Supreme Court Skeptical of Government Stances in Immigration, Double Jeopardy Cases

The U.S. Supreme Court seemed inclined on Nov. 28 to rule against government attorneys advocating for a refined definition of double jeopardy and giving immigration courts more deference. Oral argument in the two cases—McElrath v. Georgia and Wilkinson v. Garland—focused on the scope of courts’ powers in reviewing decisions made by others in the legal system. In the first case, Georgia’s Solicitor General Stephen Petrany defended the state Supreme Court’s decision to invalidate the jury acquittal of a man who stabbed and killed his adoptive mother. The jury in Mr. McElrath’s trial found him guilty, but mentally ill, of felony murder and aggravated assault; as well as not guilty of malice murder, or a homicide committed with express or implied malice, by reason of insanity....