Mahmoud Khalil asks US Supreme Court to hear his free speech and detention case

WASHINGTON — Former Columbia University graduate student Mahmoud Khalil has asked the US Supreme Court to hear his case, his lawyers said on Monday, arguing that federal courts must be able to review detention that they describe as retaliation for speech.

Khalil's petition argues that the Immigration and Nationality Act does not stop federal courts from hearing "habeas" claims against punitive or retaliatory detention, Middle East Eye reported. It says that if the law does bar such review, its application in his case is unconstitutional.

Baher Azmy, a constitutional lawyer for Khalil, spoke to reporters at a virtual press briefing organised by the Center for Constitutional Rights. "The question before the court is not directly about the obvious unconstitutionality of this unprecedented weaponisation of immigration power," Azmy said. "Instead, the question is whether the federal courts, through the great writ of habeas corpus, can address this egregiously unlawful executive action."

Khalil also spoke at the briefing, which was held over Zoom, according to Middle East Eye.

What the petition seeks

In a post on Telegram, Quds News Network said Khalil wants the court to block the Trump administration from detaining and deporting him again. The channel said his legal team believes the case threatens constitutional rights and the ability of pro-Palestinian activists to challenge government retaliation. The post has not been independently verified.

Middle East Eye reported that a Supreme Court ruling could have wide effects on noncitizen residents caught up in the administration's crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech. It named Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri as one of them.

The government has argued that the federal judge had no right to intervene while Khalil's immigration case went forward, because the administration wants to deport him, according to Middle East Eye. Immigration cases are heard by immigration judges who work under the Department of Justice. Federal judges are independent.

Khalil has already been ordered removed from the United States, Middle East Eye reported. He is appealing that order. The outlet said that, because of the federal judge's earlier release order, he cannot be detained again while the appeal continues.

Background

Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) arrested Khalil in March 2025. The arrest came under the Trump administration's pledge to root out anti-Israel rhetoric among noncitizens, according to Middle East Eye. Plainclothes agents told him his student visa and Green Card had been revoked.

Khalil spent 104 days in immigration detention and missed the birth of his first child, the outlet reported. He is married to a US citizen. Quds News Network described him as a US permanent resident. Middle East Eye described him as a former Green Card holder.

A federal judge in New Jersey ordered his release in June 2025. According to Middle East Eye, the judge found that Khalil was not a danger or a flight risk. The judge also considered the vague foreign policy provision the administration used to arrest him to be inadequate grounds.

Last month, Khalil filed a federal lawsuit against Columbia University, Middle East Eye reported. The suit says the university allowed people like him to be discriminated against, harassed and arrested by immigration agents. The Palestine Working Group, a student organisation at Columbia's School of International and Public Affairs, and its president, Mohammed Ibrahim Zubairi, have joined the suit. The lawsuit states that Khalil is a Palestinian Muslim with an Algerian passport and that Zubairi is a Pakistani Muslim.

The Supreme Court has not said whether it will take the case.