us supreme court: 06-1181

8/14/2019 US Supreme Court: 06-1181

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Official - Subject to Final Review

IN THE SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

SAMSON TAIWO DADA,

Petitioner

:

:

v. : No. 06-1181

MICHAEL B. MUKASEY,

ATTORNEY GENERAL.

:

:

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - x

Washington, D.C.

Monday, January 7, 2008

The above-entitled matter came on for oral

argument before the Supreme Court of the United States

at 11:06 a.m.

APPEARANCES:

CHRISTOPHER J. MEADE, ESQ., New York, N.Y.; on

Behalf of the Petitioner.

EDWIN S. KNEEDLER, ESQ., Deputy Solicitor General,

Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; on behalf

the Respondent.

1Alderson Reporting Company



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P R O C E E D I N G S

(11:06 a.m.)

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: We'll hear argument

next in case 06-1181, Dada v. Mukasey.

Mr. Meade.

ORAL ARGUMENT OF CHRISTOPHER J. MEADE

ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER

MR. MEADE: Mr. Chief Justice, and may it

please the Court:

Congress has provided that certain aliens,

including those with good moral character, are eligible

for voluntary departure. Congress has also provided

that all aliens may file one motion to reopen raising

new facts within 90 days.

The question is how to reconcile these two

provisions. The parties agree on two key points:

First, the Government agrees that the statute can be

read to preserve motions to reopen for voluntary

departure recipients. Second, the Government agrees

that such aliens can file a motion to reopen; and if the

immigration official happens to act quickly enough, the

alien will receive a ruling. But, under the

Government's view, if the official does not act quickly

enough, the alien is denied an adjudication.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Can we consider that in




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your case, given that the application to reopen was made

when there were only two days left to run for the

termination of the voluntary departure time -- in other

words, it was your delay, not the Government's, that

made it impossible to decide this in the requisite time?

MR. MEADE: Yes, Justice Ginsburg, and I

have two responses, one relating to this particular case

as well as the cases in general.

But, as to this particular case, Mr. Dada

found new counsel, which took a week; and in the

remaining time he prepared a motion to reopen with 80

pages of exhibits including affidavits, five letters,

medical documents, financial records including tax

returns. And that's why it took an additional

two-and-a-half weeks to do the motion to reopen.

But, as a general matter, aliens file at

different periods during the period. For example, in

the Eleventh Circuit case of Ugokwe the alien filed with

30 days left in the period, and the Government, the

agency, didn't act in time.

But what happens in the agency is that

motions to reopen are, in fact, decided relatively

quickly -- just not quickly enough.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: How many of those

are -- are granted?




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MR. MEADE: How many --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: What percentage of

motions to reopen are granted in favor of the alien?

MR. MEADE: We've looked for that statistic,

and we have not been able to find the statistic.

However, there are numerous cases presenting very

sympathetic facts which show grants of motions to

reopen.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So how many -- do

you know how many are filed on an annual basis?

MR. MEADE: Yes, I do. As a general matter,

there are 10,000 motions to reopen filed, but that's for

all aliens, for all removal proceedings. Since

voluntary departure is roughly 10 percent of all

removals, we estimate that'S roughly a thousand motions

to reopen filed by voluntary departure recipients.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So there would be no

reason not to file one of these if you were subject to

voluntary -- if you elected voluntary departure, and it

extended your time to stay, right? Seemingly, everybody

would file one of these if we rule in your favor.

MR. MEADE: Not necessarily. There are --

the statute governs when a motion to reopen is proper,

and the Attorney General determined, even under the

previous statutory scheme --




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CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: We're dealing with

people who have already broken the law. So you're

saying they are likely to follow the statute that says

only file a motion to reopen under these circumstances?

MR. MEADE: Well, two responses: First,

there are sanctions for frivolous filing under the

immigration proceedings.

Second, the Attorney General, under the old

regime that wasn't tightened -- the Attorney General

concluded that there was no pattern of abuse of motions

to reopen.

And, third, going forward, this is not a

risk because --

JUSTICE ALITO: If an alien has not been

diligently pursuing his or her rights, you would argue

the person was still entitled to equitable tolling if

the alien files a motion to reopen?

MR. MEADE: When you say that they're not

diligently pursuing their rights, I am not clear --

JUSTICE ALITO: Isn't that generally a

requirement for equitable tolling: A person has to have

been diligently pursuing his rights?

MR. MEADE: Generally, yes.

JUSTICE ALITO: But you don't advocate the

adoption of that here. You say if you file a petition




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-- a motion to reopen, you get automatic equitable

tolling.

MR. MEADE: Yes. Not necessarily equitable

tolling, but, yes, automatic tolling under the statute.

But to show quickly --

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Why isn't -- why isn't it

fair to say: You have the short time frame by statute

to leave the country if you've left in voluntary

departure. Yet, the Government has provided reopening

for all aliens. Okay.

Why isn't it reasonable to say that, by

asking for reopening when you've gotten permission to

voluntarily depart within "x" days, you are

relinquishing your voluntary departure status?

MR. MEADE: That --

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Isn't that a perfect

reconciliation of the two?

MR. MEADE: Yes, Justice Ginsburg. That's

the option that the Government is proposing

prospectively. It is also something that my client

requested at every stage of the proceedings before the

Board, before the Fifth Circuit, and the cert petition,

and in our opening brief. That is one way to reconcile

the two statutory provisions which the Government is

proposing on an ongoing basis that will not apply to our




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client.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: But you raised the

question, as I remember, when you put it in the cert

petition. The Government advised against granting on

that question and limiting it to the question of having

it -- having it both ways, keeping your voluntary

departure and moving to reopen.

MR. MEADE: Yes, that's correct, Justice

Ginsburg.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Counsel, another way

to reconcile the two that I think would be beneficial to

your client, but I'm not sure it's open to us, is to

address the Government's view that, when you voluntarily

depart, your motion to reopen is automatically

withdrawn. That is, as I gather, set forth only in a

regulation and not the statute.

