Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil asked the U.S. Supreme Court on Oct. 19 to overturn a ruling that blocked district court review of his claims of retaliatory and punitive immigration detention.
The Jan. 15 decision by the 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said Khalil must raise those claims in an appeal of a final removal order. The court did not decide whether officials violated his rights.
Khalil’s lawyers say that process offers no timely remedy for detention they allege was imposed because of speech protected by the First Amendment. They also argue that his confinement was punitive and violated the Fifth Amendment. Their petition asks the justices to reverse the ruling on which court may hear those claims.
Immigration agents arrested Khalil, an Algerian citizen and U.S. permanent resident, in March 2025. Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a foreign policy provision of immigration law in the effort to remove him over his activities at Columbia University. U.S. District Judge Michael Farbiarz ordered Khalil released on June 20, 2025, after more than three months in custody.
The 3rd Circuit later overturned Farbiarz’s decision but stayed issuance of its mandate while Khalil seeks Supreme Court review. The stay keeps the lower court’s protection against renewed detention in effect for now.
A separate challenge to Khalil’s removal remains pending after the Board of Immigration Appeals rejected his appeal of an immigration judge’s order on April 9. The Department of Homeland Security said the administration acted within its authority and urged Khalil to leave the United States voluntarily.
The dispute has a counterpart in the case of Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri. The 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals allowed a district judge to hear Suri’s detention challenge, and the Trump administration has petitioned the Supreme Court to overturn that ruling. The differing decisions concern whether district judges can hear constitutional claims such as Khalil’s before removal proceedings end.
The Supreme Court has set no date to act on Khalil’s petition. A response to the administration’s petition in Suri’s case is due Nov. 20.
