Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/20-979_h3ci.pdf
Page Number: 38.0

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

17 

GORSUCH, J., dissenting 

the majority’s reading of the INA.  Yes, on its account, those 
like  Mr.  Patel  who  are  subject  to  removal  orders  can  still
challenge at least the agency’s legal and constitutional er-
rors by petitioning for review in a federal court of appeals. 
But individuals frequently seek to adjust their status and
secure a green card outside the removal context.  And when 
the government rejects an application for adjustment of sta-
tus in these cases, individuals routinely seek judicial review
in  district  court.  See  Brief  for  Respondent  39;  see  also 
Sanchez  v.  Mayorkas,  593  U. S.  ___,  ___  (2021)  (slip  op., 
at 3) (reviewing one such challenge).  There, subparagraph
(D) does not apply to preserve review of legal and constitu-
tional  questions.    So  under  the  majority’s  construction  of
subparagraph (B)(i), individuals who could once secure ju-
dicial review to correct administrative errors at step one in 
district court are now, after its decision, likely left with no
avenue for judicial relief of any kind.  An agency may err 
about the facts, the law, or even the Constitution and noth-
ing can be done about it. 

Nor is this some small sideshow.  As the government, Mr.
Patel, and amici stress, thousands of individuals seek to ob-
tain a green card every year outside the removal context—
the student hoping to remain in the country, the foreigner 
who  marries  a  U. S.  citizen,  the  skilled  worker  sponsored 
by her employer.  In the last three months of 2021 alone, 
USCIS  denied  more  than  13,000  green-card  applications,
with nearly 790,000 still pending.4  The agency issues deci-
sions on those applications in unpublished and terse letters,
which appear to receive little or no administrative review 
within DHS.  See Brief for National Immigration Litigation 

—————— 

4 See  USCIS,  Number  of  I–485  Applications  to  Register  Permanent 
Residence or Adjust Status by Category, Case Status, and USCIS Field
Office of Service Center Location, October 1, 2021–December 31, 2021, 
https://www.uscis.gov/sites/default/files/document/reports/I485_performance
data_fy2022_qtr1.pdf (May 6, 2022).