Gourzong v. AG — immigration — dismissal — Rendell
Under federal law, a non-citizen can be deported if he was “convicted of an aggravated felony,” and “convicted” requires a judgment of guilt “by a court.” Jamaican native Gurson Gourzong was convicted of an aggravated felony by a special court-martial. Unlike a general court-martial, a special court-martial is not necessarily presided over by a legally trained judge, and the record doesn’t clearly establish whether a legally trained judge presided over Gourzong’s special court martial.
Today, a divided Third Circuit panel held that, because “as a general matter” special courts-martial qualify as courts, therefore the special court-martial conviction here was a judgment by a “court,” and accordingly Gourzong was removable. In a footnote, the panel left open the possibility that aliens could prove their specific special courts-martial were not “courts,” but said Gourzong had made no such showing.
Judge Cowen dissented. The nub of his disagreement came down to his position that it should have been the government’s burden, not the alien’s, to establish that the specific special court-martial at issue qualified as a court. He also disagreed that the special courts-martial typically qualfied as courts, noting that the presiding officers lack military judges’ training and independence. And he criticized the government’s conduct in the case, noting its history of changing its position and its failure to timely file its brief.
Joining Rendell was Fisher; Cowen dissented. Arguing counsel were Craig Shagin of the Shagin Law Group for the petitioner and Jesse Bless for the government. The panel thanked Shagin for agreeing to serve as pro bono counsel for his “excellent advocacy” in the case, and Cowen praised Shagin as “Gourzong’s able pro bono counsel.”
[As the circuit’s resident typography scold, I register my horror that the majority opinion put its record cites in boldface. My horror is mitigated only partially by the opinion’s use of hard spaces after section symbols.]