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Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General v. Ming Dai

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit, No. 15-70776 · judgment March 8, 2018

Decided · June 1, 2021

Pre-decision estimate: 41% cert probability (95% interval 31%–51%)

Before the decision, about 9.8× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a federal-government petitioner, a Ninth Circuit decision below, and a circuit split argued in the petition.

Questions presented

Consolidated with 19-1156.

Whether a court of appeals may conclusively presume that an asylum applicant's testimony is credible and true whenever an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals adjudicates an application without making an explicit adverse credibility determination.
Whether the court of appeals violated the remand rule as set forth in INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12 (2002) (per curiam), when it determined in the first instance that respondent was eligible for asylum and entitled to withholding of removal.

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Brian H. Fletcher
Acting Solicitor General

For respondent
Neal Kumar Katyal
Milbank LLP

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 1 conference

Amicus briefs
1 cert-stage · 3 merits
(3 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued February 23, 2021 — Colleen R. Sinzdak · Neal K. Katyal · David J. Zimmer. Audio and transcript

Decided June 1, 2021. Opinion by Gorsuch.

Proceedings

Jul 06 2021
JUDGMENT ISSUED.
Jun 01 2021
Judgment VACATED and case REMANDED. Gorsuch, J., delivered the opinion for a unanimous Court. VIDED.
Feb 23 2021
Argued. For petitioner: Colleen R. Sinzdak, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For respondent in 19-1156: Neal K. Katyal, Washington, D. C. For respondent in 19-1155: David J. Zimmer, Boston, Mass. VIDED.
Feb 03 2021
Reply of petitioner Robert M. Wilkinson, Acting Attorney General filed. VIDED. (Distributed)
Jan 28 2021
Record from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit electronic and located on Pacer. Sealed documents in this record was filed electronically.
Jan 25 2021
Record requested from the U.S.C.A. 9th Circuit.
Jan 19 2021
Motion for divided argument filed by respondents GRANTED. VIDED.
Jan 14 2021
CIRCULATED
Jan 11 2021
Brief amici curiae of Refugee Advocacy Organizations filed. VIDED.
Jan 11 2021
Brief amici curiae of Thirty-Five Former Immigration Judges and Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals filed. VIDED.
Jan 11 2021
Brief amici curiae of American Immigration Lawyers Association and National Immigrant Justice Center filed. VIDED.
Jan 04 2021
Brief of respondent Cesar Alcaraz-Enriquez filed (19-1156).
Jan 04 2021
Brief of respondent Ming Dai filed (19-1155).
Jan 04 2021
Joint motion for divided argument filed by respondents. VIDED.
Dec 31 2020
SET FOR ARGUMENT on Tuesday, February 23, 2021. VIDED.
Dec 03 2020
Motion to extend the time to file respondents' briefs on the merits granted and the time is extended to and including January 4, 2021. VIDED.
Dec 01 2020
Motion for an extension of time to file respondents' briefs on the merits filed. VIDED.
Nov 16 2020
Joint appendix filed. (Statement of costs filed 5/12/21). VIDED.
Nov 16 2020
Brief of petitioner William P. Barr, Attorney General filed. VIDED.
Oct 02 2020
Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 19-1156 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
Oct 02 2020
As Rule 34.6 provides, “If the Court schedules briefing and oral argument in a case that was governed by Federal Rule of Civil Procedure 5.2(c) or Federal Rule of Criminal Procedure 49.1(c), the parties shall submit electronic versions of all prior and subsequent filings with this Court in the case, subject to [applicable] redaction rules.” Subsequent party and amicus filings in the case should now be submitted through the Court’s electronic filing system, with any necessary redactions.
Oct 02 2020
Because the Court has consolidated these cases for briefing and oral argument, future filings and activity in the cases will now be reflected on the docket of No. 19-1155. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 19-1155. Each document submitted in connection with one or more of these cases must include on its cover the case number and caption for each case in which the filing is intended to be submitted. Where a filing is submitted in fewer than all of the cases, the docket entry will reflect the case number(s) in which the filing is submitted; a document filed in all of the consolidated cases will be noted as “VIDED.”
Jul 17 2020
Reply of petitioner William P. Barr, Attorney General filed. (Distributed)
Jul 08 2020
DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 9/29/2020.
Jun 19 2020
Brief of respondent Ming Dai in opposition filed.
Apr 20 2020
Brief amicus curiae of Immigration Reform Law Institute filed.
Apr 16 2020
Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including June 19, 2020.
Apr 13 2020
Motion to extend the time to file a response from April 20, 2020 to June 19, 2020, submitted to The Clerk.
Mar 20 2020
Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due April 20, 2020)
Feb 07 2020
Application (19A781) to extend further the time from February 19, 2020 to March 20, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.
Written Request
Feb 07 2020
Application (19A781) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until March 20, 2020.
Jan 10 2020
Application (19A781) to extend the time to file a petition for a writ of certiorari from January 20, 2020 to February 19, 2020, submitted to Justice Kagan.
Main Document
Jan 10 2020
Pursuant to Rule 34.6 and Paragraph 9 of the Guidelines for the Submission of Documents to the Supreme Court's Electronic Filing System, filings in this case should be submitted in paper form only, and should not be submitted through the Court's electronic filing system.
Jan 10 2020
Application (19A781) granted by Justice Kagan extending the time to file until February 19, 2020.