Home > Supreme Court Opinions > INS v. St. Cyr

In The
Supreme Court of the United States

Immigration and Naturalization Servicev.Enrico St. Cyr

Decided June 25, 2001
Justice O’Connor, Dissent

Summary

Immigration and Naturalization Service v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 (2001), is a United States Supreme Court case involving habeas corpus and INA § 212(c) relief (repealed 1997) for deportable aliens.

CASE DETAILS

Topic: Civil Rights
Court vote: 5-4

Note: No other Justices joined this opinion.

Holding:AEDPA and IIRIRA did not divest district courts of their jurisdiction under the general habeas corpus statute.Aliens who pleaded guilty to criminal charges that rendered them deportable prior to the effective date of AEDPA and IIRIRA remain eligible for discretionary relief from deportation.
Citation: 533 U.S. 289
Docket: 00-767
Audio: Listen to this case's oral arguments at Oyez

* As categorized by the Washington University Law Supreme Court Database

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Opinion

JUSTICE O'CONNOR, dissenting.

I join Parts I and III of JUSTICE SCALIA'S dissenting opinion in this case. I do not join Part II because I believe that, assuming, arguendo, that the Suspension Clause guarantees some minimum extent of habeas review, the right asserted by the alien in this case falls outside the scope of that review for the reasons explained by JUSTICE SCALIA in Part II-B of his dissenting opinion. The question whether the Suspension Clause assures habeas jurisdiction in this particular case properly is resolved on this ground alone, and there is no need to say more.