When ‘60 days’ lands on Saturday, you get Monday — says SCOTUS.

In Monsalvo Velázquez v. Garland, the Supreme Court reversed the Tenth Circuit and clarified a deceptively simple question: What happens when a statutory deadline falls on a weekend? The Court held that under 8 U.S.C. §1229c(b)(2), a voluntary departure deadline that lands on a Saturday, Sunday, or legal holiday rolls to the next business day—just like in every other corner of administrative and procedural law. The government had argued “60 days” meant 60 calendar days, hard stop, and both the Board of Immigration Appeals and the Tenth Circuit agreed. But Justice Gorsuch, writing for the majority, explained that Congress legislated against a longstanding regulatory backdrop that treats deadlines flexibly. The Court emphasized: consistent interpretation matters, especially when the same word (“days”) appears across a statutory section. For litigation teams, this case is a reminder that procedural interpretation isn’t just about semantics—it can control outcomes.