Ineffective Assistance Claim

In a friend-of-the-court brief submitted to Attorney General Eric Holder, the American Civil Liberties Union has asked him to withdraw and reconsider a ruling that denies immigrants legal protection from their lawyers’ incompetence.

The ruling, issued by former Attorney General Michael Mukasey days before he left office, overturns years of legal precedent and severely restricts the right of immigrants to reopen immigration cases lost because of their lawyers’ mistakes. Mukasey’s decision wrongly held that an immigrant’s claim of “ineffective assistance of counsel” based on lawyer error was not constitutionally protected and that immigration judges could choose to ignore such claims.

Letters
ACLU Amicus Brief in Support of Reconsideration of Mukasey’s Decision in Matter of Compean (2/6/2009)
American Bar Association Letter in Support of Reconsideration (2/6/2009)
American Immigration Law Foundation Letter in Support of Reconsideration (2/6/2009)
Petitioner’s Motion To Vacate and Reconsider Rule (2/6/2009)
ACLU Letter to Attorney General Mukasey (10/6/2008)
ABA Letter to Attorney General Mukasey (10/16/2008)
Law Firms’ Final Right to Counsel Letter to Attorney General Mukasey (9/4/2008)
Letter from National and Local Organizations to Attorney General Mukasey (8/27/2008)
AILF and ACLU Objection Letter to Attorney General Mukasey’s Orders (8/27/2008)

Orders
Attorney General Mukasey’s Order Eliminating “Ineffective Assistance” Right (1/7/2009)
Attorney General Mukasey’s Order Regarding “Ineffective Assistance” Right (9/8/2008)
Attorney General Mukasey’s Order Regarding “Ineffective Assistance” Right (8/7/2008)