Pro Bono immigration client secures Supreme Court remand of case to Eighth Circuit

Client(s) S. M.

In partnership with clinics at the University of Minnesota Law School, Jones Day secured Supreme Court vacatur of an adverse Eighth Circuit judgment on behalf of an immigrant seeking cancellation of removal. In the initial Eighth Circuit proceedings, Jones Day argued that the Board of Immigration Appeals engaged in impermissible de novo factfinding in the course of reversing the immigration judge's grant of cancellation of removal. The Eighth Circuit refused to consider this argument on the ground that it had not first been raised in a motion to reconsider or reopen the Board of Immigration Appeals proceedings. Jones Day then filed a petition for certiorari, challenging that holding as contrary to the governing statute and general principles of administrative law. After granting certiorari to review the question in a different case, Santos-Zacaria v. Garland, the Supreme Court agreed 9-0. The Court subsequently granted Jones Day's petition, vacated the Eighth Circuit's decision, and remanded for further consideration.

Mencia-Medina v. Garland, No. 21-1533 (U.S), 2023 WL 3696123 (2023); Sergio Mencia-Medina v. Merrick B. Garland, No. 20-1724 (8th Cir. 2024)