Courthouse Steps Oral Argument Teleforum: United States v. Palomar-Santiago

On April 27, 2021, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in the case of U.S. v. Palomar-Santiago. Defendant Palomar-Santiago lost his permanent resident status in 1991 after a California felony DUI conviction. He was deported and subsequently reentered the country without authorization. In the meantime, the Ninth Circuit held that felony DUI was not a crime of violence necessitating the deportation of a permanent resident-defendant. Now Palomar-Santiago challenges his current 8 U.S.C. 1326 illegal reentry indictment using Ninth Circuit precedent that his initial removal was fundamentally unfair since the crime underlying his deportation was improperly categorized.The District Court agreed with Palomar-Santiago and the Ninth Circuit affirmed without addressing the merits of the government’s argument: that the Ninth Circuit's decision redefining felony DUI was wrongly decided.The Supreme Court will address the question whether a defendant who was removed from the United States is automatically entitled to a defense of invalid removal where the crime underlying his removal is no longer a qualifying removal offense within his circuit.Featuring:Brian Fish, Special Assistant, United States Attorney, Baltimore, Maryland Teleforum calls are open to all dues paying members of the Federalist Society. To become a member, sign up on our website. As a member, you should receive email announcements of upcoming Teleforum calls which contain the conference call phone number. If you are not receiving those email announcements, please contact us at 202-822-8138.