Gorsuch, Roberts side with left-leaning Supreme Court justices in immigration ruling
Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote the majority opinion in the 5-4 court case – a possible sign of the court's thinking as it gears up to hear high-profile immigration cases next month
By Breanne Deppisch Fox News
Published April 22, 2025 12:50pm EDT
Supreme Court Justice Neil Gorsuch and Chief Justice John Roberts on Tuesday sided with left-leaning justices in an immigration appeals case, a narrow ruling that could portend the court's future thinking amid a flurry of legal cases centered on immigration.
The 5-4 ruling in Monsalvo Velazquez v. Bondi centered on the government's interpretation of a 60-day "voluntary departure" deadline, which authorities can use to allow certain immigrants deemed to be of "good moral character" to depart the U.S. on their own terms within that timeframe.
The Supreme Court ruled, with the backing of Roberts and Gorsuch, that any voluntary departure deadlines for immigrants under the 60-day departure time frame that fall on a weekend or on a legal holiday in the U.S. should be extended to the next business day.
Writing for the majority, Gorsuch noted that this interpretation of the 60-day period aligns with long-standing administrative practices, including in immigration law.
"When Congress adopts a new law against the backdrop of a ‘long-standing administrative construction,’ the Court generally presumes the new provision works in harmony with what came before," Gorsuch said.
"Since at least the 1950s, immigration regulations have provided that when calculating deadlines, the term ‘day’ carries its specialized meaning by excluding Sundays and legal holidays (and later Saturdays) if a deadline would otherwise fall on one of those days," Gorsuch added, noting that the 1996 Illegal Immigration Reform and Immigrant Responsibility Act passed by Congress uses the same reading.
Gorsuch was joined in the majority decision by Roberts, and Justices Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan and Ketanji Brown Jackson.
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