In the PHL one must be a Filipino to be licensed to practie law.
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Initially, the Bar had denied Godinez-Samperio’s application to the Bar, even though he graduated from a Florida law school and passed the Bar exam.
In another filing Tuesday, the Board of Bar Examiners also acknowledged that the U.S. Department of Homeland Security’s recently announced change in policy regarding children brought to the country illegally likely has some bearing on the issue.
The Obama Administration announced in June that immigrants under 30 who arrived in the country as children, who otherwise have no criminal history and who have served in the military or graduated from high school, would be allowed to remain in the country and work.
That would appear to apply to Godinez-Samperio, who was brought to the U.S. from Mexico on a visitors’ visa when he was 9. His parents overstayed their visas and the family never returned, his veterinarian father becoming a farm hand and his mother, a dentist, working in a factory. He grew up in the Tampa area.
After the recent change in policy by Homeland Security, Godinez-Samperio filed a motion asking that that new policy be taken into account.
In its filing on Tuesday, the Board of Bar Examiners acknowledged that the Homeland Security policy change was “relevant to the case at hand,” though it also said that Godinez-Samperio’s lawyers went against court rules in his motion, making arguments on why the new Homeland Security position should be taken into account, when appellate procedure rules prohibit such arguments.
The Supreme Court has given no timeline for when it might offer an advisory opinion in the case.
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