The Supreme Court will not hear oral arguments in a closely watched case over bond rights for detained immigrants after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pardoned one of the men at the center of the lawsuit.
Hochul, a Democrat, pardoned Keisy Guerrero Mariano — identified in court filings as “Keisy GM” — in late August. Mariano, a Dominican citizen lawfully present in the United States, had pleaded guilty to second-degree assault. The pardon came just as the Trump administration’s brief in the case was due, and it effectively erased the legal basis for the appeal, prompting the Supreme Court to declare the case moot.
The case, Genalo v. Black, had asked the justices to decide whether noncitizens, including green card holders, have a legal right to a bond hearing during prolonged immigration detention if they’ve committed crimes that make them eligible for mandatory deportation. The Trump administration had appealed after the Second Circuit ruled in 2024 that detention lasting an “unreasonably long” time without a bond hearing violates the Fifth Amendment’s due process clause.
Solicitor General John Sauer acknowledged Friday that the case is moot but said the administration will look for another case to bring the same question back to the Supreme Court, aiming for the 2026-27 term.
The underlying case
The lawsuit involved two plaintiffs: Mariano and Carol Williams Black, a Jamaican national with lawful status. Both were convicted criminals detained by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.
Mariano was first arrested by ICE in 2020 over a 2015 second-degree assault conviction, for which he had already served time and which made him eligible for deportation. He spent nearly two years in ICE detention before being released in 2022 under a nationwide injunction tied to COVID-19 health concerns. A federal judge in the Southern District of New York, John P. Cronan, had denied Mariano’s habeas corpus request in November 2021, but the Second Circuit overturned that ruling in May 2024.
Black’s part of the case became moot earlier this year after he left the United States and told the court, in a formal declaration, that he would not return. Black had been convicted in New York in 2000 of sexually abusing a minor under age 11. The Supreme Court had agreed to hear the overall case on June 15.
Criticism of the pardon
Hochul’s pardon of Mariano drew sharp criticism from some legal figures. Iowa Solicitor General Eric Wessan 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).”
Wessan also questioned the broader implications, writing, “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.”
Hochul’s office has not responded to a request for comment.
