Supreme Court Lets Deportation Hearings Remain Secret

The challenge came from a New Jersey media consortium.

On Sept. 21, 2001, Chief Immigration Judge Michael Creppy, under guidance from Attorney General John Ashcroft, issued an order that deportation hearings should be closed in any case "deemed of special interest" in the attack investigation.

In the case of one detainee, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 6th Circuit, which includes Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Tennessee, ruled that the "Creppy directive" violated the First Amendment rights of the public and the media.

However, in the New Jersey case, a panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 3rd Circuit upheld the government by a 2-1 vote. The 3rd Circuit includes New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Delaware and the Virgin Islands.

In a petition to the Supreme Court asking for review of the 3rd Circuit ruling, the consortium said, "The public has a critical need to know how its government is responding to the events of Sept. 11, and more generally how the government enforces the nation's immigration laws."

But in its own brief, the Justice Department argued "there is no First Amendment right of public access to executive branch proceedings in general or to removal proceedings involving special interest aliens in particular."

The 6th Circuit case involved one individual who has since been deported.

The government brief contended that "the passage of time has all but exhausted the class of special interest aliens currently facing proceedings before an immigration judge ... the government's ongoing examination and review of its procedures and regulations for handling immigration proceedings in cases implicating national security, intelligence and law enforcement interests, particularly in the context of combating international terrorism, suggests that review at this juncture would be premature."

The justices rejected review without comment or dissent.

(No. 02-1289, North Jersey Media Group Inc. and N.J. Law Journal vs. Ashcroft et al.)

Copyright 2003 by United Press International.

All rights reserved.