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3 HRLR Online 1 (2018)

handle is hein.journals/hrlro3 and id is 1 raw text is: PEREIRA V. SESSIONS: A JURISDICTIONAL SURPRISE FOR IMMIGRATION COURTS Kit Johnson* The United States Supreme Court issued a bombshell opinion regarding immigration court procedure on June 21, 2018: Pereira v. Sessions.' On its face, the case is a boon for certain noncitizens seeking relief from deportation. Yet, as this Essay explains, Pereira's implications are far greater. Although the Court's opinion never mentions jurisdiction, Pereira necessarily means that immigration courts lack jurisdiction over virtually every case filed in the last three years, plus an unknown number of earlier-filed cases. This situation arises from the chronic failure of the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to comply with the law in commencing deportation proceedings. With the clarity afforded by Pereira, the result is that these pending removal cases should be dismissed. In an 8-1 decision, Pereira held that when a noncitizen receives a document called a notice to appear, and where that document does not have a time or place listed for the removal proceedings, then it is not a valid notice to appear, and thus it does not stop time for purposes of establishing the noncitizen's continuous physical presence in the United States.2 That clock-stopping question was crucial in Pereira, because the petitioner sought cancellation-of-removal relief, which is available only to noncitizens who can establish continuous physical presence in the United States for ten years.3 * Associate Professor at the University of Oklahoma College of Law. I am incredibly grateful to Steve Gensler, Jill Family, and Eric E. Johnson for their comments on this draft. 02018 Kit Johnson. Konomark-Most rights sharable. See konomark.org. 1. Pereira v. Sessions, 138 S.Ct. 2105 (U.S. June 21, 2018), available at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/17pdf/17-4591o13.pdf (to be reported at 484 U.S. _). 2. Id. at 2109-10. 3. Immigration and Nationality Act § 240A(b)(1)(A); 8 U.S.C. § 1229b(b)(1)(A) (2018).

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