Opinion ID: 791779
Heading Depth: 2
Heading Rank: 2

Heading: Discretion and the Chevron Analysis

Text: 50 The government first argues that we owe § 1245.1(c)(8) even greater deference than the two-step Chevron structure would provide. Specifically, the government contends that § 1245.1(c)(8) is a mere exercise of the discretion that the statute explicitly entrusts to the Attorney General, and therefore cannot be overruled by a court. We could not second-guess the Attorney General's decision to deny adjustment in a specific instance, see 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(i), and the government contends that we have no more authority to question the Attorney General's decision to exercise this discretion by across-the-board regulation rather than by case-by-case decisionmaking. 51 In support of this argument, the government points to Attorney General Janet Reno's explanation of § 1245.1(c)(8) at the time of its promulgation. Although the regulation governs eligibility, the explanation was specifically phrased in terms of the Attorney General's discretion: 52 Consistent with Congress' intent that arriving aliens ... be removed in an expedited manner through the procedures provided in section 235(b)(1) of the Act [8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(1)], the Attorney General has determined that she will not favorably exercise her discretion to adjust the status of arriving aliens who are ordered removed pursuant to section 235(b)(1) of the Act or who are placed in removal proceedings under section 240 of the Act [8 U.S.C. § 1229a].... If the Service decides as a matter of prosecutorial discretion, not to initiate removal proceedings but to parole the arriving alien, the alien will be able to apply for adjustment of status before the district director. 53 62 Fed. Reg. 444, 452 (1997). 54 As further support for its position, the government cites Lopez v. Davis, 531 U.S. 230, 121 S.Ct. 714, 148 L.Ed.2d 635 (2001). In Lopez, the Court considered a Bureau of Prisons (BOP) regulation denying early release to prisoners whose offense involved a firearm. Lopez, a prisoner, argued that this regulation was inconsistent with the governing statute, which provides that the BOP may grant early release to any prisoner convicted of a nonviolent offense who successfully completed a substance abuse treatment program. See 18 U.S.C. § 3621(e)(2)(B). The Court determined that the BOP was entitled to exercise its discretionary authority by categorical regulation, and was not confined to case-by-case assessments. 531 U.S. at 244, 121 S.Ct. 714. 55 Lopez supports the government's argument that the Attorney General may use regulation to define the contours of his discretion. But Lopez is a double-edged sword, for it does not stand for the proposition that the statutory grant of discretion to the Attorney General renders his exercise of that discretion functionally unreviewable. Instead, Lopez puts this discretionary authority squarely within the second step of the Chevron framework: 56 Beyond instructing that the Bureau has discretion to reduce the period of imprisonment for a nonviolent offender who successfully completes drug treatment, Congress has not identified any further circumstance in which the Bureau either must grant the reduction, or is forbidden to do so. In this familiar situation, where Congress has enacted a law that does not answer the precise question at issue, all we must decide is whether the Bureau, the agency empowered to administer the early release program, has filled the statutory gap in a way that is reasonable in light of the legislature's revealed design. 57 Lopez, 531 U.S. at 242, 121 S.Ct. 714 (quoting NationsBank of N.C., N.A. v. Variable Annuity Life Ins. Co., 513 U.S. 251, 257, 115 S.Ct. 810, 130 L.Ed.2d 740 (1995) (citing Chevron, 467 U.S. at 842, 104 S.Ct. 2778)); see also Mouelle, 416 F.3d at 929-30. 58 Thus, we find that, to the extent that the statute grants the Attorney General the discretion to create categorical eligibility rules for adjustment of status, those rules are nonetheless subject to review for reasonableness under the second prong of the Chevron test.