Opinion ID: 769911
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 1

Heading: Irreconcilable Conflict

Text: 47 First, whatever the purpose of the new definition of conviction as it affects state convictions in general, the provision need not be read as effecting an implied partial repeal of the First Offender Act. The two statutes may be construed in a manner that resolves any potential conflict by establishing a narrow exception to the later statute for proceedings subject to the earlier Act: under such a construction of the new definition, a conviction occurs whenever there is a finding or admission of guilt coupled with some punishment, except where that finding is directly subject to the First Offender Act or would be subject to it and has been expunged pursuant to a state rehabilitation statute. 48 Both this court and the Supreme Court have found no irreconcilable conflict where, by creating minor exceptions to later-enacted statutes based on earlier ones, both statutes can be preserved. The closest analogy may be found in Donaldson v. United States, 653 F.2d 414 (9th Cir. 1981), where we considered two statutes imposing different duties on the United States Navy in its capacity as the operator of a lake resort. Donaldson broke his neck when he dove into a reservoir operated, partly for recreational purposes, by the Navy. The earlier-enacted statute imposed stringent duties upon resort owners, with which the Navy did not comply. However, the later-enacted statute, which applied to all real property owners, stated that the owner owes no duty of care to keep the premises safe for . . . any recreational purpose.  Id. at 416 n.1. 49 We found no conflict, holding that the resort provision can continue as a minor exception to the general rule set forth in [the later statute] without shredding the protection of landowners that the latter section was intended by the legislature to forge. At most this leaves a small puncture in a broad shield. Id. at 418. The relationship between the statutes before us is analogous to that in Donaldson. Even if the INS's interpretation of the new law were generally correct and the new definition did eliminate the effect of rehabilitative statutes in the immigration context generally, the First Offender Act could continue to function as a minor exception, covering only one small category of first-time offenses -a minor exception that would not frustrate the broad purposes of the new definition. 50 Other cases have reached similar results. In Radzanower, the Supreme Court declined to find an implied repeal of an earlier-enacted venue provision for national banks, even though a later-enacted inconsistent venue provision for securities actions applied, by its terms, to a broadclass of institutions that included national banks. 426 U.S. at 153. 27 As in Donaldson, the Court found that the earlier provision established a narrow exception to the broad, later-enacted provision, rather than holding that the two statutes were in irreconcilable conflict. 51 We have also declined to find irreconcilable conflict in a recent case involving a later-enacted immigration statute and an earlier-enacted statute concerning a different area. In NLRB v. Kolkka, 170 F.3d 937 (9th Cir. 1999), we considered an employer's argument that as a result of the passage of the Immigration Reform and Control Act (IRCA), undocumented aliens were no longer protected by the National Labor Relations Act (NLRA). Although the earlier-enacted statute, by its terms, protected the alien workers, the defendant argued that the provision had been partially repealed by implication -in the immigration context -because IRCA makes it illegal to employ undocumented workers. Id. at 940. We found no irreconcilable conflict, holding instead that both statutes could be preserved. Specifically, we concluded that an employer could not, in order to enforce IRCA, violate the NLRA and expressly rejected the employer's argument that the later statute effected an implied [partial] statutory repeal of the earlier act. Id. at 941. 52 These cases alone dictate our conclusion that there is no irreconcilable conflict between the two statutes at issue here, and therefore no basis for finding an implied repeal. We need only construe the later-enacted immigration law as subject to the minor exception required by the provisions of the earlierenacted First Offender Act. Under the construction that precedent requires us to adopt, the small number of aliens who commit first time simple drug possession offenses that are expunged are not subject to removal on account of those offenses, but all others convicted of drug or other offenses covered by the immigration laws, are. Thus, we follow the mandate of Supreme Court and Ninth Circuit precedents in rejecting the suggestion of repeal by implication where the earlier statute can be preserved by reading a minor exception into the later statute.