UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

1. Under 8 CFR § 175.57(b), a regulation pertaining to the entry of aliens into the United States, the Attorney General has no authority to deny to an alien who is a lawful permanent resident of the United States, and who is continuously residing and physically present therein, an opportunity to be heard in opposition to an order for his "permanent exclusion" and consequent deportation, even when the Attorney General determines that the order is based on information of a confidential nature the disclosure of which would be prejudicial to the public interest. Pp. 344 U. S. 591-600.

(a) Knauff v. Shaughnessy, 338 U. S. 537, distinguished. Page 344 U. S. 596.

(b) The term "excludable," in § 175.57(b), is inapplicable to aliens who are lawful permanent residents physically present within the United States. P. 344 U. S. 599.

(c) Nothing in the statute or the Presidential Proclamations under which this regulation was issued requires or permits a broader interpretation of this section. Pp. 344 U. S. 599-600.

2. Petitioner is an alien and a lawful permanent resident of the United States, who currently maintains his residence in the United States and usually is physically present there. While returning from a voyage to foreign ports as a seaman on a vessel of American registry with its home port in the United States, he was detained on board by an order of the Attorney General and ordered "temporarily excluded" from the United States under 8 CFR § 175.57, as an alien whose entry was deemed prejudicial to the public interest. He was denied a hearing by the Attorney General on the ground that the order was based on information of a confidential nature, the disclosure of which would be prejudicial to the public interest, and he was ordered to be permanently excluded from the United States.

Held: petitioner's detention, without notice of any charges against him and without opportunity to be heard in opposition to them, was not authorized by 8 CFR § 175.57(b). Pp. 344 U. S. 600-603.

192 F.2d 1009, reversed. clubjuris

Page 344 U. S. 591

Petitioner's application for a writ of habeas corpus was dismissed by the District Court. 97 F.Supp. 592. The Court of Appeals affirmed. 192 F.2d 1009. This Court granted certiorari. 343 U.S. 933. Reversed and remanded, p. 344 U. S. 603.