Alien Rights and Government Authority: An Examination of the Conflicting Views of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals and the United States Supreme Court

This Article examines the conflicting decisions of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and the United States Supreme Court in the area of immigration and nationality law. The author examines the decisions of both courts, the precedents culminating in these conflicting decisions, and the views of these courts of their proper role in this area of law. The author argues that despite cautioning the Ninth Circuit to refrain from legislating law judicially, the Supreme Court has itself been an activist court that has allocated greater power to the federal government at the expense of individual rights, and that this activism results from an abdication by Congress of its duty to decide currently unresolved issues.