The decision marks the second time a court has rejected the Trump administration’s attempts to move Khalil’s case to a Louisiana court.

The case against pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil will remain in New Jersey after a judge denied a government motion to have the case transferred to Louisiana where the Columbia graduate student remains in federal custody since his arrest last month.

Muslim protestors pray outside the main campus of Columbia University during a demonstration to denounce the immigration arrest of Mahmoud Khalil, a pro-Palestinian activist who helped lead protests against Israel at the university,

The lawsuit in Manhattan federal court accused several federal agencies of bypassing the legally required process to terminate funding.

Labor unions representing professors and other educators have sued the Trump administration over its revocation of $400 million in congressionally authorized federal research funding to Columbia University following campus protests over the Israel-Hamas war,

A federal antisemitism task force is reviewing more than $255 million in contracts between Harvard and the government after cutting $400 million from Columbia University.