Lawyers for Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist facing deportation, asked Judge Emil Bove to step aside from an appellate panel that could weigh in on his case, according to court filings described by The Associated Press.
Khalil’s lawyers said Bove should be removed because of his prior role in the U.S. Justice Department, where they argued he directed immigration enforcement investigations and decisions involving student protesters on college campuses, including at Columbia University. They characterized that work as creating the existence—or at least the appearance—of a conflict of interest for Bove to participate in Khalil’s appeal.
The request came as Khalil’s legal team sought review by the full 3rd Circuit court, but “minus Bove,” to reverse a January decision by a three-judge panel. That earlier ruling, as described in the filings, put the Trump administration “one step closer” to detaining and ultimately deporting Khalil.
The Justice Department, which is represented by its lawyers in Khalil’s appeal, told the court it “sees no basis for recusal” while deferring to Bove, AP reported. Bove, through the 3rd Circuit, declined to comment, according to the report.
Bove has been a judge on the Philadelphia-based 3rd U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals since September. Before his Justice Department role, he served as one of President Donald Trump’s defense lawyers in criminal matters, including the hush-money case in New York that ended with Trump’s conviction on 34 felony counts, AP reported.
During the judicial confirmation process, Bove acknowledged that his Justice Department position overseeing criminal and civil matters across the country “could give rise to actual or potential conflicts,” and he said he would recuse himself “in cases that I was personally involved in should any such matter come before the court,” according to the AP account.
Khalil, a legal permanent resident, remains in the United States with his wife—an American citizen—and their young son while he challenges the January ruling. He was detained for about three months in a Louisiana immigration jail and missed the birth of his son, AP reported.
The January ruling, AP said, did not resolve the central constitutional question in Khalil’s case. Instead, the three-judge panel’s 2-1 decision focused on whether a New Jersey federal judge who had sided with Khalil had jurisdiction to decide the matter, with the court citing federal law that requires detention and deportation challenges to proceed first through the separate immigration court system.
AP reported that the Trump administration has accused Khalil of leading activities “aligned to Hamas,” while not presenting evidence to support that claim and not charging him with criminal conduct. The administration also accused him of failing to disclose information on his green card application, the report said.
Khalil dismissed the allegations as “baseless and ridiculous,” according to AP, and characterized his arrest and detention as “a direct consequence of exercising my right to free speech” related to his campus activism advocating for a free Palestine and an end to the genocide in Gaza.
The government said it justified Khalil’s arrest using a seldom-used statute that allows for the expulsion of noncitizens whose beliefs are viewed as a threat to U.S. foreign policy interests, AP reported.