Garland v. Gonzalez

Summary

Justice Alito, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Thomas, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, held that 8 U.S.C. §1252(f)(1) deprived the District Courts of jurisdiction to award class-wide injunctions requiring bond hearings for aliens detained under §1231(a)(6). The restriction encompasses injunctions against allegedly unlawful implementation of the covered immigration provisions, and its exception for an individual alien does not authorize class-wide relief. The Court reversed the Ninth Circuit judgments and remanded without deciding whether the restriction extends to declaratory relief or suits involving multiple named plaintiffs. Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justice Kagan and by Justice Breyer as to Parts II–A–2, II–B–2, and III, concurred in the judgment in part and dissented in part. She agreed that the Government should prevail on the bond-hearing merits under Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez, but argued that §1252(f)(1) preserves authority to compel statutory compliance and to grant class-wide relief to individuals already in removal proceedings.