Opinion ID: 791870
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Guaylupo-Moya's Argument Based on Beharry and International Law

Text: 31 Having rejected Guaylupo-Moya's argument under the traditional Landgraf framework, we now turn to his reliance on Beharry. Similar to the facts in this appeal, Beharry involved a permanent lawful resident who was convicted, upon a plea of guilty, in November 1996 (after IIRIRA's enactment) for a theft committed in July 1996 (prior to IIRIRA), and whose conviction resulted in less than five years' imprisonment. See Beharry v. Reno, 183 F.Supp.2d 584, 586-87 (E.D.N.Y.2002), rev'd on jurisdictional grounds sub nom. Beharry v. Ashcroft, 329 F.3d 51 (2d Cir.2003). Under section 212(h) as amended by IIRIRA, Beharry was ineligible for discretionary relief because he was classified as an aggravated felon, but, under the law when the crime was committed, Beharry's offense would not have been classified an aggravated felony. On a petition for writ of habeas corpus, Beharry sought various forms of relief, including the right to a hearing under section 212(c). While the Beharry court found the requested relief unavailable, it found that Beharry was entitled to a hearing for compassionate relief under section 212(h), read in light of international law, because Beharry would not have been deemed an aggravated felon under the law when the offense was committed. Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 603, 604-05. 32 The District Court reviewing Guaylupo-Moya's petition correctly observed that the facts of the case fall squarely within the holding in Beharry. In addressing Guaylupo-Moya's argument under Beharry, we first examine the Beharry opinion itself before explaining why we now hold that the reasoning of the decision cannot support the relief it attempted to provide.
33 The international law argument in Beharry is premised largely on the  Charming Betsy principle that statutes, whenever possible, should be construed to conform with international law. See Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 598-99 (citing Murray v. The Schooner Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) 64, 118, 2 L.Ed. 208 (1804) (Marshall, C.J.)) ([A]n act of Congress ought never to be construed to violate the law of nations, if any other possible construction remains. . . .). This argument arose in the context of our 2001 decisions in Domond and Kuhali, which precluded a claim that applying IIRIRA would be impermissibly retroactive under the second Landgraf step and also precluded any contention that a retrospective application of IIRIRA would risk violating due process or the Ex Post Facto Clause. The Beharry court noted, however, that neither  Kuhali nor Domond ruled on the international law questions presented in the instant case, see id. at 589, and it declared that [v]iewed from the perspective of the international law reviewed in this memorandum beginning with Charming Betsy, the rationales of Domond and Kuhali fail to account for the full necessary interpretive statutory background, see id. at 591. The Beharry court thus presented the argument that an application of IIRIRA in Beharry's case would violate international law and that, notwithstanding Second Circuit precedent, section 212(h) should be construed to avoid such a violation. 34 In laying out the applicable international law, Beharry reviewed the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR), Dec. 19, 1966, 999 U.N.T.S. 171, the United Nations Universal Declaration of Human Rights (UDHR), G.A. Res. 217(III)A, U.N. Doc. A/810 (1948), and the Convention on the Rights of the Child (CRC), Nov. 20, 1989, 1577 U.N.T.S. 3, reprinted in 28 I.L.M. 1448, 1456. Beharry explained that those international law sources provide, for example, that an alien lawfully residing in a territory `be allowed to submit the reasons against his expulsion' and that `[n]o one shall be subjected to arbitrary or unlawful interference with his . . . family.' See id. at 595 (ellipsis in original) (quoting ICCPR arts. 13, 17); see also id. (noting that UDHR art. 9 prohibits the imposition of `arbitrary . . . exile'); id. at 596 (citing provisions of CRC that provide, in essence, that the best interests of the child — including the right to be cared for by parents — should be a primary consideration and should be protected). Beharry declared that separating an alien from his family without allowing him to submit family hardship reasons against deportation would violate various provisions of the cited documents. See id. at 595-96. 35 As Beharry noted, however, none of the above sources of international law have the effect of domestic law. The ICCPR is a signed and ratified treaty, but it came with attached Reservations, Understandings, and Declarations (RUDs) declaring that it is not self-executing. See id. at 595; see also 138 Cong. Rec. 8068, 8071 (1992); S. Exec. Rep. No. 102-23, 102d Cong., 2d Sess. (1992) (Declarations ¶ 1), reprinted in 31 I.L.M. 645, 659 (1992). Self-executing treaties generally have the force of domestic law and can be directly enforced by courts. See Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 593; see also Cheung v. United States, 213 F.3d 82, 94-95 (2d Cir.2000). But when a treaty is not self-executing, the treaty does not provide independent, privately enforceable rights. See Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 593; see also Flores v. S. Peru Copper Corp., 343 F.3d 140, 163 n. 35 (2d Cir.2003) (explaining that ICCPR does not create private, directly enforceable rights because the Senate declared that it is not self-executing). Beharry similarly acknowledged that the UDHR is not a treaty and that the CRC has been signed but never ratified by the United States. Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 596. 36 Despite their not having the effect of domestic law, Beharry contended that the ICCPR, UDHR, and CRC could play a role in statutory construction. In particular, Beharry discussed the nature and impact of customary international law in light of the Charming Betsy principle that courts should interpret legislation in harmony with international law and norms wherever possible. See id. at 598. The Beharry court acknowledged that Congress may override provisions of customary international law. Id. at 599 (citing The Paquete Habana, 175 U.S. 677, 694, 20 S.Ct. 290, 44 L.Ed. 320 (1900)). But Beharry contended that in order to overrule customary international law, Congress must enact domestic legislation which both postdates the development of a customary international law norm, and which clearly has the intent of repealing that norm. Beharry, 183 F.Supp.2d at 599; see also id. at 600 (Where a statute appears to contradict international law, an appropriate remedy is to construe the statute so as to resolve the contradiction. Customary international law is legally enforceable unless superceded by a clear statement from Congress. Such a statement must be unequivocal. Mere silence is insufficient to meet this standard. (citation omitted)). The Beharry court further found that Congress has not expressed a clear intent to overrule . . . customary international law as expressed in the CRC, in particular. Id. at 604. 37 The Beharry court determined that, as interpreted and implemented against Beharry, IIRIRA would conflict with treaty-based (ICCPR-based) and customary (CRC-based) international law, and the court contended that such violations raised a potential constitutional issue: Since both statutes and international law are enforceable under the Constitution's Supremacy Clause, the statute should be construed in conformity with international law to avoid a constitutional issue if fairly possible. Id. at 604 (internal quotation omitted). The Beharry court thus sought to make the minimal changes necessary to bring the statute into compliance with international law and crafted a narrowly targeted remedy of limiting IIRIRA's applicability to prior criminal conduct: 38 It would be a violation of international law to categorically deny to all [aliens otherwise eligible under section 212(h)] who have been denominated after their crime was committed as aggravated felons, relief under the provision. The statutory provision No waiver shall be provided . . . if . . . the alien has been convicted of an aggravated felony should be narrowly construed so as to accord with international law. That can be done by ruling that section 212(h) waivers are available for aliens, including petitioner, who meet its stringent requirements of seven years residence and extreme hardship to family — if these aliens have been convicted of an aggravated felony as defined after they committed their crime, but which was not so categorized when they committed the crime. 39 Id. at 604-05. Beharry concluded by calling on this Court to reconsider Domond and Kuhali and to redefine the operative time from which to define retroactivity under the statute [as] the moment the crime was committed, rather than the date of conviction. Id. at 605. Doing so, the Beharry court stated, would obviously be a more comfortable rationale than one [such as in Beharry ] depending upon international law ex proprio vigore.  Id. 40 Before addressing the merits of Beharry, we note that Judge Weinstein in Beharry is not the only judge to express doubts about our decision in Domond, 11 and there is no question that the principles of international law cited in Beharry reflect high and noble aspirations for the United States and the nations of the world. But the precise role of international law in the Beharry analysis is not entirely clear. In one sense, Beharry can be read as offering a relatively modest — though not uncontroversial — principle of statutory construction: that a court should interpret statutes, when ambiguous, to conform to international law. Alternatively, some portions of Beharry can be read to expound a more radical view that treaties (even if non-self-executing) and emerging customary international law can override domestic law unless and until Congress expressly repudiates the international norms. While Beharry found that Congress did not express a specific intent to override principles of customary international law, it apparently assumed, without discussion, that Congress's intent was not clear on whether IIRIRA's restriction on section 212(h) relief applies to prior criminal conduct. As will be explained, the clarity of Congress's intent as to IIRIRA and section 212(h) is ultimately dispositive in this case. 41 Moreover, there are number of premises underlying the Beharry decision that are highly controversial. For example, it is not clear that the international law documents cited in Beharry rise to the level of customary international law. And courts' ability to look to international law when interpreting even ambiguous statutes is, of course, a hotly contested issue. Beyond those issues is the question of whether a retroactive application of IIRIRA actually conflicts with the provisions of the ICCPR and CRC at all. But, for the reasons explained below, we need not resolve these issues because Congress's intent is this case is clear. Even accepting, arguendo, that several of these controversial premises could be resolved favorably to the Beharry rationale, it is Congress's clear intent that controls in this case. 12
