Court Opinion

ID: 9574439
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-21 21:04:55.866379+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T12:44:33.425399
License: Public Domain

CUDAHY, Circuit Judge,
dissenting.
In Ali v. Gonzales, 502 F.3d 659 (7th Cir.2007), we adopted a view, which (as that opinion acknowledged) is in a minority one among the circuits, with respect to our jurisdiction over appeals from denials of continuances. Six of our sister courts had concluded that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) did not preclude federal appellate courts from reviewing orders denying such motions. Only the Eighth and Tenth Circuits had held that § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii) precludes federal courts of appeals from reviewing an immigration judge’s denial of a continuance. Id. at 664 (citing Yerkovich v. Ashcroft, 381 F.3d 990, 993-95 (10th Cir.2004); Onyinkwa v. Ashcroft, 376 F.3d 797, 799 (8th Cir.2004)). Yet even these courts continue to exercise jurisdiction over motions to reopen. See Miah v. Mukasey, 519 F.3d 784, 789 n. 1 (8th Cir.2008); Thongphilack v. Gonzales, 506 F.3d 1207, 1209-10 (10th Cir.2007). The principal opinion would cause us to become a minority within the minority, giving the executive branch the authority to insulate its decisions from judicial review where there is no clear indication in the statute that Congress intended to strip us of our jurisdiction. Our isolated posture in this respect may give us pause here.
In approaching the problem presented by the present case, I believe that the first effort should be to reconcile Ali with Singh v. Gonzales, 404 F.3d 1024 (7th Cir. 2005) since the policies underlying stare decisis suggest the preferability of reconciliation of precedent to its rejection in whole or in part. McClain v. Retail Food Employers Joint Pension Plan, 413 F.3d 582, 586 (7th Cir.2005). And I believe that these two precedents may be comfortably reconciled.
In Singh, we held that the lack of “specific language entrusting the decision on a motion to reopen to ‘the discretion of the Attorney General’ ” meant that the court had jurisdiction to review the BIA’s decision on a motion to reopen. Singh, 404 F.3d at 1026-27 (quoting 8 U.S.C. § 1252(a)(2)(B)(ii)). In Ali the petitioner appealed an immigration judge’s denial of his motion for a continuance. We found that although continuances were mentioned only in immigration regulations and not in a statute, an immigration judge’s authority to grant a continuance derives from a statute. Ali, 502 F.3d at 663 (citing 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(a)(l) & (b)(1)). We reasoned that
the immigration judge’s authority to conduct and control the course of removal proceedings is “specified in” subchap-ter II of the INA, and this necessarily encompasses the discretion to continue *541the proceedings, whether on the motion of a party or sua sponte. The jurisdictional bar therefore applies to continuance decisions.
Id. (emphasis in original).
I do not think Singh and Ali are necessarily incompatible. 8 U.S.C. § 1229a(b) makes clear that the immigration judge has plenary power over the conduct of removal proceedings and gives examples of the kinds of discretionary acts the judge may perform in the course of the proceedings. In contrast, § 1229a(c)(7), the section governing motions to reopen, says nothing at all about the agency’s authority to decide motions to reopen. Rather, it simply lays out the requirements an alien must fulfill when filing a motion to reopen.
Ultimately, the principal opinion rests its rejection of Singh upon the focus of the Real ID Act upon judicial reviewability of “constitutional claims or questions of law.” According to the principal opinion this eliminates the need for a narrow reading of jurisdiction-stripping provisions and meets the judiciary’s principal concern in this area. I think this exercise in judicial psychoanalysis must yield to broader principles favoring judicial review of administrative decisions.
There is a “strong presumption that Congress intends judicial review of administrative action.” Traynor v. Turnage, 485 U.S. 535, 542, 108 S.Ct. 1372, 99 L.Ed.2d 618 (1988) (citation omitted). It is only a presumption, of course, not an ironclad rule, and is overcome where it is clear that Congress intended to strip federal courts of their power to review agency decisions. Id. Part of our rationale in Ali was based on the fact that Ali was seeking an adjustment of status under 8 U.S.C. § 1255. Section 1252(a)(2)(B)© expressly bars us from reviewing such decisions, providing that “no court shall have jurisdiction to review (i) any judgment regarding the granting of relief under section ... 1255 of this title.” A clear Congressional command would have barred our review of the final decision, and statutory language suggested the plenary nature of the IJ’s authority over the procedural steps on the way to that unreviewable final decision. Thus, Ali’s continuance motion “was a procedural step along the way to an unreviewable final decision.” Ali, 502 F.3d at 664.
In contrast, the underlying relief sought in the present case is asylum — a discretionary but reviewable decision — and there is no statutory language suggesting the level of deference to be afforded a denial of a motion to reopen. As the concurrence points out, the rationale of the principal opinion would bar our review of motions to reconsider, which are based on errors of law and fact. Absent “ ‘specific language or specific legislative history that is a reliable indicator of congressional intent,’ or a specific congressional intent to preclude judicial review that is ‘fairly discernible in the detail of the legislative scheme,’ ” Traynor, 485 U.S. at 542, 108 S.Ct. 1372, 99 L.Ed.2d 618 (quoting Bowen v. Mich. Acad. 76 U.S. 667, 673, 106 S.Ct. 2133, 90 L.Ed.2d 623 (1986)), I am reluctant to broaden the immunity from review of an administrative process not necessarily renowned for its reliability.