Clive Charles Thomas v. Immigration and Naturalization Service

“[A]nyone entering into an arrangement with the Government takes the risk of having accurately ascertained that he who purports to act for the Government stays -within the bounds of his authority.” So the Supreme Court told us half a century ago in Federal Crop Ins. Corp. v. Merrill, 332 U.S. 380, 384, 68 S.Ct. 1, 3, 92 L.Ed. 10 (1947). In an opinion likely to have extremely serious and far-reaching consequences, the majority today cuts the core out of- Merrill and lays waste the principle that the government is bound by its agents only if they act within the scope of their authority.

The…