42 In its most doctrinally sound form, Beharry can be read as applying the Charming Betsy principle that, where legislation is ambiguous, it should be interpreted to conform to international law. Indeed, we recently recognized the Charming Betsy principle in United States v. Yousef, 327 F.3d 56 (2d Cir.) (per curiam), cert. denied, 540 U.S. 933, 124 S.Ct. 353, 157 L.Ed.2d 241 (2003), where we stated: While it is permissible for United States law to conflict with customary international law, where legislation is susceptible to multiple interpretations, the interpretation that does not conflict with `the law of nations' is preferred. Id. at 92 (citing Charming Betsy, 6 U.S. (2 Cranch) at 118). As we explained in Yousef, however, the  Charming Betsy canon comes into play only where Congress's intent is ambiguous. Id. If a statute makes plain Congress's intent . . . then Article III courts, which can overrule Congressional enactments only when such enactments conflict with the Constitution, must enforce the intent of Congress irrespective of whether the statute conforms to customary international law. Id. at 93 (citation omitted); see also Comm. of U.S. Citizens Living in Nicaragua v. Reagan, 859 F.2d 929, 938-39 (D.C.Cir.1988) (explaining that statutes supercede inconsistent customary international law); United States v. Pinto-Mejia, 720 F.2d 248, 259 (2d Cir.1984) ([I]n enacting statutes, Congress is not bound by international law. . . . As long as Congress has expressly indicated its intent to reach [certain conduct], a United States court would be bound to follow the Congressional direction unless this would violate the [Constitution]. (internal quotations omitted)). 43 As discussed above, Congress's intent in this case is clear: Section 348 of IIRIRA (which restricts section 212(h) relief for aggravated felons) and section 321 of IIRIRA (which expands the definition of aggravated felony) apply to criminal acts and convictions occurring prior to IIRIRA's enactment. Thus, in this case, Congress's intent is controlling, even if we assume the existence of the customary international law on which Beharry relies and assume that the application of IIRIRA would be in conflict with those customary norms. Similarly, even if the ICCPR had created treaty obligations that, as Beharry claims, would be violated by applying IIRIRA to aliens such as Beharry or Guaylupo-Moya, clear congressional action supercedes prior treaty obligations to the extent they are inconsistent. See Empresa Cubana Del Tabaco v. Culbro Corp., 399 F.3d 462, 481 (2d Cir.2005) (`[L]egislative acts trump treaty-made international law' when those acts are passed subsequent to ratification of the treaty and clearly contradict treaty obligations. (quoting Yousef, 327 F.3d at 110)); Bradvica v. INS, 128 F.3d 1009, 1014 n. 5 (7th Cir.1997) ([C]ustomary international law is not applicable in domestic courts where there is a controlling legislative act . . . . And a prior treaty does not trump the provisions of a subsequent legislative act.); Comm. of U.S. Citizens Living in Nicaragua, 859 F.2d at 936 ([T]reaties and statutes enjoy equal status and therefore . . . inconsistencies between the two must be resolved in favor of the lex posterior. ). Even if IIRIRA's restriction on section 212(h) relief were inconsistent with the ICCPR, IIRIRA's enactment in 1996 post-dates the ICCPR, and thus IIRIRA would be controlling. 13 44 Because Congress's intent in this case is clear and controlling, we need not decide whether and/or how, in other contexts, international law may be used to construe ambiguous statutes; nor do we need to decide whether an application of IIRIRA in this context actually violates international law, as argued in Beharry. For the purposes of this decision, we need only observe that Beharry was incorrect in the following respects. First, to the extent that Beharry purports to interpret an ambiguous statute to avoid a conflict with international law, it failed to determine whether the relevant provisions of IIRIRA were indeed ambiguous as to their application to prior conduct. Because the relevant provisions are unambiguous, Beharry improperly sought to apply the Charming Betsy canon. Second, to the extent that Beharry purports to declare that international law should override the plain language and effect of the relevant statutes, that reasoning was in error, clear congressional action trumps customary international law and previously enacted treaties. 45 Moreover, to the extent that Guaylupo-Moya argues that United States treaty obligations independently entitle him to a compassionate hearing — as opposed to influencing our construction of section 212(h) — that argument is without merit. (Indeed, not even Beharry stands for such a proposition.) The only ratified treaty cited in Beharry and by Guaylupo-Moya, the ICCPR, came with attached RUDs declaring that the ICCPR is not self-executing. This declaration means that the provisions of the ICCPR do not create a private right of action or separate form of relief enforceable in United States courts. See Flores v. S. Peru Copper Corp., 343 F.3d 140, 163 n. 35 (2d Cir.2003) (explaining that the ICCPR does not create a private right of action because the Senate declared that it is not self-executing); Igartua De La Rosa v. United States, 32 F.3d 8, 10 n. 1 (1st Cir.1994) (per curiam) (same), cert. denied, 514 U.S. 1049, 115 S.Ct. 1426, 131 L.Ed.2d 308 (1995).