Supreme Court to Hear Argument in Consular Nonreviewability Case

Photo from the Supreme Court website

On April 23, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Department of State v. Munoz.  The arguments can be streamed on the Supreme Court website.   

Munoz involves the doctrine of consular nonreviewability.  As described in Newsweek, "Plaintiffs Sandra Muñoz, a Los Angeles-based civil rights attorney, and her husband, Luis Ernesto Asencio-Cordero, an El Salvadoran national, have been separated since 2015 when a consulate denied his visa application."  In reviewing summary judgment for the U.S. government in a challenge to the visa denial, the Ninth Circuit reversed. 

Munoz revisits the question of the reviewability of a consular visa denial and the issues that divided the Court in Kerry v. Din (2015). 

UPDATE (2/23):  Listen to the audio of the argument here.   The transcript is here.  My read is that the Justices were likely to ensure limited review of a consular visa decision.  Kimberley Strawbridge Robinson for Bloomberg agrees.  

KJ