5/4/2009 Court Issues Final Order in Surviving Spouse Litigation
Final order issued in a class action challenge to the widow penalty. The District Court found that plaintiffs in the Ninth and Sixth Circuits are entitled to "immediate relative" classification as surviving spouses of deceased U.S. citizens, and it invalidated guidance set forth in a 11/07 Aytes memo. Hootkins v. Chertoff (C.D. CA, 4/28/09).

4/30/2009 All Signs Point to Immigration Reform this Year: AILA Optimistic that the President and Congress will Push for CIR this Year
We are encouraged by events of the past 24 hours as President Obama renewed his Administration’s pledge to pursue CIR, DHS announced its intention to focus worksite enforcement actions more on criminal prosecutions of employers who knowingly hire unauthorized workers, and the Senate Judiciary Subcommittee on Immigration held a CIR hearing.