US Supreme Court Rules That Americans Can’t Sue If Their Non-citizen Spouse Is Denied Visa Into Us Without Explanation

The Supreme Court of the United States has declared that when the government prohibits non-citizen spouses from entering the country without justification, it does not violate US citizens’ constitutional rights.

Sandra Munoz, a US citizen and civil rights lawyer, cannot challenge the US Department of State’s denial of her El Salvadorian husband’s visa application after the agency waited three years to explain that it suspected him of being a gang member, according to the court’s 6-3 decision on Friday.

Visa denials in the United States are not subject to judicial review unless the government breaches an applicant’s constitutional rights.

With this verdict, a non-citizen spouse of a US citizen may be denied a visa to the country without reason. Non-citizens do not have a guaranteed right to enter the United States or its territories.

Munoz and her spouse, whom she married in 2010 and has a child with, have been separated since 2015, according to court documents.

On Friday, the Supreme Court dismissed Munoz’s contention that the delay in explaining the denial violated her due process rights by interfering with her fundamental right to marriage.

Munoz sued the State Department in 2017 after the department refused to review its prior refusal of her husband’s visa and failed to explain its decision. Munoz’s spouse, who has no criminal past and denies gang connection, went to El Salvador to ask for a visa.

Her claim “involves more than marriage and more than spousal cohabitation — it includes the right to have her non-citizen husband enter (and remain in) the United States,” Justice Amy Coney Barrett wrote for the court.

The result reverses a 2022 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that reinstated Munoz’s claim against the State.

The Immigration Reform Law Institute, a conservative organisation that filed a brief supporting the State Department, applauded the decision.

“To hold for this couple would let those Americans who choose to marry dangerous aliens force their choice on the rest of us,” Dale Wilcox, the group’s executive director and general counsel, said in a statement.

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Nnamdi Okoli