Mahmoud Khalil loses full-court bid in detention fight

Mahmoud Khalil will not get another look from the full Third Circuit. On May 22, the federal appeals court denied rehearing en banc, leaving in place a panel ruling that said the district court lacked jurisdiction over his challenge.

That matters because it decides where the fight happens now. Khalil must keep pressing his arguments through the immigration process instead of getting a fresh federal-court hearing on the detention dispute itself.

What the dissent would have reviewed

Judge Krause, joined by Judges Restrepo and Freeman, said the panel read the immigration statute too broadly and brushed aside precedent that favors judicial review. In her view, Khalil, a lawful permanent resident, was raising a detention-specific due process claim, not just a challenge to removal.

The dissent also warned that the court’s reading raises problems under the Suspension Clause, which protects the writ of habeas corpus, the legal tool used to challenge unlawful detention. The core issue, as the dissent saw it, was whether Khalil alleged detention that was punitive and separate from the removal proceedings themselves.