Trump administration asks Supreme Court to reverse Badar Khan Suri release

September 23, 2026 at 12:52 AM3 min

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The Trump administration asked the US Supreme Court on Monday to overturn a lower court's release of Georgetown scholar Badar Khan Suri. The Justice Department argues federal immigration law barred the judge from ordering Suri's release. The move comes as the Fourth Circuit ruled in July that judges may hear challenges to allegedly unconstitutional detention.

Key Facts

The Justice Department petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to review whether federal immigration law barred a lower-court judge from ordering Badar Khan Suri's release.
Suri, an Indian citizen and Georgetown postdoctoral fellow, was arrested by masked ICE officers in Rosslyn, Virginia, in March 2025 and freed in May 2025 on a district judge's order.
In July, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that nothing prevented a lower-court judge from hearing a challenge to allegedly unconstitutional detention, even with deportation proceedings pending.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued the Fourth Circuit's ruling threatened nationwide immigration enforcement by letting detainees bypass immigration courts.
In January, the Third Circuit ruled that lower federal district courts lacked jurisdiction to hear immigration or detention challenges while removal proceedings are ongoing, a decision that affected the case of activist Mahmoud Khalil.

Supreme Court Petition

The US Department of Justice petitioned the Supreme Court on Monday to overturn the release of Georgetown University scholar Badar Khan Suri. Solicitor General D. John Sauer argued that the Fourth Circuit's ruling threatened nationwide immigration enforcement by allowing detainees to bypass immigration courts to contest deportations. Sauer noted that a different appeals court, the Third Circuit, reached the opposite conclusion in January, ruling that lower federal district courts lacked subject matter jurisdiction to hear immigration or detention challenges while active removal proceedings are ongoing. That Third Circuit ruling affected the case of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist and former Columbia University student who had been released on bail in June after more than 100 days in ICE detention.

Suri's Detention and Release

Badar Khan Suri, an Indian citizen and postdoctoral fellow at Georgetown, was arrested by masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement officers outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, in March 2025. His arrest came amid the Trump administration's crackdown on foreign nationals and visa holders engaged in pro-Palestinian activism on college campuses. Critics accused the administration of targeting Suri based on his familial ties; his wife is the daughter of Ahmed Yousef, a former adviser to assassinated Hamas political leader Ismail Haniyeh. Suri was brought to Texas after his detention and freed in May 2025 on the orders of a district court judge, who found he was likely to succeed in proving his arrest was in retaliation for constitutionally protected speech.

Circuit Court Split

In July, the Virginia-based Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals ruled 2-1 that nothing prevented a lower-court judge from hearing a challenge to someone's allegedly unconstitutional detention, even if it related to deportation proceedings pending before immigration courts. The Trump administration argued that the judge should not have interfered in the case. The Fourth Circuit's decision contrasts with the Third Circuit's January ruling, which stripped away procedural safeguards in Mahmoud Khalil's case without influencing the core First Amendment arguments.