Sotomayor and Gorsuch Condemn Immigrant Prosecution as Absurd
Left 50%
Center 0%
Right 50%
1 left · 0 center · 1 right
What happened
On Tuesday, the U.S. Supreme Court declined to hear an appeal from Jesus Herrera-Salazar, a Mexican national whom the federal government had indicted twice for allegedly illegally reentering the country after two arrests. Accompanying that denial, Justice Sonia Sotomayor, joined by Justice Neil Gorsuch, issued a statement. They said his treatment raised “serious constitutional problems,” was difficult to square with double jeopardy protections, and exemplified a “constitutional absurdity.”
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2 of 2 articles cite a named source for the story. It was on the record from the first report.
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Omitted — what each side leaves out
Unpacked
Left-leaning coverage never reports that the Court refused to take the case. Right-leaning coverage in the Washington Examiner says Sotomayor and Gorsuch issued their statement with the high court's decision not to hear Herrera-Salazar's appeal. That fact decides whether this is a Court rebuke with force or a comment pinned to a denial. A reader of The Hill can treat the condemnation as the Court's move. A reader of the Examiner sees the pair objecting while the rest of the Court let the prosecution stand.
Right-leaning coverage has the justices "rip" a prosecution that left-leaning coverage describes as condemned. The first verb is a fight. The second is a formal legal objection. Both sides flag a liberal-conservative pairing, so the temperature sits in the verb rather than in who signed on.
Why did the rest of the Court let the case go after two justices flagged a double jeopardy problem?
Bottom line
Without the Washington Examiner's denial-of-appeal line, The Hill leaves Sotomayor and Gorsuch sounding like they had stopped a prosecution the Court actually left in place.
The receipts — 3 facts one side's coverage lacks
- The Supreme Court declined to hear Herrera-Salazar's appeal, and the justices' statement accompanied that denial
- The federal government indicted Herrera-Salazar twice for illegal entry
- Herrera-Salazar was arrested twice
The Left View
The Hill frames the statement as a liberal and a conservative justice joining forces to condemn the government’s prosecution. It highlights their warning of “serious constitutional problems” and Sotomayor’s view, joined by Gorsuch, that it was difficult to see how Herrera-Salazar’s treatment squared with double jeopardy protections.
The Right View
The Washington Examiner frames the same statement as Sotomayor and Gorsuch teaming up to “rip” the “constitutional absurdity” of an immigration case. It stresses double-jeopardy questions arising from the two arrests and two indictments and notes the pairing of a liberal and a conservative justice.
Our Take (balanced)
Left-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is the cross-ideological warning of “serious constitutional problems” with double jeopardy, treating that alliance as evidence the defect was grave. Right-leaning coverage’s strongest argument is the same pairing plus the quoted “constitutional absurdity” tied to successive prosecutions after two arrests. The central unresolved tension is that two justices from opposite wings condemned the prosecution while the Court still declined review, leaving the double-jeopardy claim unadjudicated on the merits.
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