Apparently, a couple of days ago, soon-to-be-fired Attorney General Michael Mukasey issued an "opinion" which says that illegal aliens facing deportation do not have a right to the effective assistance of counsel. Prior to this pronouncement, however, the majority of federal circuit courts, and the Board of Immigration Appeals, said the exact opposite - that illegals DO have a right to effective assistance of counsel. Now, granted, there were a few circuit courts that disagreed. But usually when there is a "circuit split" like this, the Supreme Court steps in and decides which side is right. That's how its always fucking worked. That's what the fucking constitution calls for. In fact, finding a circuit split for an appeal issue is, for lawyers, like a kid finding a bowl full of candy -- we get all excited and starting thinking things like, holy shit, oh my god, I might have a Supreme Court case on my hands. Yippee! But this time around, Mukasey has said screw the Supremes, I'm gonna handle this one solo.
And he didn't just issue an opinion on the main issue....after trouncing on federal court precedence, this fucker goes and says that if illegals have a problem with their lawyers, they should ask the IMMIGRATION DEPARTMENT (that's right, the very same people trying to deport them) to reopen their case. Not a court, which is the standard practice and how it has worked for, well, ever, but the fucking Immigration Department. Oh, and the Immigration Department has complete discretion to basically say, fuck off and no one can do a goddamn thing about it. Read more about it here.
Now...my problem is not whether Mukasey got it right or wrong (we'll leave that question for another day), but I am livid that he had the audacity to decide the issue himself. And that he seems to be stripping the federal courts of jurisdiction guaranteed them by U.S. law. I mean seriously, who the fuck said it was okay for his to do this? Where the fuck does he get off? I'm no expert on the authority of the Department of Justice, but I'm pretty fucking sure that it's not authorized to interpret the constitution. The Federal Courts usually do that. But hey, it's almost January 20, right? SO I'm not surprised to hear something like this. The Bushies only have a couple more weeks to completely fuck up our country and our entire legal system...and for once, it looks like they're actually going to do some fucking work.
2 comments:
Since when does the constitution apply to illegal aliens? Constitutional rights do not equal human rights. It is not a violation of human rights to deport someone here illegally without a hearing. I would more than anything Musakey's priorities are all screwed up. There are certainly bigger fish to fry. I am no expert but he does not preclude these illegals from any assistance. My understanding is he prevents them from filing an appeal on the grounds of incompetency by their counsel. is that not correct?
Finally, so what I mean Obama get's in. He appoints his go to guy and the test case to reverse itwill probably be in his face two seconds after he takes his oath.
Actually, the constitution protects both citizens and non-citizens alike. Granted, some constitutional rights are limited to citizens (like the right to vote, for example) but many of the rights have been found to apply to all people, regardless of citizenship. And my mai point remains the same -- whether or not the constitution applies to illegals, it certainly was not Mukasey's decision to make.
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