Now, it seems to me that if I were -- if I

thought it important to reconcile the two, I would be

much more concerned about that interpretation -- that

the motion to reopen is automatically withdrawn -- than

I would suggest we start incorporating equitable tolling

rules and all of that.

But, I take it, the vulnerability of that

regulation is probably beyond -- beyond debate.

MR. MEADE: Well, that regulation is subject




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to litigation. That would be another way to solve the

problem as you suggest. It would be --

JUSTICE SOUTER: But it wasn't directly

challenged here, was it?

MR. MEADE: Excuse me?

JUSTICE SOUTER: That regulation was not

directly challenged in this case?

MR. MEADE: It was not directly challenged

because the Fifth Circuit is one of the circuits that

says that the motion -- that regulation is valid.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So if we don't

address it here, there's going to be another case in a

year or 18 months where that's going to be raised?

MR. MEADE: Your Honor, as to voluntary

departure recipients, this Court can construe the

statute to avoid the conflict here. And, moving

forward, the Government has a proposed solution which,

if adopted, will resolve the question on an ongoing

basis.

Some of the examples of the facts that arise

in motions to reopen are seen in various cases. For

example, a child newly diagnosed with mental

disabilities as in the Azarte case in the Ninth Circuit,

a parent newly diagnosed with health problems as in the

BIA case of Diaz Mucho --




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CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, in all these

cases, if you think you have a good case on the motion

to reopen, all you have to do is give up the benefits

that you have availed yourself under voluntary

departure, and then the motion to reopen is not

automatically withdrawn.

MR. MEADE: With respect, that's not an

option to our client. Our client tried to do that, but

was not permitted.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: No, I mean he -- you

should not elect voluntary departure in the first place.

MR. MEADE: Well, the problem is because of

the very nature of the motion to reopen. A motion to

reopen, by its very nature, is based on changed

circumstances, circumstances that were not available at

the original time of the hearing.

So a person could enter and accept voluntary

departure at the time of the hearing and, because of

circumstances that change, that, by definition, he or

she could not have known about, is then in a bind when

he wants to --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: What were those

circumstances here?

MR. MEADE: The circumstances here is that

previous counsel had failed to submit an application and

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Alderson Reporting Company



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irony --

JUSTICE SOUTER: So all we have on the

record is just an IJ's determination that he would not

accept it?

MR. MEADE: Well, it wasn't the IJ. It was

before the Board. It was presented to the Board, and

the Board's order only said he is ineligible for this

relief because he has overstayed the voluntary departure

period. But there is some irony --

JUSTICE SOUTER: But at the time he filed,

he had not overstayed, because he filed on Friday

afternoon, right?

MR. MEADE: Yes.

JUSTICE SOUTER: So -- so maybe the point is

we didn't have time to rule on it simply because he

filed it on Friday afternoon and he had to leave on

Sunday, and therefore, we should not take that as a

determination that had he filed in time for timely

action by the court he would have been denied.

MR. MEADE: The agency has never given a

reason for why they did not accept the withdrawal,

although there is some irony in the fact that the

proposed solution going forward would give aliens

exactly what my client asked for if the agency --

JUSTICE ALITO: If the voluntary withdrawal

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had been withdrawn successfully, he would then have been

subject to the alternate order of removal?

MR. MEADE: That's correct, Your Honor.

JUSTICE ALITO: And he could have been

removed immediately?

MR. MEADE: That's correct.

JUSTICE ALITO: And that would have mooted

the motion to reopen, wouldn't it?

MR. MEADE: It wouldn't have mooted the

motion to reopen. Motions to reopen are available to

all aliens subject to a final order, including criminal

aliens, including some accused of terrorism.

JUSTICE ALITO: Would it remain pending once

he had left the United States?

MR. MEADE: Not once he had left the United

States. But all my client wants -- all my client wanted

at that time was to be placed in the same circumstance

as all other aliens subject to a final ruling.

JUSTICE SCALIA: No, but he's not in the

same circumstance. I mean, he's made his choice. He

was offered voluntary departure, which had advantages.

He could arrange his affairs and go when he wanted

within 60 days. What he gave up was the ability to

appeal the determination.

That doesn't seem to me as, as outrageous.

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I mean, it happens all the time. When a criminal

defendant pleads to a lesser charge, he gives up the

ability to appeal. And that's what's going on here. He

has gotten the advantage of a voluntary departure and

given up the ability to appeal. I don't bleed for him.

It seems to me it's an option presented

before him and he took it.

MR. MEADE: I have three responses, Justice

Scalia.

First, I'll agree that the alien can file

the motion to reopen. The only question is whether it's

going to be adjudicated in time.

Second, as for the question of the bargain,

whether giving up appeals is part of the bargain, all

parties agree that an alien who accepts voluntary

departure can continue to appeal to the Board, to the

courts of appeals. The only, the only adjudicatory

process that the government says that my client is not

entitled to now is one motion to reopen.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Still and all, it's part of

the deal. Even better. Even better. He hasn't even

given up all his appeals.

MR. MEADE: One final --

JUSTICE SCALIA: It's just, part of the deal

he gave up this little ability to reopen, and that's --

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that's the choice he made when he accepted voluntary

departure.

MR. MEADE: One final response is that in

the government's proposed regulation, an alien is

permitted to file a motion to reopen notwithstanding

having been granted voluntary departure, which indicates

that the government itself does not think that the

bargain includes -- or that Congress did not intend the

bargain to include a waiver of the one motion to reopen

which all aliens are entitled to file.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Going back to the

question that Justice Alito put to you, that he would

then be, and you agree this is what you asked for first,

like any other removable alien. And Justice Alito asked

you: Well, then he could be removed immediately, is

that not so? My understanding was, yes, that's so, but

you can move for a stay of removal when you have a

reopening pending. Is that true?

MR. MEADE: Yes. If you have a final order

of removal, yes, you can file for a stay once you have a

final order. So my client is in a worse position.

Because he's under the voluntary departure grant, he

cannot get the same ability for a stay that those who

are subject to a final removal. So the irony is --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: If you say that tolling is

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automatic, which I assume is your position, would it be

possible under the statutes to say that tolling is not

automatic but can be permitted in the discretion of the

hearing officer?

