Opinion
No. 15-72406
06-01-2021
Isaias Lorenzo LOPEZ, Petitioner, v. Merrick B. GARLAND, Attorney General, Respondent.
Jan Joseph Bejar and Nicole A. Leon, Law Offices of Jan Joseph Bejar P.L.C., San Diego, California; David J. Zimmer and Joshua J. Bone, Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, Massachusetts; for Petitioner. John W. Blakeley, Assistant Director; M. Jocelyn Lopez Wright and Patrick J. Glen, Senior Litigation Counsel; Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Respondent. Philip L. Torrey, Crimmigration Clinic, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Amici Curiae Retired Immigration Judges and Former Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals. Russell Reid Abrutyn, Abrutyn Law PLLC, Berkley, Michigan, for Amicus Curiae the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Jan Joseph Bejar and Nicole A. Leon, Law Offices of Jan Joseph Bejar P.L.C., San Diego, California; David J. Zimmer and Joshua J. Bone, Goodwin Procter LLP, Boston, Massachusetts; for Petitioner.
John W. Blakeley, Assistant Director; M. Jocelyn Lopez Wright and Patrick J. Glen, Senior Litigation Counsel; Office of Immigration Litigation, Civil Division, United States Department of Justice, Washington, D.C.; for Respondent.
Philip L. Torrey, Crimmigration Clinic, Harvard Immigration and Refugee Clinical Program, Harvard Law School, Cambridge, Massachusetts, for Amici Curiae Retired Immigration Judges and Former Members of the Board of Immigration Appeals.
Russell Reid Abrutyn, Abrutyn Law PLLC, Berkley, Michigan, for Amicus Curiae the American Immigration Lawyers Association.
Before: Sidney R. Thomas, Chief Judge, and Marsha S. Berzon, Johnnie B. Rawlinson, Morgan Christen, Paul J. Watford, Mark J. Bennett, Eric D. Miller, Bridget S. Bade, Daniel P. Collins, Danielle J. Forrest, and Lawrence J. VanDyke, Circuit Judges.
THOMAS, Chief Judge: We stayed en banc proceedings and submission of this case pending the issuance of an opinion by the United States Supreme Court in Niz-Chavez v. Barr , No. 19-863. The Supreme Court has now issued its opinion. Niz-Chavez v. Garland , ––– U.S. ––––, 141 S. Ct. 1474, ––– L.Ed.2d –––– (2021). In light of the decision, we GRANT the Petition for Review and REMAND the case to the Board of Immigration Appeals for reconsideration in light of Niz-Chavez .