Class 3: Early Limits on Federal Immigration Power
In its early immigration cases, the Supreme Court established that the federal government has the authority to regulate immigration by excluding immigrants from the country, and by deporting noncitizens already living here.
Were there any limits on how that power could be exercised? Could the government empower whatever officials it wanted to make immigration decisions, using whatever procedures it wanted? Did federal courts have any role at all to play in reviewing these decisions?
Reading:
Wong Wing v. United States (174-76)
Yamataya v. Fisher (for anyone interested, here is the passenger manifest from the ship on which Yamataya arrived)
As you read, consider the following questions:
Both Fong Yue Ting and Wong Wing argued that the government’s hearing procedures violated their Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights. Fong Yue Ting lost, but Wong Wing won. According to the Court what explains the different outcomes?
If due process in the nineteenth century meant basically a common law trial, why might the Supreme Court have been reluctant to hold that the government’s admission and exclusion decisions had to be accompanied by due process?
Is it possible to reconcile Nishimura Ekiu with Yamataya? If so, how?
In Yamataya, the Court prefaces its analysis by “[l]eaving on one side the question whether an alien can rightfully invoke the due process clause of the Constitution who has entered the country clandestinely, and who has been here for too brief a period to have become, in any real sense, a part of our population.” Why does the Court decline to decide this question?
Back to Teaching