Applying the suspension clause to immigration cases

Notwithstanding "plenary power" and "public rights" doctrines that have traditionally left aliens with less protection against administrative detention than American citizens enjoy, preclusion of all judicial review of immigration-related detentions would violate the Constitution, The more difficult challenge is to identify the scope of judicial review that the Constitution mandates. In asserting that the Constitution establishes relatively robust rights to judicial review, Professor Fallon maintains that the "plenary power" and "public rights" doctrines should be reconceptualized. Properly conceived neither would deny a judicial role in subjecting-federal immigration powers to constitutional norms. Professor Fallen also argues that fixing the necessary scope of review requires a frank weighing of the liberty interests of immigrants and would-be immigrants against the costs that extensive judicial review could occasion.