by Matthew Russell Lee, Patreon Book Substack
SDNY COURTHOUSE, Dec 29 – At 7 pm on Christmas Eve, lawyers for Imran Ahmed filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, which Inner City Press closely covers, even on holidays.
The lawsuit seeks to enjoin the US from expelling or sanctioning Imran Ahmed for his work at the Center for Countering Digital Hate.
As of December 26 it has yet to be assigned to a District Judge. But Judge Vernon S. Broderick, the Part 1 Judge for the week, reported signed the Temporary Restraining Order early on Christmas Day and set a hearing for sometime on Monday, December 29.
As of noon on December 26, Judge Broderick's Order was not public in PACER. Apparently, Imran Ahmed's lawyers distributed the order to some media (it is not on the law firm's website).
On December 29 Inner City Press went to the courtroom of Judge Broderick and heard him say that the day's 4:30 conference was off, though it had nothing to with him, he joked. Later it was docketed: the "conference scheduled for today at 4:30 PM is adjourned. The parties shall appear for a conference on January 5, 2026, prepared to address venue, this Court's jurisdiction to hear this case, including how long Plaintiff intends to be in New York, and what steps Defendants have taken to impose visa restrictions and initiate removal proceedings against Plaintiff and others pursuant to the same or similar State Department sanctions. The parties should also be prepared to discuss the schedule for briefing during the conference. The Temporary Restraining Order previously granted by this Court remains in effect."
The case is Ahmed v. Rubio, et al., 1:25-cv-10705 (Preska)
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