Appellate Law

CA1: denial of a continuance not a due process problem

By S. COTUS

Lopez v. Mukasey, No. 07-1515 denies the petitioner of a Peruvian family.  While in deportation proceedings, the petitioners tried to appeal a denial of visas and adjust their status.  The government opposed any continuance and pointed out that prior visa applications had been turned down.  The IJ did do something a little screwy by saying ?"my sense is that the Government has some--some evidence that, in fact, the marriage was not entered into in good faith."  The First says that it examined the record ?carefully? (wouldn?t it be better to SHOW that you examined something carefully, rather than just saying it), and then concludes that because of a pattern of the petitioner getting turned down on marriage fraud grounds, it was unlikely that any later appeal of a visa would be successful, so there was nothing wrong with denying a continuance. 

Full post as published by Appellate Law and Practice on March 14, 2008 (boomark / email).