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Supreme Court Justices Sonia Sotomayor and Neil Gorsuch have raised constitutional concerns over the prosecution of Jesus Herrera-Salazar, a Mexican national charged twice for illegally re-entering the U.S. The justices questioned whether prosecuting Herrera-Salazar twice violated the Fifth Amendment's protection against double jeopardy, according to AOL.
Herrera-Salazar was first found in Texas in 2020 and sentenced to prison. After serving his sentence, he was required to remain in the U.S. under supervised release. However, he was found in Oklahoma and convicted again for illegal reentry. He served both sentences and was deported in 2024, as reported by UPI.
The Supreme Court declined to hear Herrera-Salazar's appeal on Tuesday (October 13), noting he had already served both sentences and was deported. However, Sotomayor and Gorsuch emphasized the need to avoid similar constitutional issues in the future. "Should circumstances like these arise again, I encourage courts to avoid the constitutional absurdity that occurred here and give the Double Jeopardy Clause its full weight and meaning," Sotomayor wrote, joined by Gorsuch, as reported by The Daily Beast.
The 10th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals previously ruled that each of Herrera-Salazar's convictions was for separate offenses, thus not violating the double jeopardy clause. However, Sotomayor and Gorsuch disagreed, highlighting the continuous nature of the crime and the potential for constitutional overreach.