NACDL - National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers

United States v. Singh

Without requesting supplemental briefing or even hearing argument, the panel majority issued sweeping precedent on a weighty issue not passed on by the district court nor even raised by the government in its appeal brief: whether the constitution ensures that naturalized U.S. citizens receive proper advice about the risk of denaturalization and deportation before entering a plea, as it unquestionably does for noncitizens. In answering that question in the negative, the panel majority cabined the Sixth Amendment in a manner not sought by the government. And it created a new circuit split without the benefit of the robust briefing and argument that informed the Second Circuit’s contrary decision in Farhane, including extensive briefing by amici here. Amici agree with Mr. Singh that the panel majority got it wrong on the merits. They also agree that determining the scope of the Sixth Amendment for naturalized U.S. citizens is extraordinarily important, affecting the constitutional rights of thousands of people in this Circuit. Amici submit this brief to offer a preliminary explanation of why the Court would benefit from full briefing and argument on this issue, which was not addressed by the district court below. In particular, as briefing in Farhane showed, the panel majority here was wrong to assume that defense attorneys are unable to advise their clients on the denaturalization consequences of a given plea when amici NACDL’s defense attorney members do so regularly. Additionally, the panel majority wrongly stated that denaturalization proceedings are attenuated from any conviction. In fact, a conviction is often the sole or primary evidence the government relies upon for denaturalization.

Author(s)

Etan Newman, Nabilah Siddiquee, and Manuel Vargas, Immigrant Defense Project, New York, NY; Benton C. Martin, Sixth Circuit Vice-Chair, Amicus Committee National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, Detroit, MI; Shalaka Phadnis and Noah Baron, Asian Americans Advancing Justice | AAJC, Washington, DC

Explore keywords to find information

• 6th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Amicus Briefs
• Sixth Amendment
• Unwarned Deportation Risk

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