Let’s talk about 8 U.S.C. § 1252(f)(1) and Justice Barrett’s concurrence in Biden v. Texas
In Biden v. Texas, several states challenged President Biden’s attempt to rescind the “Remain in Mexico” policy. Ostensibly, the Court ruled for President Biden by a 6-3 vote, but really the vote was 5-4. Justice Barrett agreed with Chief Justice Robert’s majority opinion on the merits. But she dissented on jurisdictional grounds. And that disagreement turns on 8 U. S. C. §1252(f)(1). It provides:
Regardless of the nature of the action or claim or of the identity of the party or parties bringing the action, no court (other than the Supreme Court) shall have jurisdiction or authority to enjoin or restrain the operation of the provisions of part IV of this subchapter, as amended by the Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act of 1996, other than with respect to the application of such provisions to an individual alien against whom proceedings under such part have been initiated.
The trial court in Biden v. Texas, and in related cases, determined that Section 1252(f)(1) was not a jurisdictional bar to enjoin President Biden’s decision to rescind MPP. Is this decision correct? In Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez (2022), the Court held that Section 1252(f)(1) of the INA deprived district courts of jurisdiction to entertain a request for class-wide injunctive relief. So far as the injunction goes, the district court ran afoul of Aleman Gonzalez. But Aleman Gonzalez did not squarely decide if §1252(f)(1) deprives the district court of subject-matter jurisdiction.
In May 2022–shortly before Aleman Gonzalez was decided–the Court requested supplemental briefing on this issue for Biden v. Texas:
The parties are directed to file supplemental briefs addressing the following questions: (1) Whether 8 U. S. C. §1252(f)(1) imposes any jurisdictional or remedial limitations on the entry of injunctive relief, declaratory relief, or relief under 5 U. S. C. §706. (2) Whether such limitations are subject to forfeiture. (3) Whether this Court has jurisdiction to consider the merits of the questions presented in this case.
Chief Justice Roberts’s majority opinion explained that Section 1252(f)(1) does not limit the Supreme Court’s appellate jurisdiction:
As we recently held in Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez (2022), section 1252(f )(1) “generally prohibits lower courts from entering injunctions that order federal officials to take or to refrain from taking actions to enforce, implement, or otherwise carry out the specified statutory provisions.” The District Court’s injunction in this case violated that provision. But that fact simply presents us with the following question: whether section 1252(f )(1) deprives this Court of jurisdiction to reach the merits of an appeal, where the lower court entered a form of relief barred by that provision.
Moreover, Chief Justice Roberts held that Section 1252(f)(1) did not deprive the district court of subject matter jurisdiction–it only deprived the district court the power to issue an injunction.
The question, then, is whether section 1252(f)(1) strips the lower courts of subject matter jurisdiction over these claims. The parties agree that the answer to that question is no, and so do we. That is because section 1252(f )(1) withdraws a district court’s “jurisdiction or authority” to grant a particular form of relief. It does not deprive the lower courts of all subject matter jurisdiction over claims brought under sections 1221 through 1232 of the INA. . . . Section 1252(f)(1) bears no indication that lower courts lack power to hear any claim brought under sections 1221 through 1232. If Congress had wanted the provision to have that effect, it could have said so in words far simpler than those that it wrote. But Congress instead provided that lower courts would lack jurisdiction to “enj
Article from Reason.com
