In the case of Martinez v. Neelly in 1952, the U.S Supreme Court ruled on a matter concerning immigration law and deportation proceedings. The petitioner, Mr. Martinez, was an immigrant from Mexico who had been residing illegally in the United States since his entry as a child with his parents. He was ordered to be deported by the Immigration and Naturalization Service (INS) but sought relief under Section 19(c) of the Immigration Act of 1917 which allowed for suspension of deportation under certain conditions including good moral character and hardship considerations. The INS denied this relief based on their interpretation that he did not meet these requirements due to previous criminal convictions related to marijuana possession charges despite having served his sentences fully for those crimes. This decision was upheld by both district court and appellate court rulings leading him to appeal before Supreme Court. However, Supreme Court affirmed lower courts' decisions stating that while it is within Attorney General's discretion whether or not to suspend deportation based on individual circumstances; past criminal conduct can indeed affect determination about one's moral character regardless if they have paid their debt towards society through serving sentence imposed upon them.

In the dissenting opinion for Martinez v. Neelly, it was argued that the majority's decision to deport a long-time resident alien based on her past criminal conviction was unjust and inhumane. The dissenting justices believed that this ruling failed to consider the individual circumstances of Mrs. Martinez, who had lived in America since she was three years old and had five American-born children dependent on her care. They pointed out that she had served her sentence for the crime committed over ten years ago and has been law-abiding ever since then; thus, they saw no reason why she should be punished again by deportation now after so many years have passed without any further offenses from her part. Furthermore, they criticized how such harsh punishment would not only affect Mrs. Martinez but also inflict severe hardship upon innocent parties - particularly her young children who are all U.S citizens by birthright.