Supreme Court blocks ICE contractor immunity appeal

By Andrew Rice
The Center Square

The U.S. Supreme Court, in a unanimous decision, ruled that prison contractors cannot immediately appeal a trial court’s decision, despite several claims to federal immunity.

The case, Geo Group Inc. v. Menocal, focused on a prison in Colorado that contracted with U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement. An individual detained at the prison sued over policies that required him to complete labor while detained without little or no pay.

The prison contractor sought to dismiss the claims, under the presumption that ICE allowed it to implement its forced labor policies. However, a lower court judge denied that presumption. The prison group cited a 1940 decision that extended liability protections to federal contractors the government authorized.

The prison sought to immediately appeal the lower court’s decision but was rejected. Justices on the high court upheld that rejection and tailored immunity for federal contractor lawsuits to be more specific.

“But the right to a finding of non-liability stands on a different footing: It can be effectively vindicated after a trial has occurred, through the reversal of an adverse final judgment,” Justice Elena Kagan wrote. “And so the denial of a merits defense is generally appealable only once trial-court proceedings have ended.”

Justices on the court emphasized that the government itself maintains sovereign immunity but that does not necessarily extend to federal contractors.

Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito filed concurring opinions of Kagan’s judgement. However the justices differed in their explanations.

Alito argued that federal contractors should have the right to immediately appeal a defense the bring up certain constitutional or public policy concerns.

“This rule holds true even if the defense at issue turns on the legality of the defendant’s conduct,” Alito wrote.

The case will now go forward to be litigated further in lower courts. Further litigation of the case could end will a large liability for the prison group.