Opinion ID: 786320
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 3

Heading: Reliance as a Guide

Text: 44 One possible reason that conviction has never been considered as the past event in analyzing the effect of the elimination of section 212(c) relief is that, ever since the Supreme Court's ruling in St. Cyr, there has been an overwhelming tendency in immigration retroactivity cases to focus on the question of detrimental reliance. If reliance is the central issue, then retroactivity analysis must focus on some action taken, and a passive event, like conviction, can easily be overlooked. Although there is no denying that considerations of reliance are often illuminating in making retroactivity determinations (indeed, the presence of reliance may very well provide the most compelling indication of unfair retroactivity), detrimental reliance is not the sine qua non of retroactivity analysis. 8 45 On a number of occasions, the Supreme Court has concluded that statutes operate retroactively without considering reliance by the affected parties. See, e.g., Landgraf, 511 U.S. 244, 114 S.Ct. 1483; Rivers, 511 U.S. 298, 114 S.Ct. 1510, 128 L.Ed.2d 274; Hughes Aircraft, 520 U.S. 939, 117 S.Ct. 1871, 138 L.Ed.2d 135. Conversely, in at least one case the Supreme Court has held that a statute did not operate retroactively even when there appeared to have been reliance by the affected party. See Martin v. Hadix, 527 U.S. 343, 361, 119 S.Ct. 1998, 144 L.Ed.2d 347 (1999). 46 Similarly, in this Court's principal immigration cases, although the presence of reliance has been considered when evaluating retroactivity (as in St. Cyr ), the absence of reliance, standing alone, has not compelled the conclusion that a statute lacks retroactive effect. As discussed above, reliance was discussed in Domond, Khan, and Rankine, but only in the negative, i.e., to rebut the petitioners' arguments that their reliance constituted a sufficient reason for finding retroactive effect. The affirmative reason given in those cases for why there was no retroactive effect on the events considered was, as noted before, that deportation consequences do not attach until conviction. In other words, there is no support for the proposition that a showing of reliance is a necessary condition to a finding of retroactive effect. 9 See generally Hughes Aircraft, 520 U.S. at 947, 117 S.Ct. 1871 (noting Landgraf described sufficient, not necessary, conditions for establishing impermissible retroactivity). St. Cyr does not hold otherwise. The existence of reliance supported the holding in St. Cyr, but the holding in St. Cyr does not require the existence of reliance.