MR. MEADE: I --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: Or are we then just

inventing something that's not in the statute at all?

MR. MEADE: Well, the problem, Justice

Kennedy, is that the agency would need to act within the

short time period. And --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: No. All it needs to do is

to say, we'll grant you an extension while we look at

this.

MR. MEADE: That's true, Justice Kennedy.

But that's essentially the same action that would be

needed to decide the motion to reopen in the first

place. Motions to reopen are discretionary. They go to

the same Board member that had decided the original

appeal. So it does not take much time or effort for the

agency to be able to decide these, as is reflected by

the general time periods for adjudication.

For example, in the Dekoladeno case on the

Fourth Circuit, the motion was decided in 23 days. In

the Sidikhouya case out of the Eighth Circuit --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, presumably it

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doesn't take them much time because when someone elects

voluntary departure they don't have to address it. I

mean, this would obviously increase the volume of

motions to reopen. As I said, I don't see know why

anybody -- why everybody wouldn't file one, because it

extends their stay.

MR. MEADE: It's a discretionary

determination to the single Board member. And the Board

member could deny the motion to reopen, even when

there's a prima facie case. All they have to do is look

to see if it -- in the subset of cases that the agency,

exercising its own discretion, where they agree that a

motion to reopen is proper. And all we're asking for in

this case, not special procedures, not anything added to

the motion to reopen process, but only the right to have

JUSTICE BREYER: Is there appeal? I mean,

what happens? They file a motion to reopen, denied.

Now, can they appeal that?

MR. MEADE: Yes.

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. And how much time

does that take?

MR. MEADE: Well, the denial of a motion to

reopen, at that point there would be a final order in

effect.

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JUSTICE BREYER: Right. But how -- do they

then appeal the motion to -- they appeal the motion --

the denial of the motion to reopen or how long -- where

do they go? Do they have -- this is the Board, so they

go right to the court of appeals?

MR. MEADE: That's correct.

JUSTICE BREYER: And how long do those take

on average?

MR. MEADE: One difference, though, between

petitions for review and motions to reopen is that

petitions for review can be decided from outside the

country under the 1996 amendments. And motions to

reopen under the agency's regulations, cannot. So the

problem is that there is no ability for an alien --

JUSTICE BREYER: I'm not interested in the

problem. I'm interested in how much added time it

actually means. So let's go -- if you win, how much

additional time in a typical case would the alien have

before he has to leave?

MR. MEADE: Petitions for review take

longer. According to the agency's current regulations,

they take approximately, I believe, 13 months or so is

what the --

JUSTICE BREYER: And then, and then do you

in addition ask for cert or is it not in addition? Are

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That would just put my client in the same position as

all other aliens, including criminal aliens.

JUSTICE STEVENS: I'm not sure I understand

it. Are you asking for automatic tolling just until the

motion to reopen is decided or until the motion is

decided and also the appeal process has run?

MR. MEADE: Just for the motion, just for

the time that the motion to reopen is decided.

JUSTICE SCALIA: That's what I thought.

JUSTICE BREYER: Well then, that's the

answer to my question.

JUSTICE SCALIA: But in your discussion with

Justice Breyer you seemed to be saying that he can hang

around right through the appeal.

MR. MEADE: Thank you for the correction,

Justice Scalia.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, is your

position that the right to appeal is taken away, just as

under the current regime the motion to reopen is taken

away?

MR. MEADE: No, Chief Justice Roberts. The

difference is that petitions for review can be

adjudicated from outside the country, so whether the

alien is here or abroad he can get an adjudication of

his motion -- of his petition for review, and that was a

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change under the 1996 act.

The problem for motions to reopen is that an

alien cannot receive an adjudication at all. He can't

stay. He can't go. There's no way for those new facts.

JUSTICE SCALIA: That's by regulation,

though, that he can't, he cannot pursue that from out of

the country.

MR. MEADE: Yes, that's true. That is

not -- that is by regulation, although that regulation

applies to all motions to reopen, not just for the

subset of motions to reopen or voluntary departure

recipients.

JUSTICE KENNEDY: If your client or some

other client, assuming the government wins in this case,

leaves within the 60-day period and the petition for

rehearing is forwarded, can he take all these affidavits

and apply for an adjustment of status, or is that much

longer?

MR. MEADE: No. The problem is that for an

alien, for many aliens covered by voluntary departure,

once they leave the country they are subject to various

unlawful presence bars. So by leaving the country these

bars are triggered and they cannot get the same relief

from outside the country.

JUSTICE KENNEDY: Even with voluntary

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departure?

MR. MEADE: Even with voluntary departure.

Leaving the country triggers these bars. Once you're

outside the country you cannot reapply for admission for

in some cases up to 10 years, and that precludes the

ability to leave the country and seek the relief, even

if you have a marriage to a United States citizen, even

if there are extreme circumstances in a particular case

that need to be addressed and that would be addressed

under a motion to reopen.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Do you have to argue

that the -- my understanding is that once the -- let's

say it's the government's proposed regulation and the

motion for -- or the voluntary departure is withdrawn to

enable you to consider the motion to reopen. They can

proceed with deportation at that time, correct?

MR. MEADE: Absolutely.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: So you -- you almost

have to be arguing that the motion to reopen tolls the

time for deportation as well, right?

MR. MEADE: No. We just want -- under the,

under the question -- under the government's proposed

rule or under the --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Well, under your

position, I guess, is what your position is on that.

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MR. MEADE: Right. Well, the tolling

solution, the tolling construction, would permit tolling

during the voluntary departure period and during the

voluntary departure period there is no final order in

effect. So yes, it would toll the time for leaving the

country.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: In other words, the

government cannot enter a deportation order during a

voluntary departure period.

MR. MEADE: Yes. That's governed by the

agency's own regulations that say that there's no -- the

ultimate order of deportation does not go into effect

until an overstay of a voluntary departure period.

One thing that is --

JUSTICE SCALIA: So I'm not following this.

