Demore v. Kim, 538 U.S. 510, 67 (2003)

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576

DEMORE v. KIM

Opinion of Breyer, J.

eral legislation depriving an entire class of aliens of liberty during removal proceedings. Flores did not disturb established standards that detention of an adult must be justified in each individual instance.30

IV

This case is not about the National Government's undisputed power to detain aliens in order to avoid flight or prevent danger to the community. The issue is whether that power may be exercised by detaining a still lawful permanent resident alien when there is no reason for it and no way to challenge it. The Court's holding that the Due Process Clause allows this under a blanket rule is devoid of even ostensible justification in fact and at odds with the settled standard of liberty. I respectfully dissent.

Justice Breyer, concurring in part and dissenting in part.

I agree with the majority that the courts have jurisdiction, and I join Part I of its opinion. If I believed (as the majority apparently believes, see ante, at 513-514, and n. 3) that Kim had conceded that he is deportable, then I would conclude that the Government could detain him without bail for the few weeks ordinarily necessary for formal entry of a removal order. Brief for Petitioners 39-40; see ante, at 528-531. Time limits of the kind set forth in Zadvydas v. Davis, 533 U. S. 678 (2001), should govern these and longer periods of detention, for an alien's concession that he is deportable

30 Indeed, the passages the Court quotes from Flores did not concern the regulation's constitutionality at all, but rather its validity as an implementation of the authorizing statute. Id., at 313 ("Respondents also contend that the INS regulation violates the statute because it relies upon a 'blanket' presumption"). Flores clearly separated its analysis of the regulation under the Due Process Clause from its analysis of the regulation under the statute. See id., at 300; see also id., at 318-319 (O'Connor, J., concurring) (pointing out the substantive due process analysis at id., at 301-306, and the procedural due process analysis at id., at 306-309).

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