UNITED STATES SUPREME COURT DECISIONS ON-LINE

Carachuri-Rosendo v. Holder - 09-60 (2010)



560 U. S. ____ (2010)
CARACHURI-ROSENDO V. HOLDER
560 U. S. ____ (2010)

SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
NO. 09-60

JOSE ANGEL CARACHURI-ROSENDO, PETITIONER v. ERIC H. HOLDER, Jr., ATTORNEY GENERAL

On writ of certiorari to the united states court of appeals for the fifth circuit

[June 14, 2010]

Justice Thomas, concurring in the judgment:clubjuris

A plain reading of 18 U. S. C. §924(c)(2) identifies two requirements that must be satisfied for Carachuri-Rosendo’s state conviction to qualify as a “ ‘drug trafficking crime’ ” that renders him ineligible for cancellation of removal:* “First, the offense must be a felony; second, the offense must be capable of punishment under the Controlled Substances Act (CSA).” Lopez v. Gonzales, 549 U. S. 47, 61 (2006) (Thomas, J., dissenting). Carachuri-Rosendo’s offense of simple possession was “punishable under the [CSA],” §924(c)(2), and thus satisfied the second requirement, but his crime of conviction in state court was only a misdemeanor. Accordingly, that offense does not bar him from obtaining cancellation of removal:clubjuris

The Fifth Circuit understandably felt constrained by this Court’s decision in Lopez to rule otherwise. In Lopez, this Court held that “a state offense constitutes a ‘felony punishable under the [CSA]’ only if it proscribes conduct punishable as a felony under that federal law.” Id., at 60 (emphasis added). Though Lopez addressed a felony conviction under state law that did not correlate to a felony under the CSA, the Court’s rule preordained the result in this case:clubjuris

“[T]he Court admits that its reading will subject an alien defendant convicted of a state misdemeanor to deportation if his conduct was punishable as a felony under the CSA. Accordingly, even if never convicted of an actual felony, an alien defendant becomes eligible for deportation based on a hypothetical federal prosecution.” Id., at 67 (Thomas, J., dissenting):clubjuris

Today, the Court engages in jurisprudential gymnastics to avoid Lopez. I will not contort the law to fit the case. Lopez was wrongly decided. But because a proper reading of the statutory text, see id., at 60–63, supports the result the Court reaches today, I concur in the judgment.

* See 8 U. S. C. §1229b(a) (permitting cancellation of removal); §1229b(a)(3) (barring aliens convicted of an “aggravated felony” from cancellation of removal); §1101(a)(43)(B) (defining “aggravated felony” as “illicit trafficking in a controlled substance . . . including a drug trafficking crime (as defined in [18 U. S. C. §924(c)])”); 18 U. S. C §924(c)(2) (defining “drug trafficking crime” to mean “any felony punishable under the Controlled Substances Act”).



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