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The Case Against Prosecuting Refugees, Evan J. Criddle
The Case Against Prosecuting Refugees, Evan J. Criddle
Northwestern University Law Review
Within the past several years, the U.S. Department of Justice has pledged to prosecute asylum-seekers who enter the United States outside an official port of entry without inspection. This practice has contributed to mass incarceration and family separation at the U.S.–Mexico border, and it has prevented bona fide refugees from accessing relief in immigration court. Yet, federal judges have taken refugee prosecution in stride, assuming that refugees, like other foreign migrants, are subject to the full force of American criminal justice if they skirt domestic border controls. This assumption is gravely mistaken.
This Article shows that Congress has not authorized …
Purposivism In The Executive Branch: How Agencies Interpret Statutes, Kevin M. Stack
Purposivism In The Executive Branch: How Agencies Interpret Statutes, Kevin M. Stack
Northwestern University Law Review
After decades of debate, the lines of distinction between textualism and purposivism have been carefully drawn with respect to the judicial task of statutory interpretation. Far less attention has been devoted to the question of how executive branch officials approach statutory interpretation. While scholars have contrasted agencies’ interpretive practices from those of courts, they have not yet developed a theory of agency statutory interpretation.
This Article develops a purposivist theory of agency statutory interpretation on the ground that regulatory statutes oblige agencies to implement the statutes they administer in that manner. Regulatory statutes not only grant powers but also impose …