Supreme Court of the United States, 27 February 2018, Jennings v. Rodriguez, 15-1204

Abstract

In Jennings v. Rodriguez, the United States Supreme reversed a lower court decision holding that some classes of detained immigrants have the right to regular bond hearings during their prolonged detention. In a 5-3 decision, the Court ruled that the Ninth Circuit had incorrectly used the canon of constitutional avoidance to read a six-month limit into sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act (INA) that allow for detention without the possibility of bond. The Court remanded the case to the Ninth Circuit so that it could consider the petitioners’ constitutional arguments in the first instance, more specifically the claim that a prolonged detention without bond hearings is a violation of their rights under the Fifth and Eight Amendments of the U.S. constitution. This case has broad implications for U.S. immigration detention policy. Unless the courts uphold detainees’ due process rights, detained immigrants will continue to be unjustifiably locked up for years by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).