Opinion ID: 784677
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: The BIA's Decision to Affirm Without Opinion the IJ's Decision

Text: 39 The final issue raised by Oforji presents two challenges to the BIA's issuance of a decision without an opinion. Her first argument is a facially-based challenge to the regulation permitting an affirmance without opinion, and her second argument challenges the Board's actual decision to affirm without an opinion in her particular case. 40 At issue is the streamlined procedure found at 8 C.F.R. § 3.1(e)(4) (Sept. 2002) 6 , permitting a single Board Member to affirm, without opinion, the results of an IJ's decision when the Board Member determines: that the result was correct; that any errors were harmless or nonmaterial; and that the issue on appeal is not novel, but is squarely controlled by existing Board or federal case precedent or that the factual and legal issues are not substantial enough to warrant a written opinion. 41 This court has upheld the 1999 streamlining procedures as not depriving the court of a basis for judicial review nor as violating due process. See Georgis v. Ashcroft, 328 F.3d 962, 967 (7th Cir.2003). Oforji fails to articulate any legally significant difference between the 1999 streamlining regulations and the current 2002 streamlining regulations under review and we therefore uphold the 2002 streamlining provisions. 42 The Georgis panel suggested that in some cases, the Board's decision to streamline and not publish an opinion may be subject to judicial review. Id. at n. 4. Regardless, this appeal is not such a case since it merely involves Oforji's misapplication of established legal authority. The present opinion demonstrates that the court may simply conduct a full and fair review of the IJ's decision directly without the intervening step of a written BIA decision. Oforji's appeal is fact-dependent and, [s]ince we review directly the decision of the IJ when a case comes to us from the BIA pursuant to [the streamlining provision], our ability to conduct a full and fair appraisal of the petitioner's case is not compromised, and the petitioner's due process rights are not violated. Id. at 967.