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Supreme Court to hear Fourth Amendment, immigration cases

By Bernard Hibbitts (editor) and University of Pittsburgh School of Law students.

[JURIST] The US Supreme Court on Monday granted certiorari in three cases. In City of Ontario v. Quon, the Court will consider whether a special weapons and tactics (SWAT) team member has a reasonable expectation of privacy in text messages sent to and from his SWAT pager, where the police department has an official no-privacy policy but a non-policymaking lieutenant announced an informal policy of allowing some personal use of the pagers. The US Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit ruled that the SWAT team member does have a reasonable expectation of privacy and that a search of his text messages violated his Fourth Amendment rights. In Robertson v. United States, ex rel. Watson, the Court will consider whether an action for criminal contempt in a congressionally created court may constitutionally be brought in the name and pursuant to the power of a private person, rather than in the name and pursuant to the power of the United States.In Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder, the Court will consider whether a person convicted under state law for simple drug possession (a federal law misdemeanor) has been "convicted" of an "aggravated felony" on the theory that he could have been prosecuted for recidivist simple possession (a federal law felony), even though there was no charge or finding of a prior conviction in his prosecution for possession. Under the Immigration and Nationality Act, a lawful permanent resident who has been "convicted" of an "aggravated felony" is ineligible to seek cancellation of removal. The US Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit ruled that a state law conviction for simple drug possession could be an "aggravated felony" if the defendant could have been charged with a felony, affirming the Board of Immigration Appeals holding that Jose Angel Carachuri-Rosendo is ineligible for cancellation of removal.

Full post as published by JURIST - The Paper Chase on December 14, 2009 (boomark / email).