"A divided Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that part of a federal law used to deport noncitizens who commit felonies is unconstitutionally vague, with new Justice Neil M. Gorsuch joining the court’s liberal members in striking the statute.
The 5-to-4 decision could limit the government’s ability to deport those with criminal records, something that President Trump has identified as a priority.
Justice Elena Kagan wrote that the part of the Immigration and Nationality Act in question was so “fuzzy” over what constitutes the kind of aggravated felony that requires an immigrant’s deportation that it violated the constitutional protection of due process.
She was joined by the court’s consistent liberals — Justices Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Stephen G. Breyer and Sonia Sotomayor — as well as Gorsuch, who has just celebrated his first anniversary on the court after being nominated by Trump.
Gorsuch did not join all of Kagan’s opinion, but he agreed with the outcome.
“Vague laws invite arbitrary power,” Gorsuch wrote in concurring with the majority. He mentioned that before the American Revolution, the crime of treason in English law gave authorities power to go after those whose opinions they disliked..."
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/courts_law/divided-supreme-court-says-part-of-immigration-law-used-for-deportation-too-vague/2018/04/17/37a57c22-4258-11e8-ad8f-27a8c409298b_story.html?noredirect=on&utm_term=.afb5448cc879