Court Opinion

ID: 9462549
Source: CourtListenerOpinion
Date Created: 2023-08-04 22:43:25.369103+00
Date Added: 2024-06-11T17:37:38.366970
License: Public Domain

GIBBONS, Circuit Judge
(concurring).
I join in Judge Rosenn’s opinion to the extent that it holds that 8 U.S.C. § 1011(f)(2) does not refer to the definition of adultery in the state criminal law. I do not agree that it incorporates the definition of adultery in state civil law. In the absence of clear guidelines from Congress it seems to me that the approach of the District of Columbia Circuit in Moon Ho Kim v. INS, 514 F.2d 179, 180 (D.C. Cir. 1975), construing the statute as creating a uniform federal definition — viz., extra-marital intercourse which tends to destroy an exist*699ing, viable marriage and which represents a threat to public morality — makes sense.
Admittedly, a more exact formulation could be devised. Moreover, a uniform definition adopted by the agency in rule-making proceedings would be most helpful to the courts. But the interest in uniformity in our immigration and naturalization laws is paramount, so the task of federalizing the definitional standard necessarily devolves upon us. I do not share Judge Rosenn’s concern that an inquiry into the viability of marriages would prove too burdensome and perplexing to the Immigration and Naturalization Service. Indeed, the Immigration Judge made such an inquiry in this very case.
Because application of the Moon Ho Kim standard or a state civil definition leads to the same result in this case, I concur in the judgment of the court.