Judge Asks If Trump Administration Could Trigger A ‘Constitutional Crisis’

A federal judge on Monday wondered if the Trump administration could incite a “constitutional crisis” in the case of a Turkish student from Tufts University who was detained by Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

The Context

The case relates to Rumeysa Ozturk, a graduate student at Tufts University, who the government accuses of being “engaged in activities in support of Hamas.” Ozturk was arrested on March 25 and is currently being detained in Louisiana.

She’s one of several students who have been targeted by the Trump administration over their pro-Palestinian views and demonstrations.

Hundreds of people gather in Somerville, Mass., on March 26, 2025, to demand the release of Rumeysa Ozturk, a Turkish student at Tufts University, who was arrested by federal agents Tuesday night.

Michael Casey/AP

What To Know

U.S. District Judge William Sessions questioned on Monday if the Trump administration could trigger a “constitutional crisis” by not releasing Ozturk if he determined that her arrest violated the law.

He made the comments at a court hearing about whether to have Ozturk moved from the Louisiana detention facility back to Vermont, where she was briefly held after her arrest.

Acting U.S. attorney Michael Drescher pushed back on Ozturk’s lawsuit challenging her detention, telling the judge the case shouldn’t be moved to Vermont. He added that the executive branch has a “wide amount of discretion” over immigration-related issues and that Sessions doesn’t have the authority to order Ozturk’s release, according to Reuters.

Sessions conceded that the case involves a “confusing area of law” but asked what the Trump administration would do if he ruled Ozturk should be moved back to Vermont.

“If the government then says, ‘Oh, no, she can’t be released because we have a detention order in immigration, which is inviolate, and she’s not going to be released,’ then we’re in a constitutional crisis,” he said, according to Reuters.

Drescher clarified that he didn’t “want to be perceived in any way suggesting that we’re not going to abide by an order of the court.” But he added that Ozturk needs to pursue her legal challenge with an immigration judge, not Sessions.

“It’s not me who is saying this, it’s Congress who said this,” Drescher said.

Jessie Rossman, an attorney for Ozturk, said Monday that “there is not discretion, even in immigration law, for the government to violate the Constitution.”

Rossman also pointed out that the only reason Ozturk was detained was because she co-authored a piece in the Tufts student newspaper criticizing the way the school responds to students who oppose Israel’s war in the Gaza Strip.

Monday’s hearing came on the heels of a Washington Post report that found the State Department acknowledged that the Trump administration does not have any evidence tying Ozturk to Hamas or antisemitic activities.

The Department of Homeland Security had originally asked for Ozturk to be deported using a law meant to safeguard U.S. foreign policy interests, the report said.

However, the State Department determined the Trump administration doesn’t have the power to do that because of the lack of evidence tying Ozturk to terrorism-related activities.

Instead, the State Department said Ozturk could be deported based on a specific section of the Immigration Nationality Act, which allows for someone’s visa to be revoked at the secretary of state’s discretion, the report said.

What People Are Saying

Sessions said at Monday’s hearing: “What if she is right? What if there was a constitutional violation in her arrest? The only remedy she is seeking is release, and you are suggesting that the court has no power to release her.”

Ozturk wrote in a court declaration: “The conditions in the facility are very unsanitary, unsafe, and inhumane. There is a mouse in our cell. The boxes they provide for our clothing are very dirty and they don’t give us adequate hygiene supplies.”

A group of 27 American Jewish organizations said in a brief filed last week: “To watch state authorities undermine the same fundamental rights that empowered so many Jewish Americans is chilling; to know it is being done in the name of the Jewish people is profoundly disturbing.”