Kramer Levin Amicus Brief Quoted in National Law Journal

An article in the National Law Journal about the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to hear arguments in Chaidez v. United States quoted an amicus brief Kramer Levin filed on behalf of the National Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers. The arguments will address whether the Supreme Court’s 2010 decision in Padilla v. Kentucky, which held lawyers constitutionally obligated to advise non-citizen clients about the immigration consequences of plea-based convictions, applies retroactively to convictions that were final before Padilla was announced. Lower federal courts are divided over the issue. The Kramer Levin brief, filed in support of the position that Padilla applies retroactively, was quoted from as saying the division over the issue causes “deeply unjust and damaging” inequities that separate families, and “a regrettable disuniformity of federal immigration law."

Litigation partners Jeffrey S. Trachtman and Dani R. James; Litigation associate Craig L. Siegel; Land Use associate Cynthia Lovinger Siderman; and Litigation law clerk Jennifer E. Batterton, authored the brief.