Supreme Court rules detained foreign nationals in U.S. illegally can’t file class action lawsuits

[Valin]

Just The News

Bethany Blankley

June 14, 2022

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled that foreign nationals in the U.S. illegally and detained on immigration charges can’t file class action lawsuits.

The court ruled 6-3 in Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez with Justice Samuel Alito writing for the majority. Justice Sonia Sotomayor wrote a partial dissent with Justices Elena Kagan and Stephen Breyer joining.

The court reversed a ruling issued by the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals that allowed detained foreign nationals to file class-action lawsuits who also demanded bond hearings for their release. By doing so, the Supreme Court effectively shut down such lawsuits from being filed in the future.

At issue are two cases brought by Mexican and El Salvadoran nationals who sued the federal government for detaining them according to federal law after they reentered the U.S. illegally. They alleged they had a right to file a class action lawsuit and were entitled to a bond hearing.

(Snip)