SCOTUS Unanimously Rules Against Ninth Circuit Rule that Gave Asylum to Previously-Denied Illegal Aliens Erin Schaff-Pool/Getty Images 1 Jun 2021 The U.S. Supreme Court (SCOTUS) on Tuesday held that federal courts have a limited role in reviewing immigration judge findings, reversing a decision from the Ninth Circuit appeals court that helped grant immigration relief to illegal aliens seeking asylum. Justice Neil Gorsuch wrote in a 9-0 decision that there is “nothing in the [Immigration and Nationality Act]” that “contemplates anything like the embellishment the Ninth Circuit has adopted” when deeming that an illegal alien’s testimony in an immigration case must be considered credible and true if not explicitly stated otherwise by an immigration judge or the Board of Immigration Appeals (BIA).