The Supreme Court will no longer hear oral arguments in a case concerning bond rights for noncitizens held in prolonged immigration detention after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pardoned a lawfully present Dominican citizen who had been convicted of second-degree assault. The pardon, issued in late August, rendered the case moot and effectively ended the Trump administration's appeal.
The case, Genalo v. Black, centered on whether noncitizens—including green card holders—have a legal right to a bond hearing when detained for extended periods after committing crimes that make them eligible for mandatory deportation. The plaintiffs were Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national, and Keisy Guerrero Mariano, identified in court documents as «Keisy GM.» Both had been convicted of crimes and were detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mariano was first arrested by ICE in 2020 over a 2015 second-degree assault conviction for which he served time. He spent nearly two years in detention before being released in 2022 under a nationwide injunction related to COVID-19 health risks. In November 2021, Judge John P. Cronan of the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York denied Mariano's habeas corpus request. However, in May 2024, the Second Circuit overruled that decision, ruling that the government must grant noncitizens a bond hearing once detention becomes «unreasonably long,» as failing to do so would violate the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.
The Supreme Court agreed to hear the case on June 15, but Black's portion was dismissed as moot after he left the United States and filed a declaration stating he would not return. Black had been convicted in New York in 2000 of sexually abusing a minor under the age of 11. With Mariano's pardon, the entire case became moot.
Solicitor General John Sauer agreed Friday that the case is now moot but said the Trump administration will seek an «alternative vehicle» to challenge the Second Circuit's 2024 ruling. Sauer indicated the administration intends to find another case through which the Supreme Court can resolve the issue during its 2026-27 term.
Hochul, a Democrat who opposes President Donald Trump's immigration enforcement crackdown, issued the pardon just as the administration's brief was due. The timing drew sharp criticism from legal experts. Eric Wessan, Iowa's solicitor general, wrote on X: «Pretty wild to fully pardon an aggravated felon to (1) stop the felon from getting deported and (2) stop the Supreme Court from ruling on an issue. (Especially as this litigation has been going on for years).» He praised Sauer's decision to continue fighting the Second Circuit's ruling and added, «I wonder how many non-American felons Governors like Hochul will choose to fully pardon and free to avoid them facing consequences for their actions.»
The case had been closely watched as a test of the limits of immigration detention and the constitutional rights of noncitizens. The Second Circuit's ruling established that prolonged detention without a bond hearing can violate due process, a precedent that the Trump administration sought to overturn. With the case now moot, that ruling remains in effect, and the administration's efforts to challenge it will have to wait for a new case to reach the high court.
Fox News Digital reached out to Hochul's office for comment but did not receive an immediate response. The development leaves the legal question unresolved at the Supreme Court level, ensuring continued uncertainty for noncitizens in prolonged detention and for the government agencies that hold them.