Practice Alert: Overview of Pugin v. Garland

NIPNLG, AIC, Aug. 23, 2023

"This practice alert analyzes the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Pugin v. Garland, 143 S. Ct. 1833 (2023). The June 22 opinion addressed the generic definition of the obstruction of justice aggravated felony ground at 8 U.S.C. § 1101(a)(43)(S). The Court held that a conviction may be an offense “relating to obstruction of justice,” even if it does not require that an investigation or proceeding be pending or reasonably foreseeable. The practice alert reviews the generic definition of obstruction of justice prior to Pugin; the facts, holding, and reasoning in Pugin; and the key implications of the decision for practitioners.

Copyright (c) 2023, the National Immigration Project (NIPNLG) and the American Immigration Council (Council), 2023. The advisory is intended for authorized legal counsel and is not a substitute for independent legal advice provided by legal counsel familiar with a client’s case. Counsel should independently confirm whether the law has changed since the date of this publication. The authors of this practice alert are Khaled Alrabe, Emma Winger, Suchita Mathur, and Rebecca Scholtz. The authors would like to thank Michael Mehr and Kathy Brady for their review and comments."