572
Opinion of Souter, J.
sons arrested as deportable . . . for Communist membership are denied bail." 342 U. S., at 541-542.
The Court refuses to accept the opinion of the Carlson Court and the representations made in the successful brief for the Government in that case. The Court not only fails to acknowledge the actual holding of Carlson; it improperly adopts as authority statements made in dissent. The Court's emphatic assertion that "[t]here was no 'individualized findin[g]' of likely future dangerousness as to any of the aliens," ante, at 525, rests entirely on opinions voiced in dissent, although the Court only mentions this fact in a footnote, ante, at 525, n. 8 (citing 342 U. S., at 549, 550, n. 5, 552 (Black, J., dissenting), and id., at 567 (Frankfurter, J., dissenting)). Statements made in dissent do not override the Carlson Court's express finding that the petitioners in that case were found to be not only members of the Communist Party, but "active in Communist work" and to "a degree, minor perhaps in [one] case, [participants] in Communist activities." Id., at 541.27
Moreover, the Carlson dissenters did not suggest that no individualized determinations had occurred; rather, they contended that the District Director's individual findings of dangerousness were unsupported by sufficient reliable evidence. See id., at 549-550 (Black, J., dissenting) (arguing that the aliens were not in fact " 'dangerous' " at all); id., at 552 (arguing that danger findings were based on "the rankest hearsay evidence" instead of the INS being "required to prove" that the detainee was dangerous); id., at 555-556 (arguing that activity within the Communist movement did not make the aliens "dangerous"); id., at 566-567 (Frankfurter, J.,
27 In the footnote immediately following its citation of dissenting opinions, the Court cites a passage from the Carlson majority opinion confirming that the Carlson petitioners' detention rested on the "allegation, supported by affidavits, that the [INS's] dossier of each petitioner contained evidence" of Communist Party membership and activities "to the prejudice of the public interest." 342 U. S., at 530 (quoted ante, at 525, n. 9).
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