The U.S. Supreme Court has ruled that the constitutional rights of U.S. citizens are not violated when the government denies entry to their non-citizen spouses without explanation.
In a 6-3 decision on Friday, June 21, the court stated that Sandra Munoz, a U.S. citizen and civil rights lawyer, cannot challenge the U.S. Department of State’s denial of her El Salvadoran husband’s visa application.
The agency had waited three years to explain that it suspected him of being a gang member.
Visa denials in the U.S. are not reviewable in court unless the government violates an applicant’s constitutional rights. This ruling means a non-citizen spouse of a U.S. citizen can be denied a visa without any explanation, reinforcing that non-citizens do not have a guaranteed right of entry into the U.S.
Munoz and her husband, who married in 2010 and have a child together, have been separated since 2015. The Supreme Court rejected Munoz’s claim that the delay in explaining the denial violated her due process rights by interfering with her fundamental right to marry.
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Munoz sued the State Department in 2017 after the agency declined to reconsider its denial of her husband’s visa before providing an explanation. Her husband, who has no criminal record and denied any gang affiliation, had traveled to El Salvador to apply for the visa.
Justice Amy Coney Barrett, writing for the court, stated that Munoz’s 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.”
The ruling overturns a 2022 decision by the San Francisco-based 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals that had revived Munoz’s lawsuit against the State Department.
The Immigration Reform Law Institute, a conservative group that supported the State Department, praised the ruling.