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Moris Esmelis Campos-Chaves v. Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General

Paid petition · United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit, No. 20-60262 · judgment December 1, 2022


Decided · June 14, 2024
Pre-decision estimate: 9% cert probability (95% interval 6%–13%)

Before the decision, about 2.1× the 4.1% base rate. The model weighted this up for a petition filed soon after the judgment below, a Fifth Circuit decision below, and counsel with five or more prior petitions here.

Question presented

Consolidated with 22-884. The Immigration and Nationality Act provides that a noncitizen who does not appear at a removal hearing shall beordered removed in absentia. but only if she was provided "written notice required under paragraph (l) or (2) of section 1229(a).'' 8 U.S.C. §1229a (b)(5)(A). The Act authorizes rescission of an in absentia order if the noncitizen "did not receive no- tice in accordance with paragraph (1) or (2) of section 1229(a)." Id. §1229a (b)(5)(C)(ii). Paragraph (1) of section 1229(a) requires a single notice document that contains all the information specified in the statute, including the "time and place" of proceedings. See Niz-Chavez v. Garland, 141 S. Ct. 1474, 1480-1485 (2021). Paragraph (2) requires notice of the "new time and place" "in the case of any change or postponement in the time and place of such pro-ceedings." The question presented is: If the government serves an initial notice document that does not include the "time and place" of proceedings, followed by an additional document containing that information, has the government provided notice "required under" and •'in accordance with para- graph (1) or (2) of section 1229(a)" such that an immigration court must enter a removal order in absentia and deny a noncitizen's request to rescind that order?

Counsel of record

For petitioner
Raed Gonzalez
Gonzalez Olivieri LLC

For respondent
Saad Ahmad
Saad Ahmad and Associates

Case

Conference history
Distributed for 2 conferences

Amicus briefs
5 merits
(1 supporting pet./neither, 4 respondent)

Argument & decision

Argued January 8, 2024 — Charles L. McCloud · Easha Anand. Audio and transcript

Decided June 14, 2024. Opinion by Alito.

Proceedings

  1. Jul 16 2024
    Judgment Issued.
  2. Jun 14 2024
    Adjudged to be AFFIRMED (as to No. 22-674); REVERSED (No. 22-884 as to respondent Mendez-Colin), and VACATED AND REMANDED (No. 22-884 as to respondent Singh). Alito, J., delivered the opinion of the Court, in which Roberts, C. J., and Thomas, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, JJ., joined. Jackson, J., filed a dissenting opinion, in which Sotomayor, Kagan, and Gorsuch, JJ., joined. VIDED.
  3. Jan 08 2024
    Argued. For Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General: Charles L. McCloud, Assistant to the Solicitor General, Department of Justice, Washington, D. C. For petitioner in 22-674 and respondents in 22-884: Easha Anand, Stanford, Cal. VIDED.
  4. Dec 06 2023
    Record received from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. The record is electronic and is available with the Clerk.
  5. Nov 30 2023
    CIRCULATED
  6. Nov 17 2023
    Record requested from the United States Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit.
  7. Nov 17 2023
    Reply of respondent Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General filed. VIDED.
  8. Nov 17 2023
    SET FOR ARGUMENT on Monday, January 8, 2024. VIDED.
  9. Nov 06 2023
    Motion for divided argument filed by petitioner in No. 22-674 and respondents in No. 22-884 DENIED. VIDED.
  10. Oct 25 2023
    Brief amici curiae of National Immigrant Justice Center, et al. filed. VIDED.
  11. Oct 25 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Forty-Two Former Immigration Judges and Members of The Board of Immigration Appeals filed. VIDED.
  12. Oct 25 2023
    Brief amici curiae of Lucas Champollion, Brandon Waldon, Masoud Jasbi, Willow Parks, and Cleo Condoravdi filed. VIDED.
  13. Oct 25 2023
    Brief amici curiae of National Immigration Litigation Alliance, et al. filed (11/1/23). VIDED.
  14. Oct 25 2023
    Motion for divided argument filed by petitioner in No. 22-674 and respondents in No. 22-884. VIDED.
  15. Oct 18 2023
    Brief of respondent Varinder Singh filed (as to 22-884).
  16. Oct 18 2023
    Brief of petitioner Moris Esmelis Campos-Chaves filed (as to 22-674).
  17. Oct 18 2023
    Brief of respondent Raul Daniel Mendez-Colin filed. (as to 22-884)
  18. Sep 05 2023
    Brief amicus curiae of Immigration Reform Law Institute filed. VIDED.
  19. Aug 29 2023
    Brief of Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General filed. VIDED.
  20. Aug 29 2023
    Joint appendix filed. VIDED.
  21. Aug 04 2023
    The briefing proposal set forth in the Solicitor General’s letter of July 27, 2023, is adopted. The Solicitor General shall file a consolidated opening brief on the merits, limited to 17,000 words, on or before August 29, 2023. Any brief of an amicus curiae in support, or in support of neither party, shall bear a light green cover. Petitioner in No. 22-674 and respondents in No. 22-884 may each file a response brief on the merits on or before October 18, 2023, and the briefs shall bear light red covers. Any brief of an amicus curiae in support shall bear a dark green cover. The Solicitor General shall file a consolidated reply brief limited to 9,000 words. VIDED
  22. Jul 27 2023
    Letter proposing a briefing schedule filed by the Solicitor General on behalf of the parties filed. VIDED.
  23. Jun 30 2023
    Petition GRANTED. The petition for a writ of certiorari in No. 22-884 is granted. The cases are consolidated, and a total of one hour is allotted for oral argument. VIDED.
  24. Jun 30 2023
    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. 22-674. Subsequent filings in these cases must therefore be submitted through the electronic filing system in No. 22-674. 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.”
  25. Jun 30 2023
    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.
  26. Jun 29 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/29/2023.
  27. Jun 06 2023
    DISTRIBUTED for Conference of 6/22/2023.
  28. Jun 06 2023
    Reply of petitioner Moris Esmelis Campos-Chaves filed. (Distributed)
  29. Mar 24 2023
    Brief of respondent Merrick B. Garland, Attorney General filed.
  30. Feb 01 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response is granted and the time is extended to and including March 24, 2023.
  31. Jan 31 2023
    Motion to extend the time to file a response from February 21, 2023 to March 24, 2023, submitted to The Clerk.
  32. Jan 18 2023
    Petition for a writ of certiorari filed. (Response due February 21, 2023)
  33. Jan 18 2023
    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.