Jean-Louis v. Attorney General
United States Court of Appeals for the Third Circuit
582 F.3d 462 (2009)
Jean-Louis (plaintiff), a Haitian national and lawful permanent resident, pleaded guilty in Pennsylvania to simple assault of a child under 12 while trying to discipline his wife's daughter. The government began removal proceedings, and the immigration judge (affirmed by the Board of Immigration Appeals) found the conviction was a crime involving moral turpitude (CIMT), making removal mandatory. Jean-Louis petitioned for review, arguing the Pennsylvania statute could be violated without any moral turpitude and that the immigration judge had wrongly applied the Attorney General's framework from Matter of Silva-Trevino, which allowed looking beyond the statute to the specific facts of the underlying conduct.
Whether the Attorney General's opinion in Matter of Silva-Trevino, allowing courts to look at the specific facts of a defendant's underlying conduct, is binding on the court of appeals when determining whether a state conviction constitutes a crime involving moral turpitude.