Abebe
Abebe v. Mukasey
Opinion
Opinion
Berzon, J.
ORDER
The petition for en banc panel rehearing and the petition for full court rehearing en banc are denied. See Fed. R.App. P. 40; Fed. R.App. P. 35; Cir. R. 35-3.
with whom
The en banc majority opinion in this case reverses a thirty year old precedent; does so in answer to a question not raised or briefed by either party; comes to a conclusion in conflict with that of the At torney General and the rule applied in every circuit, as well as in conflict with the necessary assumption of a Supreme Court case, INS v. St. Cyr, 533 U.S. 289 , 121 S.Ct. 2271 , 150 L.Ed.2d 347 (2001); and in doing so distorts the fundamental premises of equal protection law. Moreover, there was no reason whatsoever to embark on this ill-fated adventure, as the concurrence joined by three members of the en banc court persuasively shows.
Although this court has never held a full court en banc, the partial court en banc process depends upon en banc panels sticking to issues appropriately before them and taking heed of the ramifications of their decisions for broad, unrelated areas of law. Here the bare panel majority did neither. If ever a case merited full court en banc consideration, this one did.