The Supreme Court has dismissed an oral argument for a case concerning bond rights for noncitizens detained for extended periods. The decision follows New York Governor Kathy Hochul's late August pardon of Keisy Guerrero Mariano, a Dominican citizen who had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault and was facing deportation.
The case, Genalo v. Black, centered on the Trump administration's appeal arguing that noncitizens, even those with green card status, do not have a constitutional right to a bond hearing if they have committed crimes that warrant mandatory deportation.
Mariano, identified in court documents as "Keisy GM," was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2020 due to a 2015 conviction for second-degree assault. He remained in ICE detention for nearly two years before being released in 2022 amid a nationwide injunction related to COVID-19 health risks. His habeas corpus request was initially denied by a federal district court in November 2021.
In May 2024, the Second Circuit Court of Appeals reversed the district court's decision, ruling that the government must provide a bond hearing for noncitizens if their detention becomes "unreasonably long," citing a violation of the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.
The Supreme Court had agreed to hear the case on June 15. However, a separate plaintiff in the case, Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national, was deemed moot after he left the United States and declared he would not return. Black had been convicted in New York in 2000 of sexually abusing a minor.
Solicitor General John Sauer confirmed that the case is now moot but indicated the administration's intent to pursue the issue through "an alternative vehicle," aiming to resolve the question of prolonged immigration detention and bond hearing rights during the 2026-27 Supreme Court term.
Governor Hochul's pardon has drawn criticism from some legal experts. Eric Wessan, Iowa's solicitor general, commented on social media that pardoning an "aggravated felon" to prevent deportation and halt a Supreme Court ruling was "pretty wild."