Khalil ordered free, Musk v NY, $COTUS cash

Across the pond, Getty could upend how AI systems are trained.

Protesters gathered outside of the New York City ICE field office on March 10, 2025, calling for the release of Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia University encampment protests, who was arrested and detained by ICE for deportation. (Josh Russell/Courthouse News)

It’s been 104 days since ICE agents arrested Mahmoud Khalil, a legal permanent U.S. resident married to a U.S. citizen, in his NYC apartment building lobby.

He missed the birth of his first child and his own graduation from Columbia University.

On Friday, a federal judge in New Jersey ordered Khalil to be freed by the end of the day, calling the three-month detention of a nonviolent prospective deportee — a “very low flight risk” whose wife and son are U.S. citizens — “highly unusual.”

Khalil’s attorney Alina Das argued that the Trump administration seeks to chill speech by “sending a message” to pro-Palestinian activists like Khalil, Erik Uebelacker reports.

On the other coast, two news organizations sued the LAPD for violence against journalists covering recent immigration protests in Los Angeles. Alan Riquelmy reports.

A Ninth Circuit panel overturned a lower court to rule that President Donald Trump can retain control of the California National Guard while the governor challenges the president’s power to mobilize the troops against protesters. Reporting by Candace Cheung and Matt Simons.

While waiting for word of Khalil’s release, the week’s Courthouse News continues.

Here’s what else happened in court this week:

(AP/Alex Brandon)

Elon Musk is going after a New York law requiring social media companies to disclose how much they monitor hate speech, extremism and disinformation. [Josh Russell]

• Robes to riches: SCOTUS justices earned a collective $10 million last year from side gigs like book sales and teaching — but gifts are notably absent from reports. [Kelsey Reichmann]

• Stock photos: Getty’s UK copyright case could upend the future of AI. [James Francis Whitehead]

• Counting chickens: A $41.5 million class action settlement over a chicken supplier’s price-fixing scheme is a go. [Amanda Pampuro]

• Ocean’s 7: Seven Southern California men are charged with stealing $100 million in gold, diamonds, rubies, emeralds and luxury watches in the biggest jewelry heist in U.S. history. [Edvard Pettersson]

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Top 8: What you’ve been reading

1. Boss ordered employees to have sex at Bay Area startup: Witnesses

2. Burmese celebrity entrepreneur hit with $3.2 million verdict for defrauding refugees

3. Disgraced attorney Michael Avenatti gets nearly eight more years in prison at resentencing

4. Rapper Lil Durk won’t get out on bail in murder-for-hire case

5. Trump tells Ninth Circuit his National Guard decisions are ‘unreviewable’ by courts

6. Fourth Circuit shoots down challenge to age-based handgun sales restriction

7. MyPillow CEO decries ‘Ministry of Truth’ as election fraud defamation trial heads to jury

8. Ninth Circuit restores Trump’s control of California National Guard

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A sign advertises informal motorcycle taxi rides outside Terminal Grajaú, a major train and bus hub in southern São Paulo, despite the city’s ban on app-based services. (Marília Marasciulo/Courthouse News)

São Paulo officials have banned motorcycle ride-hailing apps by decree — but the debate is far from over. A key court ruling is expected on June 25. [Marília Marasciulo]

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Rulings on our radar 📡

» Eastern District of Louisiana: New Orleans police must face claims brought by a wrongfully convicted man who was imprisoned from 1986 until 2022.

» Northern District of California: Parties sparring over the rights to multimillion-dollar meme series Skibidi Toilet agreed to a preliminary injunction.

» Eastern District of Arkansas: A Native American inmate may proceed with his First Amendment suit against corrections officials who won’t let him pray in a sweat lodge or use a medicine bag or a peace pipe.

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