1996), unmistakably indicated that the repeal of § 1182(c) applied retroactively.

CONCLUSION

The court affirmed the decision of the trial court.

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