I thought the assumption was we're going to be using the

government's new proposed system, in which the

acceptance of voluntary departure is eliminated when you

file a reopening petition, right. So can the government

then proceed to deport you involuntarily or is that also

going to be stayed until, until completion of the

reopening petition?

MR. MEADE: I'm sorry, Justice Scalia.

You're absolutely right. I was addressing the tolling

construction with Mr. Chief Justice. But as to the

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CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you,

Mr. Meade.

Mr. Kneedler.

ORAL ARGUMENT OF EDWIN S. KNEEDLER

ON BEHALF OF THE RESPONDENT

MR. KNEEDLER: Mr. Chief Justice and may it

please the Court:

The filing of a motion to reopen does not

automatically suspend the obligation of an alien to

leave the United States within the time that was

specified in the Board's order granting permission to

depart voluntarily. The grant of voluntary departure

reflects an exchange of benefits between the government

and the alien and Petitioner's automatic tolling rule

would greatly subvert that reciprocal arrangement by

giving the alien the unilateral and automatic ability to

extend the substantive terms of the immigration relief

the --

JUSTICE SCALIA: Mr. Kneedler, I think, I

think that your, your opposing counsel gave a good

answer to that. I also thought it was a quid pro quo,

but it's a very strange quid pro quo. I could

understand the government saying, look, if you accept

voluntary departure your reopening is dead; you have to

choose between asking for reopening or voluntary

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departure. But that's not the quid pro quo you're

saying that the government is adopting. The quid pro

quo is if you accept voluntary departure you roll the

dice as to whether your reopening petition will be

decided in time. It isn't dead. It's still there, but

you just have to hope that it will be decided before you

get deported.

MR. KNEEDLER: Well, let me make one --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: That's a very

strange statutory quid pro quo, it seems to me.

MR. KNEEDLER: Let me make one point clear

at the outset. Petitioner's motion to reopen was not

dismissed because he was not able to file one. It was

denied because he was not eligible for the underlying

substantive relief that he requested in this motion.

Overstaying a voluntary departure period does not, for

example, bar an alien from obtaining asylum or

withholding of removal on a motion to reopen. It's only

the particular substantive form of relief that he

requested in his motion to reopen that is at issue, and

that was denied.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Well, that may be. But

Congress passed a statute that grants a statutory right

to file a motion to reopen no matter what the relief is.

And the thing that seems strange to me, I guess to carry

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Justice Scalia's question one step further, is what

seems strange to me is that Congress would have granted

that right in effect across the board, regardless of

what the reason for the reopening might be and yet would

have done so knowing that the, that the time for

adjudication before the IJ is likely to take longer than

the period of the, prior to the moment of required

departure. It sounds as though Congress on your view

would be -- would have been giving a right to reopen

that in practical terms in most cases will avail the

alien absolutely nothing because he'll have to get out

before there can be an adjudication.

MR. KNEEDLER: With all respect, that's not

correct.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Why?

MR. KNEEDLER: Again, both prior to 1996 and

after 1996 Congress specified that an alien who

overstays the voluntary departure period is ineligible

for three forms of discretionary relief. Now it's

voluntary departure, cancellation or removal, or

adjustment of status. That was true both beforehand and

afterhand. Before 1996, there was no statutory

limitation on the time for either a motion to reopen or

voluntary departure. Congress was concerned about

abuses on both of those fronts, and what it did in 1996

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was to compress the voluntary departure time for 60 days

because it was concerned about how long the agency was

allowing agents -- aliens to remain in the country under

orders of voluntary departure. And what it did with

respect to motions to reopen was very modest. It just

put in statutory form a limitation that the agency had

put in place pursuant to a statutory directive to place

time and number limitations on motions to reopen because

of Congress's concern about abuse.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Okay, but isn't the

question in this case whether what Congress did was as

modest as you say? Because if it is as modest as you

say, then in at least a substantial category of cases in

which a motion to reopen will be filed, it will in fact

be no time in the real world to act on that motion

before the voluntary departure date. And the question

is did Congress really intend a right to reopen that is

as modest as that.

MR. KNEEDLER: Well --

JUSTICE SOUTER: And it seems strange that

it would have.

MR. KNEEDLER: Two responses to that. With

respect to the voluntary departure, Congress anticipated

that the alien was going to leave under the order of

voluntary departure, not remain here. And prior to

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1996, just to --

JUSTICE SOUTER: Well, it was -- was the

regulation -- was the current regulation in place at the

time of the '96 Act, that the -- that the departure of

the alien, whatever the term is, waives the motion to --

MR. KNEEDLER: That regulation has been a

fundamental part of motions to reopen going back at

least until the 1960s.

JUSTICE SOUTER: So, we assume that Congress

knew that.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. Yes, we do have. And

that's part of the arrangement. The only thing -- and

that regulation was repromulgated as part of General

Motion to Reopen Regulation in 1995.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Okay, then Congress knew at

the time of the '96 Act that, if in fact the motion to

reopen was filed in the normal course, it probably

couldn't be heard prior to the date at which (a) the

alien either will overstay and be in trouble for that or

(b) will have departed and, under the existing

regulatory regime, have forfeited his right to reopen.

And it's the strangeness that Congress would want --

would have wanted to extend the right to reopen to a

statutory level under these circumstances unless it

contemplated some kind of a tolling scheme that would

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avoid this sort of Kafka-esque result.

MR. KNEEDLER: No. Again, if I may, the --

what Congress had in mind with the deal of granting

voluntary departure was it greatly constricted the time

to leave. You have to leave in 60 days, and if you

don't leave in 60 days, you're not going to get

voluntary departure adjustment of status or cancellation

or removal. It didn't affect the eligibility for other

substantive relief that an alien might file for in a

motion to reopen, such as asylum, such as if he has new

evidence going to the ground of removal. But Congress

was particularly concerned not to allow these three

forms of discretionary relief to remain available. And

so I think Congress necessarily would have been

unconcerned about whether, if an alien did file a motion

to reopen within that greatly constricted 60-day period

-- in fact, in this case the Board gave 30 days --

Congress wasn't concerned about preserving the

underlying substantive eligibility for those forms of

discretionary relief, because it made that part of the

deal, that alien was giving up if he left -- if he

didn't leave the country, he was giving up that. Those

were lesser order forms of relief that Congress was

making available, but it did did not take away, for

example, the right to apply for asylum or withholding.

