WASHINGTON - The Supreme Court on Thursday dealt a blow to some longtime illegal residents, upholding the deportation of a Mexican man who lived in the United States for 20 years.
By an 8-1 vote, justices said that Humberto Fernandez-Vargas, who was deported several times from the 1970s to 1981, is subject to a 1996 law Congress passed to streamline the legal process for expelling aliens who have been deported at least once before and returned…
"Fernandez-Vargas continued to violate the law by remaining in this country day after day and ... the United States was entitled to bring that continuing violation to an end," Justice David Souter wrote in the decision…
The case is Fernandez-Vargas v. Gonzales, 04-1376.
Two points stand out here. First is the very authoritative 8-1 vote and the fact that David Souter, not known as either a conservative or a Law and Order type wrote the majority opinion. I think that is highly telling for the direction of the Court.
Second is my suspicion that the reasoning here may be a precursor for the upcoming Hamdan case, regarding rights of Gitmo detainees to access to our court system. The lefty anti-war zealots looking for an administration defeat on Hamdan, may very well be viewing another “Fitz-mas” type disappointment instead.