By Nicholas Anderson and Linus Chan The Supreme Court’s decision on Tuesday to grant cert in the Texas v. United States case has gotten quite a bit of deserved attention among the media, pundits, and immigration advocates and scholars. However, crimmigration nerds should be paying attention to a different Supreme Court cert. grant on the same day. Despite not featuring an immigrant or even immigration law directly, United States v. Mathis, 786 F.3d 1068 (8th Cir. 2015) (docket number 15-6092), will have a significant impact on anyone facing removal from the United States based on a [...]
SCOTUS takes two criminal cases with potential crimmigration impact
Last week the U.S. Supreme Court agreed to hear two cases with possible crimmigration law implications. Attesting to immigration law’s broad intersection with criminal procedure and criminal law, the first case concerns criminal procedure while the second concerns criminal law. Fourth Amendment: Heien v. North Carolina The first case, Heien v. North Carolina, No. 13-604, asks the Court to consider whether a police officer’s mistaken understanding of criminal law can provide the individualized suspicion that the Fourth Amendment requires to justify a traffic stop. The police officer pulled [...]
8 Cir: Warrantless arrest isn’t egregious 4th Amend violation meriting suppression
The U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit rejected a non-citizen’s attempt to exclude evidence of his identity obtained after a warrantless arrest. Garcia-Torres v. Holder, No. 10-2307, slip op. (8th Cir. 2011) (Loken, Colloton, and Nelson, JJ.). District Judge Nelson, sitting by designation on the Eighth Circuit, wrote the panel’s opinion. This case involved an entrant without inspection who was present at a Missouri restaurant that local police officers “acting on a tip that alcohol was being consumed in violation of a local ordinance” entered without a warrant. Garcia-Torres, No. [...]