By Nate Raymond

May 22 (Reuters) – A divided federal appeals court on Friday declined to reconsider a ruling in Columbia University graduate Mahmoud Khalil’s case that opened the door to President Donald Trump’s administration re-arresting and deporting the pro-Palestinian activist.

The 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals on a 6-5 vote rejected Khalil’s request to revisit a ruling a 2-1 panel of the Philadelphia-based court delivered in January that had concluded a lower-court judge had no jurisdiction to order his release from immigration detention last year.

He was among the most prominent of a number of foreign students detained last year by immigration authorities after engaging in pro-Palestinian activism on their college campuses as part of a broad effort by the Trump administration.

Six judges appointed by Republican presidents were in the majority, while five Democratic appointees voted to rehear the case, including U.S. Circuit Judge Cheryl Ann Krause, who said the court’s decision handcuffed the judiciary’s ability to protect the civil liberties of non-citizens like Khalil.

“We cannot fulfill that role if we write ourselves out of relevance and leave the Executive Branch to check itself,” wrote Krause, who was appointed by Democratic President Barack Obama.

Baher Azmy, a lawyer for Khalil at the Center for Constitutional Rights, in a statement vowed to ask the U.S. Supreme Court to hear Khalil’s case and overturn the 3rd Circuit’s “dangerous” decision.

“That ruling greenlights holding someone in prolonged, brutal detention conditions without access to meaningful judicial review in order to punish them and deter others from dissenting from U.S. foreign policy,” he said.

(Reporting by Nate Raymond in Boston; Editing by Bill Berkrot)

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