Trump admin asks top US court to reverse pro-Palestinian scholar’s release

Debate over Badar Khan Suri’s release sparks a renewed legal clash over authority between US federal courts and Trump’s immigration system.Published On 22 Sep 202622 Sep 2026The administration of United States President Donald Trump has asked the US Supreme Court to overturn the decision to release a Georgetown University scholar who had advocated for Palestinian rights and opposed Israel’s war in Gaza.Georgetown scholar and postdoctoral fellow Badar Khan Suri was released last year after a judge heard claims that his detention violated his due process and free speech rights under the US Constitution.On Monday, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) petitioned the high court to consider whether federal immigration law barred the lower-court judge from ordering Suri’s release.Suri, an Indian citizen, was first arrested by masked US Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) officers outside his home in Rosslyn, Virginia, in March 2025 amid the Trump administration’s targeted crackdown and mass deportation campaigns of foreign nationals and visa holders engaged in pro-Palestinian activism across college ‌campuses.At the time, critics accused the Trump administration of targeting him based...