Monday, June 17, 2024

U.S. v. Rivera-Valdes (9th Cir. - June 17, 2024)

This opinion will go en banc

The question is whether the Due Process Clause requires the government to do more to deport someone when it sends notice of the deportation proceedings via certified mail to the address that the individual to be deported provided some months ago (with no updated address in the interim) but the notice is returned by the USPS is undeliverable.

The Supreme Court has held that the Due Process Clause requires that the government do more than this before it sells someone's home for nonpayment of taxes. Is the same amount of effort (or more) required before deporting someone from the country?

The majority says "No." The dissent says "Yes." One hundred and sixteen single-spaced pages explain the associated reasoning of the various members of the panel. Feel free to peruse it at your leisure.

Who wins in my predicted en banc proceeding will, I think, likely depend on the panel draw. I suspect the vote will be close either way.

And then the Supreme Court may well take the case up.

In short, I suspect this is very much not the last word on this subject.

We'll see.