WHY DID CONGRESS WANT TO SHARPLY CUT BACK ON JUDICIAL REVIEW OF IMMIGRATION CASES?
It’s hard to attribute a specific intent to Congress. I think there was a misperception among some members of Congress that the courts were playing too large a role in reviewing the government’s immigration policies and orders. But more fundamentally, the new restrictions on the courts are part of a larger hostility to the independence of the judiciary. That attitude is also manifesting itself in attacks on individual judges, on the role of the Supreme Court, and on the principle of judicial review itself. In relation to immigration specifically, I think there was a sense by some in Congress that individual immigrants were delaying their deportation while the courts reviewed their cases. This delay, however, is not the fault of the courts or the result of judicial review. It is inherent in the inefficiencies of the INS and in the running of a massive enforcement system. Whether a single agency can both grant benefits to deserving individuals and enforce the departure of others is a dif
