Kwong Hai Chew v. Colding et al. (344 U.S. 590)
U.S. Supreme Court · decided February 9, 1953 · Supreme Court Database (Spaeth)
- Citation
- 344 U.S. 590 · 73 S. Ct. 472
- Docket
- No. 17
- Argued
- October 17, 1952
- Decided
- February 9, 1953
- Term
- October Term 1952
- Vote
- 8–1
- Majority author
- Justice Burton
- Issue area
- Due Process
- Disposition
- Reversed and remanded
- Outcome
- Petitioning party won
- Ideological direction
- Liberal
How the Justices voted
- Majority
- Chief Justice Vinson, Justice Clark, Justice Burton (wrote), Justice R. H. Jackson, Justice Douglas, Justice Frankfurter, Justice Reed, Justice Black
- Dissenting
- Justice Minton
Opinion excerpt
Mr. Justice Burton delivered the opinion of the Court. A preliminary consideration that is helpful to the solution of this litigation is whether, under 8 CFR § 175.57 (b), the Attorney General has authority to deny to a lawful permanent resident of the United States, who is an alien continuously residing and physically present therein, the opportunity to be heard in opposition to an order for his “permanent exclusion” and consequent deportation, provided the Attorney General determines that the order is based on information of a confidential nature, the disclosure of which would be prejudicial to the public interest. Assuming, as seems to be clear, that the Attorney General does not have such authority, the critical issue then presented is whether he has that authority under the following additional circumstances: the resident alien is a seaman, he currently maintains his residence in the United States and usually is physically present there, however, he is returning from a voyage as a seaman on a vessel of American registry with its home port in the United States, that voyage has included scheduled calls at foreign ports in the Far East, and he is detained on board by order of the Attorney General. For the reasons hereafter stated, we hold that these additional circumstances do not change the result and that the Attorney General does not have the authority suggested.…
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