Cert Granted in Kawashima
May 23, 2011
The Supreme Court this morning granted certiorari in one case, Kawashima v. Holder, on which we have been reporting for some time. See our original post here. As we observed in our report on the cert petition, the Court always has the option of limiting its grant of certiorari to a subset of the questions presented in the petition, and it has exercised that option here. The Court will resolve only the first question presented — namely, whether violations of 26 U.S.C. 7206 (subscribing to a false statement on a tax return) are “aggravated felonies” that can justify deportation of a resident alien. The Kawashimas argue that only tax evasion convictions under section 7201 are aggravated felonies, and the courts of appeals have divided on the issue. Now the Supreme Court will resolve the dispute.
The case will now be briefed over the summer and argued in the fall of 2011, with a decision likely in the spring of 2012. The Kawashimas’ opening brief is due July 7.
