Remand Rule

Gonzales v. Thomas, 547 U.S. 183 (2006)

• In a per curiam decision dated April 17, 2006, the Supreme Court vacated the Ninth Circuit’s decision and remanded the case for further consideration of the asylum claim.
• The Court ruled 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.”
• Relying on INS v. Ventura, 537 U.S. 12 (2002), the court found that the Ninth Circuit should have applied the “ordinary remand rule” rather than deciding the asylum case in the first instance.