Professor Chin Cited on Immigration Case in The Atlantic

Scholarship by Professor Gabriel “Jack” Chin is cited at length in an article in The Atlantic on the origins of the “plenary power” doctrine and its potential impact on immigration cases currently before the Supreme Court.

Professor Chin’s “Chae Chan Ping and Fong Yue Ting: The Origins of Plenary Power” (from Immigration Law Stories, David Martin and Peter Schuck, eds., Foundation Press 2005) shows how the doctrine stems from the Supreme Court’s 1889 ruling in Chae Chan Ping v. United States. In that decision, the Court ruled that the legislative branch has virtually unrestricted power over the admission of aliens and may make rules that would be unacceptable if applied to citizens. The plenary power doctrine is expected to figure into upcoming decisions regarding President Trump’s travel bans and other immigration issues, The Atlantic reports.

Gabriel "Jack" Chin is Martin Luther King, Jr. Professor of Law and holder of the Edward L. Barrett, Jr. Endowed Chair at UC Davis School of Law. He is a prolific and much-cited criminal and immigration law scholar whose work has addressed many of the most pressing social issues of our time.