Then-Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer appointed Ariela Dubler, the wife of U.S. District Judge Jesse Furman, to the U.S. Commission on International Religious Freedom on December 23, 2024—just weeks before President Joe Biden’s term ended. Judge Furman, who serves on the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York, recently ruled against a Trump administration order to deport Mahmoud Khalil, a Palestinian foreign national.
Senate Democrats, including members of the powerful Judiciary Committee, have publicly backed Khalil, a recent graduate student detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). In a statement posted to the committee’s official social media account, Senate Judiciary Democrats decried the detention as an act of “straight-up authoritarianism,” alleging it was retaliation for Khalil exercising his First Amendment rights in a manner that…
