424
Opinion of the Court
ter of McMullen, supra, at 97-98; App. to Pet. for Cert. 18a; Deportation Proceedings for Doherty, 13 Op. Off. Legal Counsel 1, 23 (1989) (an act " 'should be considered a serious nonpolitical crime if the act is disproportionate to the objective' ") (quoting McMullen v. INS, supra, at 595), rev'd on other grounds, Doherty v. INS, 908 F. 2d 1108 (CA2 1990), rev'd, 502 U. S. 314 (1992). Nor does respondent take issue with this basic inquiry.
The Court of Appeals did conclude, however, that the BIA must supplement this weighing test by examining additional factors. In the course of its analysis, the Court of Appeals failed to accord the required level of deference to the interpretation of the serious nonpolitical crime exception adopted by the Attorney General and BIA. Because the Court of Appeals confronted questions implicating "an agency's construction of the statute which it administers," the court should have applied the principles of deference described in Chevron U. S. A. Inc. v. Natural Resources Defense Council, Inc., 467 U. S. 837, 842 (1984). Thus, the court should have asked whether "the statute is silent or ambiguous with respect to the specific issue" before it; if so, "the question for the court [was] whether the agency's answer is based on a permissible construction of the statute." Id., at 843. See also INS v. Cardoza-Fonseca, 480 U. S., at 448-449.
It is clear that principles of Chevron deference are applicable to this statutory scheme. The INA provides that "[t]he Attorney General shall be charged with the administration and enforcement" of the statute and that the "determination and ruling by the Attorney General with respect to all questions of law shall be controlling." 8 U. S. C. § 1103(a)(1) (1994 ed., Supp. III). Section 1253(h), moreover, in express terms confers decisionmaking authority on the Attorney General, making an alien's entitlement to withholding turn on the Attorney General's "determin[ation]" whether the statutory conditions for withholding have been
Page: Index Previous 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007