Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk

Court Requires Warning About Deportation Risk, N.Y. Times, March 31, 2010:

The Supreme Court ruled on Wednesday that lawyers for people thinking of pleading guilty to a crime must advise their clients who are not citizens about the possibility that they will be deported.

Likening deportation to the punishments of banishment and exile, Justice John Paul Stevens, writing for five justices, said the Constitution guaranteed competent legal advice on at least some collateral consequences of guilty pleas.

“It is our responsibility under the Constitution to ensure that no criminal defendant — whether a citizen or not — is left to the mercies of incompetent counsel,” Justice Stevens wrote.

Padilla v. Kentucky, No. 08-651 (March 31, 2010) is here. SCOTUS Blog has links to other stories here.