WASHINGTON, DC — In a resounding victory for the Constitution, the Supreme Court today reaffirmed that the guarantee of fundamental fairness in our Nation’s courts applies to non-citizens and citizens alike.  In Padilla v. Kentucky, the Court ruled that a lawyer has a constitutional obligation to tell an alien charged with a crime that a guilty plea could result in deportation.

CAC urged the result reached by the Court today.  In a text and history brief filed in Padilla, CAC demonstrated that the Fourteenth Amendment’s framers were concerned with securing robust due process protections for all persons in the United States, regardless of immigration status.  The petitioner here, Jose Padilla, had been a lawful permanent resident of the United States for almost 50 years, serving honorably in the military and building a life in this country.  Accordingly, when he ran into trouble with the law and was considering pleading guilty to a five-year jail term for a non-violent drug offense, he was particularly concerned with his immigration status. His lawyer told him that he did not need to worry about being deported because he had been in the country for so long. This advice was completely wrong—in fact, Mr. Padilla faced automatic deportation as a result of his guilty plea.

The Supreme Court got it right today when it held that noncitizens who have been accused of crimes have a constitutional right to accurate legal advice regarding the immigration consequences of a guilty plea.  In a dissent, Justice Scalia, joined by Justice Thomas, claims that this ruling is contrary to the text and purpose of the Constitution.  They could not be more wrong.  As Justice Stevens so eloquently explained in his majority opinion, it is the Court’s responsibility under the Constitution to ensure that no criminal defendant—whether a citizen or not—is left to the mercies of incompetent counsel.

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Constitutional Accountability Center is a think tank, public interest law firm, and action center dedicated to fulfilling the progressive promise of the Constitution’s text and history. CAC filed a brief in Padilla in support of the petitioner, a copy of which may be found here.