The Supreme Court’s intervention began with an appellate judge’s decision to side with Georgetown’s Badar Khan Suri against Trump.
Published July 24, 2026
A U.S. appeals court has rejected immigration officials’ request to remand a Georgetown University academic at risk of deportation for his work opposing Israel’s genocidal war in Gaza.
In a 2-1 decision, the Virginia-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled that federal immigration law does not prevent a lower court judge from ordering Badar Khan Suri’s release.
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Khan Suri, an Indian national, was arrested in March 2025 as President Donald Trump’s administration detained and deported foreign nationals who took part in pro-Palestinian activities on university campuses.
The Court of Appeals upheld Mr. Khan Suri’s argument that his detention violated his due process and free speech rights under the U.S. Constitution. The court also rejected the Trump administration’s request to move the case from Virginia to Texas.
“If a non-citizen is awaiting release and is challenging their detention, waiting for the release process will be of no use; they are already being detained on suspicion of violating the Constitution,” the court wrote in its ruling.
A district court judge had ordered Khan Suri’s release in May last year.
The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU), which is helping represent Khan Suri, welcomed the ruling Thursday.
“The First Amendment protects all of us, regardless of our citizenship, and we will continue to fight for our constitutional rights,” said ACLU of Virginia Legal Director Eden Heilman.
“ICE abducted Dr. Khan Suri from his home in Virginia and then moved him between five different ICE facilities across three states in a brazen attempt to find a favorable court for his illegal detention,” Heilman said, using the acronym for Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
The appeals court’s decision came after two other federal appeals courts overturned rulings by lower court judges that led to the release of pro-Palestinian campus activists.
A three-judge panel of the Second Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday that a lower court should not have ordered the release of Columbia University student Mohsen Mahdawi because the case should have been resolved in the immigration court system.
The Department of Justice operates the immigration court system separately from the federal judiciary, which operates independently of the executive branch.
In a separate case, the appeals court also ruled that the district judge who released pro-Palestinian advocate Mahmoud Khalil did not have the authority to release him. The court allowed Mr. Khalil to remain free pending his appeal to the Supreme Court.
The U.S. Supreme Court is likely to weigh in on the issue, with one appeals panel siding with pro-Palestinian students and the other two siding with the Trump administration.
To deport pro-Palestinian activists, the Trump administration is using a rarely used section of immigration law that gives the secretary of state the power to expel anyone it deems to have a “negative foreign policy” impact on the United States.
The Supreme Court’s decision in the Khan Suri, Khalil, and Mahdawi cases could be a landmark decision with major implications for the civil rights of noncitizens living in the United States.
The Supreme Court has a 6-3 conservative majority, including three justices appointed by President Trump.