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JUSTICE GINSBURG: Mr. Kneedler, why did the

Government advise this Court not to grant cert on

question number 1, which was: I want to apply to reopen

and simultaneously, I want to withdraw my voluntary

departure and be just like any other removable alien,

take my chances just like anyone else? The Government

said don't present that -- Court, don't consider that

question. Why?

MR. KNEEDLER: Because that had not been --

led to widespread litigation in the courts. This

automatic tolling rule is -- was what we were

fundamentally concerned about. In fact, we told the

Court not to take the case at all because the new

regulations were under consideration. But that

particular provision -- issue has not generated that

much litigation. This automatic tolling rule has, and

more than --

JUSTICE GINSBURG: And it seems that this

litigant said, number one, I don't want to take

advantage of the status of I have to get out, but I can

do so voluntarily. The first thing I want to do is to

move to reopen, withdraw my voluntary departure. And

then the second thing was, if I can't do that, please

extend my voluntary departure time while I move to

reopen. It seems that this litigant is being put in a

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bind by not allowing this Court to consider what was the

alien's first preference, that is, to withdraw the

voluntary departure.

MR. KNEEDLER: But the Court rewrote the

question presented so as not to -- not to address that,

so I think it's not before the Court right here. But --

but beyond that, the deal, the arrangement -- the

Attorney General has a lot of discretion how to

implement the voluntary departure provision. In fact,

he has the authority to eliminate voluntary departure

for additional categories of people who are not eligible

under the statute itself. So whether to --

JUSTICE ALITO: What is the basis for the

rule that an alien can't withdraw, can't seek to

withdraw a request for voluntary departure?

MR. KNEEDLER: The regulations do not

provide for it, and it's inconsistent with the --

JUSTICE ALITO: There is no regulation that

prohibits it. Is that right?

MR. KNEEDLER: As far as I'm aware there is

no regulation that prohibits it, but the order is a

grant of voluntary departure, and the Board of

Immigration Appeals order says you're granted permission

to depart voluntarily within 30 days; if you do not, the

following consequences flow from that. Nothing in the

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Board's order would allow the alien to avoid those

consequences by saying on the 28th day, after all I

don't want to do that. And this matter of implementing

the voluntary departure agreement is part of a general

scheme of a quid pro quo between the alien and the

United States. The voluntary departure is granted under

circumstances where the alien doesn't have that option.

So unilaterally -- allowing the alien unilaterally to do

that now is not provided for. Now, that doesn't -- that

doesn't take away from the Attorney General's

discretionary authority in implementing the Act to

provide for that, which is what he has proposed in the

new rule. But this case has to be decided under the --

under the rules that are now in effect.

JUSTICE BREYER: I'm having a lot of trouble

understanding the case, because it's so complicated. If

you -- could you track it through for a minute? I mean,

as I understand this, this probably doesn't concern

people who want to voluntarily depart before their case

is finished, right? Where they don't reopen because

there is nothing to reopen?

MR. KNEEDLER: Right, but the people --

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. So we're at a person

who is before the Board or before the hearing examiner

and he wants to -- he is now got a final order against

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him.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes.

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. So now you say to

him I'll tell you what we'll do to you: You leave, go,

good-bye, and we'll let you pursue your appeals anyway,

but from out of the country. That's true? Just tell me

if I'm getting it right.

MR. KNEEDLER: Well --

JUSTICE BREYER: I'm not talking about

reopening. I'm talking about appeals.

MR. KNEEDLER: Well, if he -- if he leaves

the country, I believe he can still appeal to the BIA.

JUSTICE BREYER: And can you go to court,

too?

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. Justice Breyer, under

the statutory review provisions, you can -- you can

petition for review and leave the country and still have

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. So no problem. You

say go, good-bye, and we'll give you some good deals

here if you'll really go, but you pursue your appeals.

JUSTICE STEVENS: Does not he lose his right

to have the motion to reopen ruled upon?

JUSTICE BREYER: That's what I'm asking, I'm

getting at.

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MR. KNEEDLER: If I could just correct. I'm

incorrect that you can have your appeal adjudicated if

you leave the country. I --

JUSTICE BREYER: I'm not talking about

motions to reopen at all.

MR. KNEEDLER: No, I understand that. The

appeal from the immigration judge to the Board of

Immigration Appeals.

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. But you can go to

there? You go to the BIA?

MR. KNEEDLER: That's where you go after --

JUSTICE BREYER: Okay. Now, why wouldn't

you treat --

JUSTICE SCALIA: I don't understand your

answer. You said you can or you can't from out of the

country?

MR. KNEEDLER: I've been informed that you

-- that if you leave the country, you cannot pursue.

JUSTICE BREYER: Cannot. Okay. But you can

go to the BIA? Leaving the country?

MR. KNEEDLER: No, you can't -- you can't go

to the BIA.

JUSTICE BREYER: You can't go anywhere.

MR. KNEEDLER: You can't -- you cannot go to

the BIA.

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JUSTICE BREYER: So you lose all your

appeals, not just your motion-to-reopen appeals if you

leave the country?

MR. KNEEDLER: Your administrative appeals.

You do not -- the statute has been amended to allow you

to petition for review in a court if you leave the

country.

JUSTICE BREYER: Oh. Okay. So you say --

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. Which was a change from

what was before this Court in Stone. In 1996 Congress

amended the Act to allow an alien to continue to

challenge the final removal order after he leaves the

country in court.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Yes, but you can't get to

court if you haven't been to the BIA, right?

MR. KNEEDLER: I believe -- I believe that's

true unless --

JUSTICE SOUTER: And, again, we are talking

about a short period of time, like 30 days. In

practical terms there's no way he is going to get

through the BIA in 30 days. And, therefore, when he

leaves the country, he cannot then try to get or

complete his BIA review, and he therefore will have no

chance to get into court, right?

