Kerry v. Din
Issues
Does the refusal of a U.S. citizen’s alien spouse’s visa application bestow upon the citizen an enforceable constitutionally protected interest?
The Supreme Court will decide whether refusing the visa application of a U.S. citizen’s alien-spouse triggers the citizen’s constitutionally protected interests, and whether the citizen may challenge this refusal. Secretary of State Kerry argues that a citizen’s liberty interests are not implicated because neither the Immigration and Nationality Act (“INA”) nor the Due Process Clause confer upon the citizen a legally cognizable interest in the consular officer’s determination, and consular officers’ determinations should not be challenged in court because judicial review would conflict with the consular nonreviewability doctrine and congressional intent in establishing the INA. In opposition, Din, a U.S. citizen, argues that the consular officer’s determination conflicts with the Court’s jurisprudence, which establishes a fundamental right to marry and to benefit from the associational interests in marriage, and that the consular officer’s determination should be subjected to judicial review in order to protect citizens’ liberty interests from arbitrary restrictions. The Court’s ruling in this case implicates the ability of the government to prevent disclosure of confidential information related to national security concerns and the ability of citizens to live with their alien spouse in the United States.
Questions as Framed for the Court by the Parties
- Whether a consular officer’s refusal of a visa to a U.S. citizen’s alien spouse impinges upon a constitutionally protected interest of the citizen; and
- Whether respondent is entitled to challenge in court the refusal of a visa to her husband and to require the government, in order to sustain the refusal, to identify a specific statutory provision rendering him inadmissible and to allege what it believes he did that would render him ineligible for a visa.
Fauzia Din, a U.S. citizen, married Kanishka Berashk, an Afghani national, in September 2006. See Din v. Kerry, 718 F.3d 856, 858 (9th Cir. 2013). Din shortly thereafter filed a visa petition in order for Berashk to be admitted into the United States.
Edited by
Additional Resources
- Lawrence Hurley: Supreme Court to Weigh Spouse Rights Over Denied Visa, Reuters (Oct. 2, 2014).
- Ian R. Macdonald: SCOTUS Grants Certiorari to Two Immigration-Based Cases for 2015 Term: Will the Government Have to Explain its Exercise of “Discretion”?, The National Law Review (Oct. 15, 2014).