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Sorry - this page has been removed. US supreme court divided over spousal right to appeal denial of visa
(4 months later)
This could be because it launched early, our rights have expired, there was a legal issue, or for another reason. The supreme court appeared divided on Monday as it considered whether US citizens have the right to object if the government denies their spouse a visa in a case involving a California woman whose Afghan husband was barred from the United States.
Some of the nine justices appeared sympathetic to Fauzia Din, a naturalized American citizen from Afghanistan, but the court appears more likely to rule for the government, which says there is no right to appeal when a visa is denied.
For further information, please contact: Din, who lives in Fremont, California, sued the US government after her husband, Afghan citizen Kanishka Berashk, was denied a visa in 2009.
The government cited a law that allows consular officials wide discretion to deny visas to those linked with “terrorist activities”. The government says it is not required to provide any more details.
Din’s lawyers believe the denial was related to the fact that Berashk had worked as a payroll clerk for the Afghanistan government when it was controlled by the Taliban, an Islamist militant organization.
During the court’s one-hour oral argument in the case, Justice Sonia Sotomayor seemed the most sympathetic to what she described as an “administrative nightmare”.
Sotomayor told government lawyer Edwin Kneedler that his argument suggested “the wife has absolutely no interest in her marriage”.
But other justices raised concerns about the implications of a ruling that would give a family member the right to intervene in a relative’s case. Justice Antonin Scalia questioned whether that could also apply in criminal cases in which a wife could file an appeal on behalf of her husband.
In an interview last week, Din, 44, said she believed the consular official had made a mistake in denying the application.
“I changed my country because of terrorists. You wouldn’t run from someone, then invite them into your life,” she said of her husband, who remains in Afghanistan.
Berashk, who married Din in 2006, had worked for the Afghanistan ministry of social welfare from 1992 to 2003. The Taliban controlled the country from 1996 to 2001. Din sought asylum in the United States in 2000 after fleeing the Taliban in 1996.
A judge in California dismissed Din’s claim in 2010. The San Francisco-based ninth US circuit court of appeals revived the case in a 2013 ruling favoring Din, saying the government had not given a legitimate reason for denying the visa.
A ruling is expected by June.