Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-979_h3ci.pdf
Page Number: 24

Cite as:  596 U. S. ____ (2022) 

3 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

But then a problem emerged.  Several months after filing 
his  application,  Mr.  Patel  sought  to  renew  his  Georgia
driver’s license.  When filling out the renewal form, Mr. Pa-
tel  answered  the  question  “Are  you  a  U. S.  citizen?”  by 
checking a box that said “yes.”  After discovering Mr. Patel’s 
erroneous  checkmark,  Georgia  authorities  charged  him
with  willfully  falsifying  his  driver’s  license  application. 
Later, however, the State dropped its prosecution after con-
cluding it lacked sufficient evidence to prove a crime.  Not 
only has Mr. Patel consistently claimed that he intended to
deceive no one and that he simply ticked the wrong box by 
mistake.  Under Georgia law, Mr. Patel was eligible to re-
ceive  a  license  without  being  a  citizen  because  he  had  a 
pending  application  seeking  lawful  permanent  residence
and a valid employment authorization document.  See Ga. 
Comp. Rules & Regs., Rules 375–3–1.02(3)(e), (7) (2022). 

Apparently,  the  Department  of  Homeland  Security
(DHS)  saw  things  differently.  Operating  through  United
States Citizenship and Immigration Services (USCIS), the 
agency denied Mr. Patel’s application for adjustment of sta-
tus, citing his faulty driver’s license application.  According
to USCIS, Mr. Patel’s conduct rendered him statutorily in-
eligible for adjustment of status under a provision that ex-
cludes any alien who “falsely represents . . . himself . . . to 
be a citizen of the United States” to obtain a “benefit under 
. . .  State 
§§ 1182(a)(6)(C)(ii)(I), 
8  U. S. C. 
1255(i)(2)(A).  On USCIS’s view, Mr. Patel’s application for 
adjustment of status failed at the first step—and the Attor-
ney General was wholly without discretion to afford him re-
lief at the second. 

law.” 

B 
Some months later, the government elected to bring re-
moval proceedings against Mr. Patel.  As a defense to re-
moval, Mr. Patel renewed his application for adjustment of 
status consistent with regulations permitting him to do so.