Governor Hochul’s pardon ends Supreme Court hearing on immigrant detention bond rights

New York Democratic Governor Kathy Hochul granted a full pardon to Keisy Guerrero Mariano, a Dominican national who pleaded guilty to second-degree assault, effectively removing the plaintiff from the Supreme Court case Genalo v. Black. The lawsuit questioned whether non-citizens detained for extended periods have a constitutional right to a bond hearing, following a Second Circuit decision that such detention violates the Fifth Amendment’s due-process clause.

With Mariano’s pardon, the Court declared the appeal moot, though Solicitor General John Sauer indicated the Trump administration will pursue a different case to revisit the issue during the 2026-27 term. The suit originally involved Mariano and Jamaican national Carol Williams Black, both convicted criminals held by ICE. Mariano had been detained for nearly two years before release under a COVID-19 injunction, and the Second Circuit had overturned a district court denial of his habeas petition. The administration’s next steps aim to keep the bond-rights question alive despite the setback.