Cite as: 526 U. S. 415 (1999)
Opinion of the Court
In the instant case, the BIA determined that "the criminal nature of the respondent's acts outweigh their political nature" because his group's political dissatisfaction "manifested itself disproportionately in the destruction of property and assaults on civilians" and its political goals "were outweighed by [the group's] criminal strategy of strikes." App. to Pet. for Cert. 18a. The BIA concluded respondent had committed serious nonpolitical crimes by applying the general standard established in its prior decision, so it had no need to consider whether his acts might also have been atrocious. The Court of Appeals erred in holding otherwise.
We further reject the Court of Appeals' suggestion that reversal was required due to the BIA's failure to compare the facts of this case with those of McMullen. The court thought doing so was necessary because of the guidance provided by McMullen on the meaning of atrociousness. In light of our holding that the BIA was not required expressly to consider the atrociousness of respondent's acts, the BIA's silence on this point does not provide a ground for reversal.
C
The third reason given by the Court of Appeals for reversing the BIA was what the court deemed to be the BIA's failure to consider respondent's "offenses in relation to [his] declared political objectives" and to consider "the political necessity and success of [his] methods." 121 F. 3d, at 523-524. As we have discussed, supra, at 422-423 and this page, the BIA did address the relationship between respondent's political goals and his criminal acts, concluding that the violence and destructiveness of the crimes, and their impact on civilians, were disproportionate to his acknowledged political objectives. To the extent the court believed the BIA was required to give more express consideration to the "necessity" and "success" of respondent's actions, it erred.
431
Page: Index Previous 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 NextLast modified: October 4, 2007