MR. KNEEDLER: I think that -- I think that

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straight.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. I'm sorry. I'm not --

JUSTICE SCALIA: So why, if you want to have

a petition for reopening, why don't you just file an

appeal and then file a petition for reopening and the

appeal will enable you to stay in the country until your

-- your petition for reopening is --

MR. KNEEDLER: If you appeal to the Board of

Immigration Appeals, a motion to reopen arises only

after the Board has issued a final order on your appeal.

So if you appeal to the Board of Immigration Appeals, if

the Board rejects your claim on the merit, and

reinstates the voluntary departure period to allow you

to enter again --

JUSTICE SCALIA: You're appealing the

immigration judge's decision.

MR. KNEEDLER: Right.

JUSTICE SCALIA: The immigration judge's

decision, you're appealing that to the BIA.

MR. KNEEDLER: Right.

JUSTICE SCALIA: And that -- that enables

you to stay in the country --

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. Until the --

JUSTICE SCALIA: And at the same time you

file a petition to reopen the -- the administrative law

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judge's --

MR. KNEEDLER: With the immigration judge.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Yes.

MR. KNEEDLER: I -- I suppose you could do

that, but the -- but the appeal -- it would be like a

motion to reopen in the district court while you've got

an appeal to the -- to the BIA. I -- I think once the

appeal goes to the Board -- this case involves motions

to reopen filed with the Board of Immigration Appeals,

not with the immigration judge, and so -- the alien here

conceded his deportability, sought a continuance, and

that was denied. He had no other substantive grounds of

relief. He asked for voluntary departure. That was

granted. He took an appeal to the BIA arguing he should

have been granted a continuance; the Board affirmed;

reinstated a 30-day departure period; and then he wanted

to seek reopening.

And one question that Justice Breyer asked

about, what if reopening is denied would the automatic

tolling rule continue? I suppose the alien could file a

motion to reconsider the denial of the motion to reopen,

and if you had an automatic tolling rule, it would -- it

would last as long as it took the Board to act on the

motion to reopen, which is -- which 60, 90, 120 days.

In this past Fiscal Year the Board on motions to reopen

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resolved I think only about 55 percent of those within

90 days. The Board has a huge backlog, and we're

talking -- and so we are talking about the very kind of

abuse of the immigration system that this Court was

concerned about --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: May I ask one question?

And I'm not sure the progression in which Justice Breyer

was going to begin. I take it that the motion to reopen

has -- shows new evidence, new factors, new

circumstances; and that would be unavailable on the

appeal, because the record hasn't been supplemented. Or

am I wrong about that?

MR. KNEEDLER: That -- that's true. It has

JUSTICE KENNEDY: While you have an appeal

-- while you have an appeal from what was in the record.

MR. KNEEDLER: Right, although --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: If you don't have the

motion to reopen then the -- then the new material is

not subject to the appeal, or am I wrong?

MR. KNEEDLER: No. It's not subject to the

appeal as such but the Board procedures take account of

developments that happen while the case is on appeal,

which is that you can file with the Board while your

appeal is pending and ask for a motion to remand on the

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ground that new evidence has come up. For example, in

the case of adjustment of status, where -- the alien's

wife has filed a petition for immediate relative status

to let the alien get a visa, if while the case is

pending on appeal that petition has been granted, then

-- then it would -- then all the alien has to do is file

a motion with the Board and say there is new

information; please remand it back to the immigration

judge. So a lot of times what has happened is -- maybe

intervening things have happened but the alien doesn't

do anything about it during the year that the appeal is

pending with the Board of Immigration Appeals; then

there is a final order and the alien rushes in with the

-- with the new information at that point, where if you

had only brought it to the attention of the Board while

the appeal was pending, it could have been remanded.

JUSTICE BREYER: So your basic is -- don't

tell me if I'm right if I'm wrong, please. The --

the -- what I'm thinking your basic problem or position

is and why you've got into this, is because you think

any really meritorious case where there should be

reopening will be pointed out to the Board before there

is a final order in effect and before voluntary

departure becomes an issue?

MR. KNEEDLER: That -- that --

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JUSTICE BREYER: And if we decide against

you, then you're thinking, well, what will happen in

every case is after there is a final order, the alien

will move for a motion to reopen because he will get a

few extra days.

MR. KNEEDLER: It's more than a few extra

days.

JUSTICE BREYER: He gets a -- several --

MR. KNEEDLER: It's an automatic tolling

period.

JUSTICE BREYER: Have I got it right, what

your point is?

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. That is correct and I

-- and I think it's fair to say if you're talking about

changed circumstances or new evidence that arises after

the IJ has rendered his decision, that's a period that

might be a year; it might be a year and a half. New

developments or changed circumstances are far more

likely to have happened during that period of time than

they would during a 30-day period of voluntary departure

that -- that the Board reinstates at the conclusion of

the appeal.

So an alien in this position who has been

granted voluntary departure and knows that a motion to

reopen may not be a realistic option, if he wants to

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seek adjustment of status or cancellation of removal,

the solution to that is to be alert and attentive and

file something with the Board, if there are in fact --

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Why isn't the solution to

withdraw, relinquish the voluntary departure?

MR. KNEEDLER: That would be -- that would

be one -- as the Attorney General said in his proposed

regulations, that would be one way to administer the

program, but the Act does not compel that. The Act does

not compel --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: If you do that, the

alien is still subject to deportation, right?

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. The alien is still

subject to deportation.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: With the provision that

he can get a stay.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes, he could get -- he could

get a stay of removal, and the same -- same thing is

true here, if the -- if the alien remains in the

country, his voluntary departure period expires, he

could file for a stay of removal with the Board or he

could file for a stay of removal with the court of

appeals if he wants to file a petition.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: But then because he would

then be back -- if he stays here after the period is

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run, then he has relinquished the voluntary departure.

He is like any removable --

MR. KNEEDLER: Right. Right. But -- but

like any person, he could file a motion for a stay with

the court of appeals to prevent his deportation.

JUSTICE GINSBURG: But not to stay -- but he

would not be hanging on to his voluntary departure.

That's gone.

