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13 Duke J. Const. L. & Pub. Pol'y Sidebar 1 (2017-2018)

handle is hein.journals/dukjppsid13 and id is 1 raw text is: SESSIONS V. DIMAYA: VAGUENESS DOCTRINE & DEPORTATION STATUTES MATTHEW GIBBONS* INTRODUCTION Through a convoluted legal pathway a nonviolent crime can be classified as a violent crime, transported into civil law, and result in the deportation of someone who has been legally present in the United States for nearly twenty years. Such is the case in Sessions v. Dimaya.1 Dimaya presents the Supreme Court with the chance to correct that injustice by (again) holding deportation to be a penalty akin to criminal punishment, and by recognizing the applicability of vagueness doctrine to statutes resulting in deportation. This commentary argues that would be the proper outcome in Dimaya for three reasons. First, the doctrine of stare decisis requires it. Second, this outcome conforms with the principles underlying the doctrine of unconstitutional vagueness. Third and finally, failure to extend that doctrine-in the form of the criminal vagueness standard-to this case would appear politically motivated and inconsistent. The appearance of extra-judicial political influence reduces the legitimacy, and thereby the effectiveness, of the judiciary. I. FACTS Respondent James Dimaya was admitted to the United States and became a lawful permanent resident in 1992.2 Mr. Dimaya pleaded no contest to,3 and was convicted of, first-degree residential burglary' in Copyright @ 2017 Matthew Gibbons. * J.D. Candidate, Duke University School of Law, Class of 2019. 1. Sessions v. Dimaya, No. 15-1498 (U.S. 2017) 2. Brief for Respondent at 5, Sessions v. Dimaya, No. 15-1498 (U.S. 2016) [hereinafter Brief for Respondent]. 3. Id. 4. Dimaya v. Lynch, 803 F.3d 1110, 1111 (9th Cir. 2015), cert. granted, 137 S. Ct. 31 (2016), reh'g granted sub nom. Sessions v. Dimaya, No. 15-1498 (U.S. 2017).

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