While a federal judge in Virginia recently concluded that a network of immigration judges have standing to bring a First Amendment challenge to a Department of Justice Executive Office for Immigration Review’s 2021 “Speaking Engagements” policy, the U.S. District Court concluded that the plaintiff must first raise their complaint administratively.
Members of the National Association of Immigration Judges, a voluntary association of immigration judges, sued David L. Neal, in his official capacity as the director of the EOIR, over the speaking policy, which requires an immigration judge to go through an “onerous preapproval process” when requesting to speak or write in his or her official or personal capacity. The NAIJ alleges that the policy violates the First Amendment and is void for vagueness under the Fifth Amendment, in their complaint filed in U.S. District Court for the District of Eastern Virginia.
