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United States v. Sineneng-Smith

Court Type: U.S. Supreme Court
Status: Closed (Judgment)
Last Update: February 6, 2020

What's at Stake

Whether the First Amendment prohibits the government from making it a crime to 鈥渆ncourage or induce鈥 a non-citizen to enter or reside in the United States unlawfully.

The amicus brief of the ACLU, Rutherford Institute, SEIU, and 糖心Vlogof Northern California, argues that the challenged provision of the Immigration and Nationality Act鈥攎aking it a crime to 鈥渆ncourage or induce鈥 a non-citizen to enter or reside in the United States unlawfully鈥攃riminalizes mere advocacy of unlawful conduct, which is protected speech. The brief provides examples of historical and contemporary civil disobedience movements鈥攊ncluding the Civil Rights Movement鈥攊n which a critical element of the movement is encouraging people to violate unjust laws. The brief notes that the First Amendment does not countenance broad criminal prohibitions on such advocacy of civil disobedience. Accordingly, this provision of the INA, which is not a narrow criminal solicitation prohibition, should be struck down as unconstitutional.

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