Top court to follow up on immigration lawyer case
Source: Reuters
By James Vicini
WASHINGTON | Mon Apr 30, 2012 12:15pm EDT
(Reuters) - The Supreme Court agreed on Monday to decide how broadly to apply its two-year old ruling that immigrants have a constitutional right to effective assistance of counsel and must be told about possible deportation stemming from a guilty plea.
The justices said they would consider whether its March 31, 2010, ruling would apply retroactively to previous convictions or would only to convictions after that date. Defense lawyers said in their Supreme Court appeal that the issue has profound practical significance.
In its original ruling, the Supreme Court decided by a 7-2 vote that an immigrant's constitutional right to effective counsel was violated when his attorney mistakenly told him he could plead guilty to drug charges without being deported.
Immigrant rights advocates said at the time the decision could potentially affect thousands of immigrants every year.
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Read more: http://www.reuters.com/article/2012/04/30/us-usa-immigration-attorneys-idUSBRE83T0T120120430
