Mahmoud Khalil v. William P. Joyce, Memo in Support of Motion to Dismiss or Transfer the Case, Doc. 31, page 1, filed March 12, 2025 (SDNY No. 25 Civ. 1935 (JMF)). (Author Photo)
Mahmoud Khalil was taken into custody allegedly by unknown, unidentified plain-clothes agents of the Department of Human Services. That was in New York City.
From the City, Khalil was apparently taken to New Jersey, where the plane he was put on may have refueled. From there he was taken to Louisiana.
When he was taken, he left behind his wife in New York City who sued to have him returned to her. She was 8 months pregnant at the time Khalil was taken away.
She sued for habeas corpus. That is one of the few Latin phrases that remain in the law. (Some people might think it is Sharia law. It is not. It is Latin.) In practice, it means "return the body that you have taken."
The only reason we can see what is being done in this case is that it is a habeas proceeding in a civil case. If it were in Immigration Court, it would usually be sealed. The District Judge in this civil case ordered the case to be unsealed even though the case involves immigration laws.
A "deliver the body" or habeas petition is usually directed to the regime that is responsible for taking someone out of circulation. In this case, Khalil was disappeared at 8:30 PM on a Saturday night by large men who refused to identify themselves.
The regime's response to Khalil's demand to return him to New York City was to say that the federal Court there has no jurisdiction. They said that only the Court where he is being held has jurisdiction, or perhaps the Court where he was held at the time the habeas petition was filed has jurisdiction. But certainly not the Court in New York City which is where he was taken from, of course, they say. Download Mahmoud Khalil v. William Joyce Rs' Memo to Dismiss or Transfer Doc. 31 filed March 12 2025 (S.D.N.Y. No. 25 Civ. 1935 (JMF)). Download Mahmoud Khalil v. William Joyce Rs' Opp. Memo to Return MK to SDNY Doc. 47 filed March 14 2025 (S.D.N.Y. No. 25 Civ. 1935 (JMF)). Parenthetically, in the Southern District of New York the case has been assigned to Judge Jesse Furman.
Mahmoud Khalil v. William P. Joyce, Opposition Memo to Motion to Compel Khalil's Return to SDNY, Doc. 47, p. 1, filed March 14, 2025. (Author Photo)
So, if you follow the reasoning, they are saying that only the Court in the place where they took him has jurisdiction, whether that is the Court in New Jersey or the Court in Louisiana. If Khalil's habeas case is transferred to Louisiana, then by their reasoning if they transfer him first to say, Florida, before the habeas case is transferred to Louisiana, then they can say that Khalil's case will be in the wrong place and the Court will not have jurisdiction there, either. They can probably keep moving him around the country on expensive airplane flights.
This is fundamentally unfair. It is unjust. It is un-American. It certainly was all these things before January, 2025.
It is still unfair, unjust, and un-American now.
They haven't gone into this, for obvious reasons, but it seems that there must be an exception to the Doctrine whenever the regime deliberately robs the Court of jurisdiction by moving their prisoner to whatever jurisdiction they think is more receptive to their activity. If there is not, there ought to be.
Otherwise we will have nothing in our empty lives but the Doctrine of Nanny Nanny Boo Poo.
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