Opinion ID: 3040378
Heading Depth: 4
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Governing Legal Principles - the St. Cyr/

Text: Landgraf Test [1] Courts apply a two-step test to determine whether legislation is impermissibly retroactive. This test is set forth in INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289, 316 (2001), and Landgraf v. USI Film Products, 511 U.S. 244, 280 (1994). The first step requires that we “ascertain whether Congress has directed with the requisite clarity that the law be applied retrospectively.” St. Cyr, 533 U.S. at 316. The statutory language must be “so clear that it [can] sustain only one interpretation.” Id. at 317. If Congress’s intent is sufficiently clear from the text and legislative history, then the statute may be applied retroactively, and the court need not address the second step. See id. at 316 (“[I]t is beyond dispute that . . . Congress has the power to enact laws with retrospective effect” where Congress clearly intends to do so). [2] Step two must be employed where Congress’s retroactive intent is not clear. We must then determine whether application of the act violates the Due Process Clause and consequently has a “retroactive effect.” Landgraf, 511 U.S. at 280. “If the statute would operate retroactively, our traditional presumption teaches that it does not govern absent clear congressional intent favoring such a result.” Id.