Overview

• The Second Circuit Court of Appeals is considering the Trump administration's bid to block lower-court orders affecting Rumeysa Öztürk and Mohsen Mahdawi, two international students involved in pro-Palestinian activism.
• Öztürk, a Turkish PhD student at Tufts University, remains detained in Louisiana after her arrest in March, while Mahdawi, a Palestinian student at Columbia University, was released on April 30 following a Vermont judge’s ruling.
• The Justice Department argues that federal district courts lack jurisdiction over immigration-related constitutional claims and seeks to consolidate the cases in immigration courts.
• Attorneys for the students contend their detentions violate First and Fifth Amendment rights, asserting that the government’s actions are retaliatory and aimed at suppressing protected speech.
• Judges pressed the DOJ on whether the students’ speech is constitutionally protected, but the government declined to take a position, citing jurisdictional barriers as the primary issue.