SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
HAITIAN REFUGEE CENTER, INC., et al. v. JAMES
BAKER, III, SECRETARY OF STATE, et al.
on application for stay and on petition for writ of
certiorari to the united states court of appeals
for the eleventh circuit
No. 91-1292.  Decided February 24, 1992

  The application for stay of mandates, presented to
Justice Kennedy and by him referred to the Court, is
denied.  The petition for a writ of certiorari is denied.

  Justice Stevens, respecting the denial of certiorari.
  It is important to emphasize that the denial of the
petition for writ of certiorari is not a ruling on any of the
unsettled and important questions of law presented in the
petition.  See Singleton v. Commissioner, 439 U. S. 940, 942
(1978) (Stevens, J., respecting denial of certiorari).
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SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
HAITIAN REFUGEE CENTER, INC., et al. v. JAMES
BAKER, III, SECRETARY OF STATE, et al.
on application for stay and on petition for writ of
certiorari to the united states court of appeals
for the eleventh circuit
No. 91-1292.  Decided February 24, 1992

  Justice Thomas, respecting the denial of certiorari.
  On January 31, 1991, I voted to deny the government's
application to stay the District Court's injunctions in this
case because, in my view, the petitioners deserved the
additional twenty-four hours they had requested for the
purpose of taking depositions and filing a response.  The
petitioners have since briefed the merits of their petition for
certiorari, and I now conclude that under the standards this
Court has traditionally employed, cf. S. Ct. Rule 10.1, the
petition should be denied.
  The affidavits filed throughout this litigation have sought
to describe the conditions in Haiti and the treatment the
returnees have received there.  I am deeply concerned about
these allegations.  However, this matter must be addressed
by the political branches, for our role is limited to questions
of law.  Because none of the legal issues presented in this
petition provides a basis for review, I join the Court's denial
of certiorari.
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SUPREME COURT OF THE UNITED STATES
HAITIAN REFUGEE CENTER, INC., et al. v. JAMES
BAKER, III, SECRETARY OF STATE, et al.
on application for stay and on petition for writ of
certiorari to the united states court of appeals
for the eleventh circuit
No. 91-1292.  Decided February 24, 1992

  Justice Blackmun, dissenting from denial of certiorari.
  The world has followed with great concern the fate of
thousands of individuals who fled Haiti in the wake of that
country's September 1991 military coup.  As the complex
procedural history of this case reveals, the legal issues
surrounding the rights of Haitians interdicted on the high
seas by the United States Coast Guard have deeply divided
the four federal judges who have considered their claims.
Each of the issues presented-whether the United States
Government is violating the First Amendment by denying
lawyers from the Haitian Refugee Center a right of access
to the Haitians held at Guantanamo Bay; whether interna-
tional or domestic law affords the Haitians a substantive
right not to be returned to a country where they face
possible persecution; and whether the Haitians may
challenge the adequacy of procedures employed by the
United States Government to identify those facing political
persecution-is difficult and susceptible to competing
interpretations.
  A quick glance at this Court's docket reveals not only that
we have room to consider these issues, but that they are at
least as significant as any we have chosen to review today.
If indeed the Haitians are to be returned to an uncertain
future in their strife-torn homeland, that ruling should
come from this Court, after full and careful consideration of
the merits of their claims.
  I dissent from the Court's decision to deny a writ of
certiorari.
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