533US2
Unit: $U87
[10-21-02 18:35:10] PAGES PGT: OPIN
Cite as: 533 U. S. 678 (2001)
725
Kennedy, J., dissenting
essary for there to be a community risk; the adequacy of
judicial review in specific cases where it is alleged there is
no justification for concluding an alien is dangerous or a flight
risk; and other issues. These matters are not presented to
us here.
In all events, if judicial review is to be available, the inquiry required by the majority focuses on the wrong factors.
Concepts of flight risk or future dangerousness are manageable legal categories. See, e. g., Kansas v. Hendricks, 521
U. S. 346 (1997); Foucha v. Louisiana, 504 U. S. 71 (1992).
The majority instead would have the Judiciary review the
status of repatriation negotiations, which, one would have
thought, are the paradigmatic examples of nonjusticiable inquiry. See INS v. Aguirre-Aguirre, 526 U. S., at 425. The
inquiry would require the Executive Branch to surrender its
primacy in foreign affairs and submit reports to the courts
respecting its ongoing negotiations in the international
sphere. High officials of the Department of State could be
called on to testify as to the status of these negotiations.
The Court finds this to be a more manageable, more appropriate role for the Judiciary than to review a single, discrete
case deciding whether there were fair procedures and adequate judicial safeguards to determine whether an alien is
dangerous to the community so that long-term detention is
justified. The Court’s rule is a serious misconception of the
proper judicial function, and it is not what Congress enacted.
For these reasons, the Court should reverse the judgment
of the Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit and affirm the
judgment of the Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit. I
dissent.