MR. KNEEDLER: No, that -- that is correct.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Is there any reason he

could not unilaterally relinquish the voluntary

departure status as distinct from having to get approval

from the Board or bureaucrat?

MR. KNEEDLER: Well, as I say, the way that

-- the Board's order grants him permission to voluntary

depart and says the following consequences will attach

if you do not. Nothing in the Board's order allows him

to withdraw. It grants him that permission.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Well, I know it doesn't --

it doesn't address the issue, and my question is --

MR. KNEEDLER: Well, I think it probably

forecloses it.

JUSTICE SOUTER: Why?

MR. KNEEDLER: Because it's the -- it's the

content of the Board's order that -- that says you have

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60 days to depart and if you do not, the following

consequences attach.

JUSTICE SOUTER: No, but the Board is

saying, look, I'm granting your request -- we are

granting your request for a voluntary departure status

and there are certain consequences that that status

carries. He is saying, on my hypothesis, I relinquish

that status. Why are conditions that attach when he has

the status an indication that he cannot voluntarily

relinquish that status without further action by the

Board?

MR. KNEEDLER: I -- I -- the statute and

regulations just don't provide for it.

JUSTICE BREYER: Well, if they don't provide

for it, and they don't say you can't do it, why isn't it

arbitrary not to let him do it? I mean -- what -- if

it's -- if it's arbitrary --

MR. KNEEDLER: He -- he requested it at the

outset. The case has proceeded on the sense that that

is -- that that is the arrangement, that -- that the

reciprocal benefits and burdens that the Government and

the alien have undertaken --

JUSTICE BREYER: It sounds almost arbitrary

to say to a person, look, if you think you have some new

evidence and want to reopen, do it. But Congress wanted

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you to get out of here in respect to this 60 days, so

you have to give up that. You're not getting those

benefits. Now, it's a tough bargain, but it seems

reasonable.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes, I --

JUSTICE BREYER: What I don't see is to say

once you ask for this you can never get status

adjustment.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. I'm not standing here

defending the contrary position as an overarching policy

matter, because after all the Attorney General's

proposed regulations provide for that. My --

JUSTICE BREYER: So why not apply them to

this person?

MR. KNEEDLER: As they are now drafted they

would apply prospectively. But my only point is that

voluntary departure and motions to reopen are

administered under the statute and the regulations and

the BIA orders that are entered under the current

regulatory framework, which has a different sort of deal

between the alien and the government in mind, and that

JUSTICE GINSBURG: Which you say -- you say

that under the current regime, the voluntary departure

application, granted, is irrevocable. That's --

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MR. KNEEDLER: I think essentially -- I

think essentially yes. I --

JUSTICE GINSBURG: The regulations don't say

that. The regulations are just blank. It doesn't say

and if you do this it's irrevocable.

MR. KNEEDLER: Yes. And I want to qualify

my answer in a further respect -- that regulations with

respect to voluntary departure being granted by the

Board don't say anything like that. But I am informed

by the executive office of immigration review that if

the immigration judge grants voluntary departure and the

alien appeals to the Board, the ordinary course would be

for the Board to reinstate voluntary departure if it

rejects the alien's appeal. But if on appeal the alien

requests that voluntary departure not be reinstated once

the Board's order is entered, then the Board will omit

that from its final order of removal.

But Petitioner here did not request on his

appeal to the Board that the Board not reinstate a --

order a voluntary departure if it had affirmed on the

merits. And so the Board went forward on the assumption

that the alien had requested voluntary departure,

entered an order on that assumption, and once it's

entered, it's a final order that would require some

amendment of the order, in order to -- in order to be

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request for voluntary departure.

I don't think the Court should decide that

question on its own. I think that should be remanded to

the Board. If in the meantime the Attorney General

issues regulations that provide for withdrawal of the

request, maybe because his case would be back before the

Board, those new regulations could be applied. But

whether that -- the alien should be allowed to do that

is fundamentally a question for the Attorney General in

the first instance.

JUSTICE KENNEDY: In one of your -- in one

of your arguments earlier you said the whole idea of

voluntary departure is to expedite the proceedings and

so forth. I assume that voluntary departure is never

elected as an option before the Board rules.

MR. KNEEDLER: It is --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: In other words, it -- or

am I wrong?

MR. KNEEDLER: No. It was elected before

the immigration judge. That's where you request it. If

the immigration judge rejects your arguments against

removability, grants you voluntary departure --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: Yes, but the removal -- at

the outset, you don't elect voluntary departure at the

outset of the hearing?

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MR. KNEEDLER: You can. And you can get 120

days of time to depart. You can do that. People who

don't want to contest the removability at all --

JUSTICE KENNEDY: No, no, no. I mean in a

contested case.

MR. KNEEDLER: Right. In the contested

cases, you would ask for that at the conclusion of the

hearing before the immigration judge. That gets

suspended if you appeal to the BIA because the order is

not final. It doesn't become final until the Board of

Immigration Appeals affirms.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Mr. Kneedler, do you

know what percentage of these motions to reopen are

granted?

MR. KNEEDLER: I do not. I asked that

question, and I do not know the answer to that.

I would like to come back to the fundamental

automatic tolling rule that -- the fundamental

inconsistency of that automatic tolling rule with what

Congress did in 1996, because it shortened to 60 days

the time limit in which an alien can depart.

It also eliminated a prior exception that

had been the law that allowed an exception to the

consequences for somebody who overstayed even the much

longer voluntary departure period for exceptional

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circumstances. Congress repealed that exception.

Prior to 1996, the Board in the case we cite

in our briefs called Matter of Shaar, held that if an

alien is granted voluntary departure and files a motion

to reopen, it rejected two arguments. One is that the

filing of a motion to reopen was itself exceptional

circumstances that eliminated the deadline. It rejected

that. It also in an en banc decision rejected the

automatic tolling rule that Petitioner is arguing for

here under a situation in which Congress had granted a

long time for aliens to voluntarily depart.

We think it defies common sense to suggest

that when Congress compressed the time to 60 days, it

meant to at the same time reverse what the Board had

done in Matter of Shaar and granted an automatic tolling

rule, not even one under the control of the immigration

authorities, but an automatic tolling rule as a matter

of law simply by the unilateral act of filing a motion

to reopen.

