Document ID: ./input/supremecourt_opinions/opinions/21pdf/19-896_2135.pdf
Page Number: 15.0

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JOHNSON v. ARTEAGA-MARTINEZ 

THOMAS, J., concurring 

removal order or otherwise invoke §1252, and because his 
claim “aris[es] from” his removal proceedings, I would va-
cate and remand with instructions to dismiss for lack of ju-
risdiction.  Nonetheless, “because the Court has held that 
we  have  jurisdiction  in  cases  like  these,  and  the  Court’s
opinion  is  otherwise  correct,”  I  join  it  in  full.  Guzman 
Chavez, 594 U. S., at ___ (slip op., at 2) (internal quotation
marks omitted). 

II 
Second, as I have explained elsewhere, there is consider-
able historical evidence that the Due Process Clause does 
not  “apply  to  laws  governing  the  removal  of aliens.”    Ses-
sions v. Dimaya, 584 U. S. ___, ___ (2018) (dissenting opin-
ion)  (slip  op.,  at  6).    But  even  assuming  the  Due  Process
Clause extends to some aliens contesting their removabil-
ity,  it  does  not  protect  from  detention  an  alien  who,  like
Arteaga-Martinez, does not challenge his final removal or-
der.  Illegal aliens deemed removable have no “right of re-
lease into this country.”  Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678, 
703  (2001)  (Scalia,  J.,  dissenting).    Although  the  Court 
properly declines to decide Arteaga-Martinez’s due process 
claim, see ante, at 9, we should revisit whether the Due Pro-
cess Clause applies at all in this context. 

III 
Third,  this  case  illustrates  why  we  should  overrule 
Zadvydas at the earliest opportunity.  There, the Court held 
that §1231(a)(6) “would raise a serious constitutional prob-
lem” under the Fifth Amendment if it permitted “indefinite 
detention of an alien.”  Id., at 690.  To avoid that supposed 
“problem,” the Court deemed “ambiguous” the statutory au-
thorization that a removable alien “may be detained beyond
the  removal  period,”  and  then,  clothed  in  constitutional 
garb,  invoked  that  manufactured  ambiguity  to  graft  a 
made-up  rule  onto  §1231(a)(6).  Id.,  at  697.  Namely,  the