Department of Homeland Security ordered to reopen immigration cases
"A Los Angeles federal court judge has issued a preliminary ruling ordering the Department of Homeland Security to reopen the immigration cases of nearly two dozen people who were denied green cards because their U.S. citizen spouses died during the process.
U.S. District Judge Christina A. Snyder wrote in the 35-page decision that the department must follow a 9th Circuit Court decision from 2006 saying that applicants don't lose their status as spouses because the government didn't rule on their cases before the citizen's death."
http://http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-widow22-2009apr22,0,3369828.story