Amicus Briefs

U.S. Supreme Court

MiSC members work in the judiciary as expert witnesses in cases regarding immigration in the U.S.

Below are amicus briefs filed by our members during October Term 2020 in the U.S. Supreme Court.

I. Scholars Describe Racist Origins of Unlawful Reentry Law in Supreme Court Amicus Brief

Migration Scholar Collaborative members Mae Ngai and Kelly Lytle-Hernández, as well as UCLA law professor Ingrid Eagly, filed an amicus brief with the Supreme Court in United States v. Palomar-Santiago. Their brief describes the explicitly racist, anti-Mexican origins of the federal law criminalizing unlawful reentry after deportation.

II. Scholar's Work Used to Justify Preservation of Birthright Citizenship

Migration Scholar Collaborative member Hidetaka Hirota was cited in the majority opinion in Trump v. Barbara. The case referrenced his book Expelling the Poor: Atlantic Seaboard States and the Nineteenth-Century Origins of American Immigration Policy.

U.S. Courts of Appeals

MiSC members work in the judiciary as expert witnesses in cases regarding immigration in the U.S.

Below are amicus briefs filed by our members in the U.S. Circuit Courts.

I. CASA DE MARYLAND, INC., et al., v. DONALD J. TRUMP, in his official capacity as President of the United States, et al.

Amicus brief opposing Trump's Public Charge rule by 11 immigration scholars, including Migration Scholar Collaborative members, Torrie Hester, Hidetaka Hirota, Maddalena Marinari, Mae Ngai, Lucy Salyer and Elliott Young.