Opinion ID: 779123
Heading Depth: 5
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: The Government Interprets Kleindienst Too Broadly

Text: 19 The Government's blanket reliance on Kleindienst ignores the varied aspects of immigration law. Immigration includes substantive laws over who may enter or remain in this country, laws governing procedural aspects of immigration hearings, and regulations on the mechanics of deportation. Although acknowledging the political branches' plenary power over all substantive immigration laws and non-substantive immigration laws that do not implicate constitutional rights, the Supreme Court has repeatedly allowed for meaningful judicial review of non-substantive immigration laws where constitutional rights are involved. Kleindienst did not change these long-standing traditions. 20 In Kleindienst, Ernest Mandel, a self-proclaimed revolutionary Marxist and Belgian citizen, sought entry into the United States to speak at a conference at Stanford University. Kleindienst, 408 U.S. at 756-59, 92 S.Ct. 2576. Mandel applied for and was denied a non-immigrant visa under a blanket provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act, § 212(a)(28), prohibiting the entrance of anarchists or persons advocating the overthrow of the government. Id. at 759, 92 S.Ct. 2576. In excluding Mandel, the Attorney General declined to exercise his discretionary authority to waive this prohibition. Id. 21 Several professors brought suit alleging a violation of their First Amendment rights. The Court stated the issue as this: Whether the First Amendment confers upon the appellee professors, because they wish to hear, speak, and debate with Mandel in person, the ability to determine that Mandel should be permitted to enter the country or, in other words, to compel the Attorney General to allow Mandel's admission. Id. at 762, 92 S.Ct. 2576. The Court, while acknowledging that the professors' First Amendment rights were implicated, affirmed the decision denying Mandel a visa. The Court stated: 22 [p]lenary congressional power to make policies and rules for exclusion of aliens has long been firmly established. In the case of an alien excludable under § 212(a)(28), Congress has delegated conditional exercise of this power to the Executive. We hold that when the Executive exercises this power negatively on the basis of a facially legitimate and bona fide reason, the courts will neither look behind the exercise of that discretion, nor test it by balancing its justification against the First Amendment interests of those who seek personal communication with the applicant. 23 Id. at 769-70, 92 S.Ct. 2576 (emphasis added). 24 Kleindienst differs from the present case in two important, and related, ways. First, Kleindienst involved a substantive immigration decision. The law and decision at issue determined who entered the United States. Here, the Creppy directive has no effect on the eventual outcome of the deportation hearings. Second, Kleindienst, although recognizing a constitutional right, did not give any weight to that right. It specifically declined to balance the First Amendment right against the government's plenary power, because the law was a substantive immigration law. Therefore, if the First Amendment limits non-substantive immigration laws, Kleindienst offers no authority that the Government's actions are entitled to deferential review — Kleindienst ignored the existence of the professors' First Amendment rights altogether. Nor does it offer authority that the First Amendment does not limit non-substantive immigration laws — Kleindienst involved a substantive immigration law. In a case such as this, where a non-substantive immigration law involving a constitutional right is at issue, the Supreme Court has always recognized the importance of that constitutional right, never deferring to an assertion of plenary authority. 25