Galvan v. Press – Case Brief Summary
Summary of Galvan v. Press, 347 U.S. 522, 74 S. Ct. 737, 98 L. Ed. 911 (1954).
Facts
The Internal Security Act of 1950 provided for the deportation of any alien who had been a member of the Communist Party at any time after entering the United States. Galvan was born in Mexico and had been living as an alien in the United States since 1918. When questioned by the Immigration and Naturalization Service, he stated that he had been a Communist Party member from 1944 to 1946. Galvan was served with a deportation warrant in March 1949. He received a new hearing in December 1950 and was ordered deported under the Internal Security Act of 1950.
Galvan filed a petition for a writ of habeas corpus. The district court denied the petition, the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit affirmed, and the Supreme Court granted certiorari.
Issues
- Is the power of Congress over the rights of aliens to enter and remain in the United States subject to the limitations of substantive due process?
- Does the Ex Post Facto Clause of the Constitution apply to deportation?
Holding and Rule (Frankfurter)
- No. The power of Congress over the rights of aliens to enter and remain in the United States is not subject to the limitations of substantive due process.
- No. The Ex Post Facto Clause does not apply to deportation.
Congress has very broad power concerning the rights of aliens to enter and remain in the United States. That power touches basic aspects of national sovereignty, foreign relations, and national security.
Policies regarding the rights of aliens to enter and remain in the United States are peculiarly concerned with the political conduct of government. The Executive Branch of the Government must respect the procedural safeguards of due process in enforcing these policies. But the formulation of these policies is entrusted exclusively to Congress.
The Act is constitutional as here applied to a resident alien shown to have been willingly a member of the Communist Party, although not shown to have been aware of advocacy of violent overthrow of the Government. It is enough that Galvan joined the Communist Party, aware that it was a distinct and active political organization, and that he did so of his own free will.
Disposition
Denial of Galvan’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus affirmed.
Dissent (Black)
Galvan has an American wife and four American children. I am unwilling to say that, despite the constitutional safeguards of due process, the First Amendment, and the prohibition against ex post facto laws, this man may be driven from our land because he joined a political party that was recognized as perfectly legal at the time.
See Fletcher v. Peck for a constitutional law case brief in which the Supreme Court held that an act of Congress to nullify a previous land grant was an ex post facto law and therefore unconstitutional.