Juan Padilla, a native of Honduras and a lawful permanent resident of the U.S. for more than 40 years and Vietnam U.S. army veteran, was charged with transporting a large amount of bud in his rig in Kentucky. His attorney told him not to worry about the immigration consequences of his plea because “he had been in the country so long.” But alas, the plea subjected Juan to automatic deportation. In this important case our own JUSTICE STEVENS wrote for five members of the court that ” we now hold that counsel must [correctly] inform her client whether his plea carries a risk of deportation. Our longstanding Sixth Amendment precedents, the seriousness of deportation as a consequence of a criminal plea, and the concomitant impact of deportation on families living lawfully in this country demand no less.” You can read the opinion and the interesting concurrence and dissent at Jose Padilla, Petitioner v Kentucky, No. 08-651 559 U.S. ____(2010).