The Ninth Circuit has abrogated its prior rule that it must uphold an adverse credibility determination if just one factor cited by the agency is supported by substantial evidence. The court determined that the REAL ID Act requires a “totality of the circumstances” analysis of the credibility determination. “There is no bright-line rule under which some number of inconsistencies requires sustaining or rejecting an adverse credibility determination—our review will always require assessing the totality of the circumstances. To the extent that our precedents employed the single factor rule or are otherwise inconsistent with this standard, we overrule those cases.” The concurring opinion suggests several other “judge-made rules” that Judge Bennett believes should be revisited.
The full text of Alam v. Garland can be found here:
https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2021/09/08/19-72744.pdf