And the Board in Matter of Shaar addressed

all of those things. The Board of Immigration Appeals

has filed, followed Matter of Shaar, in the intervening

years since 1997 -- and importantly, I would like to

point this out, too, when Petitioner sought a motion for

reopening, he relied on a Board decision called

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Villarde, which recognized that in some circumstances an

alien may file a motion to reopen to try to get

adjustment of status if there has been intervening

development with respect to an immediate relative

petition filed by a spouse.

The Board adopted that rule in this en banc

published decision Villarde, but said one of the

qualifications for being eligible for that relief is

that you not be barred under Matter of Shaar, which

means you not be barred by having overstayed your

voluntary departure period.

So, in the very procedure that Petitioner

invoked in this case, there is a published Board

decision post-1997 that relies on that -- that relies on

that rationale, and the Board has followed that

consistently. It is at the very least a reasonable

interpretation of the act for the Attorney General not

to allow the undermining of this tightened voluntary

departure system by providing for reopening.

I should also point out that this is not

tolling in the normal sense. Tolling usually arises

where a person has a claim and there is a statute of

limitations for filing a claim before a forum.

Petitioner here was already granted

voluntary departure. The 60-day time limit is not a

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procedural statute of limitations. It is a limitation

on substantive immigration relief. And we think it's

particularly odd that the filing of a procedural motion

to reopen would have the effect of changing the

statutorily limited time in which an alien could

voluntarily depart the United States.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you,

Mr. Kneedler.

Mr. Meade, you have five minutes remaining.

REBUTTAL ARGUMENT OF CHRISTOPHER J. MEADE

ON BEHALF OF THE PETITIONER

MR. MEADE: The government's arguments on

the statutory interpretation in this case are undermined

by its own proposed rule for at least five reasons.

First, their proposed rule makes clear that

the government agrees that the statute can be read to

have multiple meanings.

Second, the proposed rule makes clear that

Congress did not intend voluntary departure recipients

to waive the motion to reopen in accepting voluntary

departure.

Third, the rule stresses the importance of

motions to reopen and their importance in bringing

changed facts to the agency's attention.

Fourth, the proposed rule turns on

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unilateral action of the alien and permits that

unilateral action to terminate the voluntary departure

grant.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Do you agree with counsel

for the government as to how long it typically takes for

these motions to reopen to be disposed of? He said

something like 55 percent take, what, more than --

MR. MEADE: My understanding is that the

time, that the time is actually relatively short, that

they are generally decided within 90 days. They're

procedures passed by the -- by regulation which indicate

that they go to the same Board member. There has been

streamlining procedures by the agency in the early 2000,

2001, 2002 period which helped expedite these. And

actually, the time --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Do you have any

estimate about how many more motions to reopen will have

to be considered if your client prevails in this case?

MR. MEADE: I do not think that there will

be many additional motions to reopen, if that happens.

Certainly, if the government has a -- if the proposed

rule is adopted, the number of motions to reopen will

not be affected, because prospectively, the solution --

the problem will have been solved, and this case we'll

only be dealing with people in the pipeline, people who

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have already made decisions about whether to file a

motion to reopen or not.

So assuming that the government's proposed

rule is enacted in anything like its proposed form, then

there will be no problem going forward.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: No, I don't

understand that, because my -- as I understand it, it

would in every case grant an effective extension of the

time which you would have to depart if you had filed a

motion to reopen.

MR. MEADE: No, that's not correct, with

respect. Under the government's proposed rule, the

alien would be placed in the same position as other

aliens and would be -- and there would be no additional

incentive to file a motion to reopen.

Under the government's proposed rule, the

period would not toll, the voluntary departure grant

would expire, and the alien would be placed in the same

position as otherwise --

JUSTICE ALITO: Isn't it your position that

the statute requires tolling?

MR. MEADE: Our interpretation is the

statute is subject to multiple interpretations. But the

one thing that the statute does not permit is the

solution, the construction that's being proposed by the

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government in this case. The government -- the statute

would permit tolling. The statute permits reconciling

the provisions as the government proposes going forward.

But the one thing that the statute does not permit is

the government's position in this particular litigation.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: You answered my

question with respect to the government's proposed

regulation. But under your position that would allow

the voluntary departure option to remain open, then

anyone who exercised that option would want to file a

motion to reopen because it would extend their time?

MR. MEADE: The motions to reopen are

subject to statutory and regulatory limits. Moreover,

the time period --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: The answer is yes?

MR. MEADE: I'm saying that there -- aliens

could choose to do so, but I disagree that there would

be a -- many additional motions to reopen.

JUSTICE SCALIA: Your answer is yes, but the

Attorney General's rule would prevent that -- proposed

rule would --

MR. MEADE: Yes. That's part of the answer,

yes, Justice Scalia.

But in addition, the length of time of

adjudication is entirely within the agency's control.

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It can take two days, two weeks, two months, or if it

takes longer --

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Not if it has 10,000

of these a year, as you told me in your opening

argument. I mean, it takes some time to address them.

You can't say all they have to do is decide them all

within two days.

MR. MEADE: No. But the answer is that

there -- it is within their control, so the length of

tolling under any tolling rule is not within the control

of the alien. It's within the control of the agency.

This Court -- as to your question, Justice

Alito, on the -- with the regulations with respect to

withdraw in this case, the agency is silent on that.

It's unclear to me why the agency -- may I finish --

it's unclear why the agency did not give my client the

request he requested, and we ask that this Court either

grant tolling or interpret the statute consistent with

the government's proposed rule.

CHIEF JUSTICE ROBERTS: Thank you, counsel.

The case is submitted.

(Whereupon, at 12:07 p.m., the case in the

above-entitled matter was submitted.)

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0 06-1181 1:5 3:4

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12:07 57:22120 19:13 39:24

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2

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30:16 52:25

7 7 1:10

8 80 4:11

9 90 3:14 39:24

40:2 54:1096 29:4,16

us supreme court: 06-1181

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