Supreme Court news: Jackson sides with conservatives in immigrant deportation case

The Supreme Court on Thursday made it easier for the federal government to deport legal immigrants who are convicted of certain crimes, with liberal Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson joining the majority in the 6-3 decision.

In an opinion authored by Justice Brett Kavanaugh, the justices ruled in the case Pugin v. Garland that convictions for both accessory after the fact and attempting to dissuade victims from reporting sexual misconduct are crimes serious enough to make a person eligible for permanent removal.

Lawyers for the plaintiffs in the case said that obstruction of justice requires there to be an open investigation, but Kavanaugh and the other five justices said that is not the case.