In That Case: Department of State v. Muñoz

In the Public Interest

In this episode of In the Public Interest, co-host Felicia Ellsworth is joined by WilmerHale Partner Lee Greenfield to discuss the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Department of State v. Muñoz. The case concerns the due process rights of US citizens if their non-citizen spouses are denied entrance to the country and what impact this has on the right to marriage.

Ellsworth and Greenfield cover the origins of the case and how it evolved from a lawsuit pertaining to the Fifth Amendment rights of an individual plaintiff, Sandra Muñoz, into a larger conversation around the right to marriage as defined in cases such as Obergefell v. Hodges. Greenfield lends an added perspective from his direct involvement with the case, explaining how he came to file an amicus brief on behalf of 35 members of Congress in support of Muñoz.

This episode is the latest installment of our miniseries examining notable decisions recently issued by the US Supreme Court. Previous episodes covering this year’s term looked at the decisions in cases including Cantero v. Bank of America, Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP and Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy.