A US federal appeals court has declined to reconsider a ruling in Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil's case that opened the door to the re-arrest and deportation of the pro-Palestinian activist.
The 3rd US Circuit Court of Appeals, on a 6-5 vote, rejected Khalil's request to revisit a ruling a 2-1 panel of the Philadelphia-based court delivered in January that had concluded a lower-court judge had no jurisdiction to order his release from immigration detention last year.
He was among the most prominent of a number of foreign students detained last year by immigration authorities after engaging in pro-Palestinian activism on their college campuses.
Six judges were in the majority, while five judges voted to rehear the case, including US Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, who said the court's decision handcuffed the judiciary's ability to protect the civil liberties of non-citizens like Khalil.
"We cannot fulfill that role if we write ourselves out of relevance and leave the Executive Branch to check itself," wrote Judge Krause.
Appeal to Supreme Court
Baher Azmy, a lawyer for Khalil at the Centre for Constitutional Rights, in a statement vowed to ask the US Supreme Court to hear Khalil's case and overturn the 3rd Circuit's "dangerous" decision.
“That ruling greenlights holding someone in prolonged, brutal detention conditions without access to meaningful judicial review in order to punish them and deter others from dissenting from US foreign policy," he said.
Khalil was held for months in a Louisiana detention centre after his arrest last year, missing the birth of his child.
He was released in June, but his immigration case moved forward.
Earlier this year, an immigration court ruled he could be deported.
