The First Circuit has determined that it has jurisdiction to review constitutional claims or errors of law that arise in the agency’s adjudication of sua sponte motions to reopen. The Court also found that the “BIA departed from its settled course of accepting full and unconditional pardons granted by a state's supreme pardoning authority when the pardon is executive, rather than legislative, in nature. The BIA's policy has been shaped by its prior decisions accepting pardons from authorities whose powers were conferred by statute and rejecting pardons that were not deliberative, even when constitutionally guaranteed. From these BIA decisions, it is evident that "executive in nature" does not require the power to pardon be presently inscribed in a state's constitution. As the BIA premised its denial of Thompson's motion to reopen on the insufficiency of a Connecticut pardon for purposes of the Pardon Waiver Clause, we remand to the BIA to determine whether to reopen Thompson's immigration proceedings sua sponte against the correct legal background.”
The full text of Thompson v. Barr can be found here:
http://media.ca1.uscourts.gov/pdf.opinions/18-1823P-01A.pdf