United States | Supreme Court Rules Against Spousal Interest in Visa Denial Case

The U.S. Supreme Court today ruled 6 – 3 in Department of State v. Muñoz that “a citizen does not have a fundamental liberty interest in her noncitizen spouse being admitted to the country.”

The case involved Sandra Muñoz, a U.S. citizen, who sued the federal government after her husband, Luis Asencio Cordero, a citizen of El Salvador, was denied a visa after a U.S. consular officer in San Salvador found he was inadmissible under federal law. His visa refusal letter referred to the applicable section of law, INA 212(a)(3)(A)(ii) (“other unlawful activity”), but did not provide a detailed reason for the denial. As part of the litigation record, the State Department later clarified that the basis for the refusal was that the consular officer had reason to believe Asencio Cordero was a member of the gang MS-13, based in part on…