Federal Judiciary

Demjanjuk asks deportation delay

By Akin Gump Supreme Court Practice Group

John Demjanjuk, a retired auto worker in Ohio at the center of a decades-long legal fight over claims that he was a Nazi guard at German death camps during World War II, asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to delay his imminent deportation to face possible new criminal charges in Germany.

Claiming that his medical condition is so poor he would suffer the equivalent of torture if sent to Germany for jailing and trial, and arguing that the U.S. government had been deeply involved in spurring new charges in Germany, Demjanjuk’s lawyer asked for a stay until he can complete a new round of challenges, in lower courts and in the Supreme Court.

The application in Demjanjuk v. Holder (08A978) can be downloaded here; a May 1 ruling by the Sixth Circuit Court refusing any further delay can be found here. The application was filed with Justice John Paul Stevens as the Circuit Justice; he may act on it alone or share it with his colleagues.

Full post as published by SCOTUSBLOG on May 06, 2009 (boomark / email).