The justices ruled in favor of an immigrant who had been convicted of aiding and abetting possession of drugs, a felony under state law in South Dakota, for telling someone where to get cocaine.
The issue before the Supreme Court was the interpretation of the federal Immigration and Nationality Act, which says immigrants found guilty of aggravated felonies are subject to deportation.
Conduct that is a felony under state law but a misdemeanor under the Controlled Substances Act is not a felony for purposes of immigration, stated the ruling by Justice David Souter.
As i've tried to say several times on Patterico's site but have failed to because for some reason my comments aren't going through (I suspect a software problem) ... I think this was a good decision.
ReplyDeleteApparently there's a federal law which allows deportation of legal immigrants convicted of serious felonies. (That's not the precise term, but *shrug*). Serious felonies are defined to include "all felonies punishable under the controlled substances act".
The person appealing was convicted of a crime which was a felony under state law but a *misdemeanor* under the controlled substances act.
The majority held that "all felonies punishable under the controlled substances act" means, "all crimes punishable as felonies under the controlled substances act", which I think is a natural reading of the phrase. The dissent held that the phrase means "all crimes which are a felony anywhere which are punishable under the controlled substances act", which strikes me as being a highly bizarre and unnatural reading of the phrase.
My bottom line: the court interpreted the law correctly. Any fuckup lies with the congress.
I think the court got this right as well. It would be different, in my opinion, had he been convicted of some sort of aggravated assault, which would show he was a real danger to society.
ReplyDeleteI've never been crazy about the war on drugs in the first place, mainly because I see it as a way for the government to invade one's privacy. This isn't to say I think legalizing drugs is a great idea, but I don't think that this man's offense was worth him being deported since he seemed to lead an otherwise ordinary existence.