Supreme Court: US can deport convicted refugees without destination consent News
Supreme Court: US can deport convicted refugees without destination consent

[JURIST] In addition to its long-awaited sentencing ruling in Booker [JURIST report], the US Supreme Court Wednesday handed down two immigration-related decisions. In Jama v. INS [Duke Law backgrounder], the Court narrowly held 5-4 (Souter, Stevens, Ginsburg and Breyer JJ. dissenting) that a refugee living in the US – in this instance a Somalian from a country with no functioning government – could be deported after receiving a criminal conviction, even if their country of destination does not consent to the repatriation. Read the opinion. In the consolidated cases of Clark v. Martinez and Benitez v. Wallis [Duke Law backgrounder], the Court ruled by the larger margin of 7-2 (Justice Thomas and Chief Justice Rehnquist dissenting) that the US could only hold an illegal immigrant subject to a deportation order who could not be returned to his or her home country for "so long as is reasonably necessary to achieve removal", indicating that habeas would be granted if there is "no significant likelihood of removal in the reasonably foreseeable future." Read the opinion.

THIS DAY @ LAW

Justice Department brings anit-trust action against AT&T

On November 20, 1974, the Department of Justice filed its final anti-trust suit against AT&T. United States v. AT&T was ultimately settled out of court with an agreement that the corporation would break up its monopoly on phone service throughout the country.

Nuremberg war crimes trials began

On November 20, 1945, the war crimes trials of Nazi World War II leaders began in the German city of Nuremberg. Review the Nuremberg Tribunal's Charter and the verdicts and sentences handed down on major war figures.

Winston Churchill born

On November 20, 1874, Sir Winston Churchill was born in Woodstock, England. He would go on to lead the United Kingdom as Prime Minister through World War II. Toward the end of the war, Churchill worked with US President Franklin D. Roosevelt to craft the treaties and accords that have defined the world since WWII. A 2002 poll by the BBC declared Churchill the Greatest Briton of all time.

New Jersey ratifies Bill of Rights

New Jersey ratified the Bill of Rights, a set of 10 fundamental amendments to the US Constitution, on November 20, 1789, becoming the first state to do so. The state also ratified an amendment on federal representation which ultimately failed. Additionally, New Jersey rejected an amendment on congressional salaries, which would eventually become the 27th Amendment more than 200 years later. Read the articles ratified by New Jersey.