Supreme Court case moot after governor’s pardon

The U.S. Supreme Court will no longer hear a case concerning bond rights for detained noncitizens after New York Governor Kathy Hochul issued a pardon to Keisy Guerrero Mariano, a lawfully present Dominican citizen convicted of second-degree assault. The pardon, granted in late August, rendered the case moot, effectively halting the Trump administration's appeal.

The appeal argued that noncitizens, even those with green card status, should not have a legal right to a bond hearing if they have committed crimes that make them eligible for deportation. Governor Hochul, who has opposed the Trump administration's immigration enforcement policies, issued the pardon shortly before the administration's brief was due.

The case, known as Genalo v. Black, centered on the detention policies for noncitizens. Mariano was arrested by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in 2020 for a 2015 assault conviction. He spent nearly two years in ICE detention before being released in 2022 due to a nationwide injunction related to COVID-19 health risks. A federal appeals court in May 2024 ruled that the government must grant noncitizens a bond hearing if their detention becomes "unreasonably long," citing the Fifth Amendment's due process clause.

The Supreme Court had agreed to hear the case on June 15, but one plaintiff, Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national, had already left the United States and declared he would not return, making his portion of the case moot. Mariano's pardon has drawn criticism from some legal experts. Eric Wessan, Iowa's solicitor general, questioned the decision to pardon a felon to prevent deportation and a Supreme Court ruling.

Solicitor General John Sauer confirmed Friday that the case is now moot but stated the administration intends to find an alternative case to challenge the Second Circuit's ruling. The administration aims to have the Supreme Court resolve the issue during its 2026-27 term.