Santos-Zacaria v. Garland

Summary

Justice Jackson's opinion, joined by Chief Justice Roberts and Justices Sotomayor, Kagan, Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Barrett, held that 8 U.S.C. § 1252(d)(1)'s administrative-exhaustion requirement is nonjurisdictional and subject to waiver and forfeiture. It also held that the provision does not require seeking discretionary Board of Immigration Appeals reconsideration, even to present an objection arising from the Board's decision. The Court vacated the portion of the Fifth Circuit's judgment dismissing Santos-Zacaria's petition for review and remanded. Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, concurred in the judgment because reconsideration was discretionary and therefore unnecessary for exhaustion; he would not have decided the jurisdictional question.