Today, ILCM and Gray Plant Mooty, along with Latham & Watkins, LLP, filed this petition for certiorari with the United States Supreme Court, seeking review of the Eighth Circuit's decision in Ochoa v. Holder, 604 F.3d 546 (8th Cir. 2010).  ILCM and Gray Plant Mooty previously filed this petition for rehearing and rehearing en banc with the Eighth Circuit. 

The questions presented are (1) whether federal courts are categorically incompetent to review a Board of Immigration Appeals decision denying a motion to reopen removal proceedings sua sponte, even where that decision applies a legal standard, on the ground that such decisions are “committed to agency discretion by law" under the Administrative Procedure Act, 5 U.S.C. Sec. 701(a)(2); and (2) whether the Eighth Circuit erred by disregarding the BIA’s stated grounds for its decision, in conflict with SEC v. Chenery Corp., 318 U.S. 80 (1943), and the decisions of other circuit courts of appeals.

At stake is the authority of the federal courts to review a broad range of discretionary  decisions made by immigration judges and the Board of Immigration Appeals.  If accepted by the Supreme Court, the case could also impact judicial review of executive agency actions far beyond the immmigration context.