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A woman allegedly denied due process based on her status as an immigrant will be given another day in Blount County court.

The Tennessee Eastern Division Court of Appeals returned a unanimous decision June 25 vacating a Sept. 7, 2007, court decision in which Ana Matilde Calixto was denied an order of protection by Blount County Circuit Judge W. Dale Young.

Calixto alleges that Young denied her request because he believed she was an illegal immigrant.

In an Oct. 23, 2007 statement from Young on Calixto's appeal, the judge writes of Calixto and her husband: "They were illegal, non-resident aliens and there were, in the court's mind, serious legal questions to be answered before the case proceeds further."

Calixto contended at the time that she was in the country legally with an employment authorization card from the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and U.S. Citizenship and Immigrations Services Department that was valid through January 2009.

But none of that matters, the three judges from the court of appeals said in the recent opinion. Calixto's residency status is immaterial when it comes to being heard before the court, the opinion said. "As we see it, none of this constitutes the real issue," the opinion says of residency questions. "The real substantive issue in this case is whether the petition before us alleges a basis for the entry of an order of protection."

Based on the allegations that Calixto made -- that her husband at the time, Fernando J. Calixto had threatened her -- the court of appeals ruled that she was "entitled to a plenary hearing and an opportunity to prove her case. The trial court erred in not giving her that chance."

The opinion vacated Young's ruling and sent the case back to Blount County for further proceedings. The cost of the appeal was taxed to Fernando J. Calixto.