Supreme Court rules deportation law too vague

The U.S. Supreme Court ruled 5-4 Tuesday that part of federal law that makes it easier to deport immigrants convicted of violent crimes is too vague. In something of a surprise, conservative Justice Neil Gorsuch joined the court’s four liberal members in striking down the provision. Further unexpected was the majority justices’ reliance on a 2015 opinion written by conservative stalwart Justice Antonin Scalia. It was one of the last opinions he wrote before his death in 2016. The current case involved a legal immigrant facing deportation over burglary charges. The government argued that burglary “involves a substantial risk that physical force may be used,” but five justices were not convinced. “No one should be surprised that the Constitution looks unkindly on any law so vague that reasonable people cannot understand its terms and judges do not know where to begin in applying it,” Gorsuch wrote.