The Ninth Circuit has amended its decision in Idrees v. Whitaker, which found that the Board of Immigration Appeals’ decision to certify a case was not subject to judicial review. In the amended opinion, the court stated that, “We do not hold that judicial review of the BIA’s refusal to certify a case is never appropriate. In other contexts, we have held that, even where a regulation commits a matter to agency discretion, the court may review the decision if there is ‘law to apply’ in doing so. But, Idrees does not assert that the BIA and IJ’s refusal to certify his claim for ineffective assistance of counsel rested on any constitutional or legal error. He challenges only the BIA’s exercise of its discretion in refusing to certify his claim, which is not subject to judicial review.”
The amended decision in Idrees v. Barr can be found here: http://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2019/04/30/15-71573.pdf
My blog post on the original decision in Idrees v. Whitaker can be found here: http://www.sabrinadamast.com/journal/2019/1/1/ninth-circuit-finds-that-bias-decision-to-certify-an-appeal-is-discretionary