Supreme Court to Hear Case on Immigrant Rights

The Supreme Court on Monday agreed to decide whether immigrant defendants in criminal proceedings must be told by their lawyers that they face deportation if they plead guilty to serious crimes.  At issue is a case from Kentucky involving a Honduran national who was mistakenly told by his defense attorney that a guilty plea in a drug trafficking case would have no effect on his immigration status.  State and federal courts around the country have previously come to different conclusions about immigrants' rights under the Sixth Amendment right to effective counsel.  The Court will hear arguments in the case this fall.