Federal judges ruled against the Trump administration in three key decisions on Monday.
Newsweek sought email comment on Tuesday from Amy Greer, the attorney for Mahmoud Khalil; the Department of Homeland Security; the Department of Education and the Department of Government Efficiency.
Why It Matters
Trump’s rapid start to his second term, with an array of executive orders, is being thwarted by dozens of legal challenges. The battle in the federal courts will have a major effect in shaping the second Trump term.
What To Know
Palestinian Activist Deportation
A New York federal judge has blocked the deportation of Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil.
Khalil, who helped lead pro-Palestinian protests at Columbia University in New York in 2024, was taken into custody by federal immigration officials on Saturday.
“To preserve the Court’s jurisdiction pending a ruling on the petition, Petitioner shall not be removed from the United States unless and until the Court orders otherwise,” Judge Jesse Furman wrote while ordering a case conference for Wednesday morning.
Khalil, a green card holder and lawful permanent resident, was reportedly told by officers that his permanent resident status was also being revoked. His lawyer confirmed the exchange to Newsweek.
On Monday, a State Department spokesperson refused to confirm the revocation of Khalil’s green card, saying: “Visa records are confidential under U.S. law. Therefore, we cannot comment on individual visa cases.”
A section of the Immigration and Naturalization Act allows deportation for green card holders that promote terrorism or encourage others to promote terrorism.
Khalil has been accused of supporting Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organization by the U.S. government. His attorney, however, argues that his detention is a politically motivated attempt to suppress dissent against Israel’s military actions in Gaza. Khalil has strongly denied supporting terrorism while speaking to reporters during a Columbia University occupation in April 2024.
Trump had said that Khalil’s detention was “the first arrest of many to come” and had vowed to crack down on pro-Palestinian campus occupations.
DOGE Secrecy
A Washington, D.C, judge has ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) set up by Trump to help slash the federal budget, must answer freedom of information requests.
The watchdog group, Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (“CREW”) had a freedom of information request with DOGE to try to find out about its inner workings.
DOGE, which is managed by Tesla CEO Elon Musk, had argued that it is not a government agency and is therefore not subject to freedom of information requests.
Judge Christopher Cooper rejected that argument and ruled that it must hand over documents to CREW.
He noted that CREW is seeking to learn more about DOGE’s role “in spearheading the mass firings and dramatic disruptions to federal programs that have punctuated the opening weeks of President Trump’s second term.”
He ruled that the public would likely be “irreparably harmed by an indefinite delay in unearthing the records CREW seeks,” and ordered DOGE “to process CREW’s request on an expedited timetable and, after receiving proposals on a production schedule, to begin producing documents on a rolling basis as soon as practicable.”
Teacher Grants
A judge in Boston, Massachusetts, on Monday ordered the Trump administration to temporarily restore grants for teacher preparation in eight states.
The Department of Education had canceled the grants as part of Trump’s plan to end diversity, equity and inclusion programs.
Judge Myong Joun granted a temporary restraining order requested by Massachusetts, California and six other Democratic-leaning states.
The grants, given through two federal programs, are designed to support training teachers. The eight states argued the Department of Education did not have the authority to cancel the grants after already issuing them following Congress authorization.
Joun said that, unless the Department of Education plan is changed, “dozens of programs upon which public schools, public universities, students, teachers, and faculty rely will be gutted.”
What People Are Saying
In a statement on Monday night, Mahmoud Khalil’s lawyer, Amy E. Greer, welcomed the temporary halt to his deportation: “While tomorrow or thereafter the government may cite the law or process, that toothpaste is out of the tube and irreversibly so. The government’s objective is as transparent as it is unlawful, and our role as Mahmoud’s lawyers is to ensure it does not prevail.”
On the teacher training grants, California Attorney General Rob Bonta, who co-led the lawsuit, wrote in a statement that the Massachusetts order was a “crucial early victory to ensure these grant dollars continue to flow and our kids get the passionate, qualified, good teachers they deserve.”
Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington said in a statement on Monday that it would be seeking answers if DOGE “failed to preserve federal records about DOGE communications on X and any government business conducted on private systems at Musk’s businesses.”
What Happens Next
Federal courts have placed temporary restraining orders on the Trump administration in the Mahmoud Khalil and teacher grant decisions.
Those orders will remain in place while the courts consider the facts in both cases.
In the DOGE lawsuit, the government must file a status report by March 20 that includes “the estimated number of documents” that satisfy CREW’s request for information.
“The Court will further order the parties to meet and confer regarding a proposed processing and production timeline and to file by March 27 a joint status report proposing a schedule for expedited processing and rolling production of responsive records,” Cooper ruled.
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