Remand Rule

Keisler v. Hong Yin Gao, 552 U.S. 801 (2007)

• The Supreme Court granted certiorari, vacated the judgment, and remanded the case to the Second Circuit for further consideration in light of Gonzales v. Thomas, 547 U.S. 183, 126 S. Ct. 1613, 164 L. Ed. 2d 358 (2006).
• In Gonzales v. Thomas, the Court held that the Ninth Circuit erred by deciding, without prior resolution by the BIA, that the asylum applicants and their family would constitute a "particular social group" and should have applied the "ordinary remand rule" rather than deciding the asylum case in the first instance. The underlying court of appeals decision in Gao involves an asylum claim based on membership in a "particular social group."