The U.S. Supreme Court ruled Monday that an appeals court can review the Board of Immigration Appeals’ refusal to toll a bid to reopen a removal case based on legal malpractice , siding with a both the U.S. government and a Mexican citizen whose former Attorney failed to timely file documents in a case.
The Supreme Court justices ruled Monday in favor of Noel Reyes Mata, a Mexican national who had lived in the United States years. The government began deportation proceedings after he pleaded guilty to an assault charge.
An immigration judge ordered him removed/ deported. He appealed, but his attorney missed the filing deadline ( 90 days) . A new attorney tried to reopen the case, but the Board of Immigration Appeals refused.
Mata appealed to the 5th Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals, but the court ruled it had no authority to order a deadline extension.
The Supreme Court said the court did have such authority.