On February 20, 2013, The U.S. Supreme Court declined to apply retroactively a 2010 ruling (Padilla v. Kentucky) that requires attorneys to tell immigrant clients that they can be deported if they plead guilty to certain crimes. For the thousands of immigrants who might have been able to withdraw guilty pleas in cases alleging ineffective counsel, the decision was a significant defeat. The cases in question are those which predated the court’s March 2010 ruling in Padilla v. Kentucky that immigrants should be told some consequences of guilty pleas.