Love v Commonwealth

Love v Commonwealth; Thoms v Commonwealth
Commonwealth Coat of Arms
Court	High Court of Australia
Full case name	Love and The Commonwealth of Australia Thoms and The Commonwealth of Australia
Decided	11 February 2020 (2020-02-11)
Citations	[2020] HCA 3 (2020) 270 CLR 152
Transcripts	8 May 2019 5 December 2019
Court membership
Judges sitting	Chief Justice Susan Kiefel Justice Virginia Bell Justice Stephen Gageler Justice Patrick Keane Justice Geoffrey Nettle Justice Michelle Gordon Justice James Edelman
Case opinions
Aboriginal Australians do not fall under the ambit of the Commonwealth Parliament's power, under section 51(xix) of the Constitution, to legislate in regard to "aliens" (per Bell, Nettle, Gordon and Edelman; Kiefel, Gageler and Keane dissenting). As Thoms is an Aboriginal Australian and therefore not an alien, the Commonwealth does not have the power to deport him under the provisions of the Migration Act 1958 (per Bell, Nettle, Gordon and Edelman). On the facts before them, the Court was unable by majority to determine whether or not Love was an Aboriginal Australian.
Area of law
Constitutional law

Love v Commonwealth; Thoms v Commonwealth is a High Court of Australia case that held that Aboriginal Australians were not "aliens" for the purposes of section 51(xix) of the Constitution. As a result, legislation passed under that power is inapplicable to Aboriginal Australians. In this case, this meant that the power to deport non-citizens under the Migration Act 1958 could not be exercised against non-citizen Aboriginal Australians. The case was decided on 11 February 2020.