'Habitual Drunkard'

SAN FRANCISCO – The en banc Ninth Circuit ruled Tuesday that – medical disability or not – chronic alcoholism is a constitutionally valid reason to classify an undocumented immigrant as a “habitual drunkard” lacking the good moral character necessary to avoid deportation.

The immigrant, Salomon Ledezma-Cosino aka Cocino Soloman Ledesma, is a construction worker who entered the United States from Mexico in 1997. After 10 years of alcohol abuse that included drinking an average of one liter of tequila a day, Ledezma-Cosino has acute alcoholic hepatitis and decompensated cirrhosis of the liver.

Tuesday’s en banc ruling reverses a 2-1 Ninth Circuit panel finding that “habitual drunkard” is not unconstitutionally vague.