Hochul pardon collapses Supreme Court immigration detention case, Trump administration to seek new vehicle

The question of whether prolonged immigration detention triggers a constitutional right to a bond hearing under the Fifth Amendment has divided federal courts for years and was headed toward a Supreme Court answer. It will wait. New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pardoned the surviving plaintiff in Genalo v. Black in late August, collapsing the Trump administration's appeal before oral argument could be heard.

Hochul pardoned Keisy Guerrero Mariano, identified in court documents as "Keisy GM," a lawfully present Dominican citizen who had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. The pardon removed the predicate for Mariano's deportation proceedings, rendering the case moot. Solicitor General John Sauer agreed Friday that Genalo v. Black can no longer proceed.

The Second Circuit ruling at stake

The Second Circuit held in May 2024 that the government must grant noncitizens a bond hearing once detention becomes "unreasonably long," and that failure to do so violates the Fifth Amendment's due process clause. The Trump administration, appealing that ruling, argued that noncitizens, including those with green card status, carry no legal right to a bond hearing for prolonged detention when they have committed crimes that are grounds for mandatory deportation. The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on June 15.

The other named plaintiff, Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national with lawful standing who was convicted in New York in 2000 of sexually abusing a minor under the age of 11, had already seen his portion of the case ruled moot after leaving the United States and filing a court declaration he would not return.

Mariano's history in federal detention spans several years. ICE arrested him in 2020 over a 2015 second-degree assault conviction for which he had served time. He spent nearly two years in ICE custody before being released in 2022 under a nationwide injunction tied to COVID-19 health risks. Judge John P. Cronan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Mariano's habeas corpus petition in November 2021. The Second Circuit reversed that decision in 2024.

The administration's next move

Sauer said the Trump administration will pursue an "alternative vehicle" through which the Supreme Court can revisit the Second Circuit's ruling, targeting the court's 2026-27 term.

Hochul issued the pardon as the administration's brief was due. Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan wrote on X that it was "pretty wild" to pardon a felon to stop both a deportation and a Supreme Court ruling on the same issue, noting the underlying litigation had been running for years. Wessan praised Sauer's stated intention to press the bond hearing question through a future case.