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Alignment is each justice's general judicial philosophy as commonly described, not a party. Justices don't belong to parties, and they don't always vote with their bloc.
Alignment is each justice's general judicial philosophy as commonly described, not a party. Justices don't belong to parties, and they don't always vote with their bloc.
No. 26-426 · October Term 2026
Does federal immigration law require the government to notify noncitizens and give them an opportunity to assert fear of persecution or torture before removing them to a country not named in their removal orders?
When the government issues a final removal order against a noncitizen, that order designates a specific country to which the person will be removed. Beginning in early 2025, the Department of Homeland Security began sending noncitizens with final removal orders to countries never mentioned in those orders — what the parties call third-country removals. In February 2025, U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement issued an internal directive instructing officers to identify noncitizens who had received protection from removal to a specific country and to assess whether those individuals could instead be sent elsewhere. One named plaintiff, O.C.G., had been granted protection from removal to Guatemala, his country of citizenship; under the new policy, DHS removed him to Mexico, from which Mexico then deported him back to Guatemala. In March 2025, four noncitizens with final removal orders filed a class action alleging that DHS was conducting third-country removals without providing effective notice of the intended destination or a meaningful chance to argue that they faced a risk of persecution or torture there. DHS responded by issuing a written policy document in March 2025, later…
From Oyez.