Emergency application
Extradition and torture risk
Tahawwur Rana v. James Engleman, Interim Warden, Metropolitan Detention Center
What did the Court do?
The Court denied the request on April 7, 2025: the lower court's ruling stays in effect while the appeal continues.
Emergency rulings are temporary and do not decide the underlying case.
What's being asked
Tahawwur Rana asks the Supreme Court to pause the lower-court order finding him eligible for extradition to India. He seeks a pause while his habeas corpus case (a prisoner's challenge to being locked up) continues. India, through the U.S. government, seeks his extradition to face prosecution for offenses related to the November 2008 Mumbai attacks. Rana argues he is likely to be tortured in India and that extradition would violate U.S. protections against torture.
What the Court did
The Court refused Rana’s request for a temporary pause (denied the application). The Court did not publish how the justices voted, and no opinion explaining the order is in the record. The denial does not decide the ultimate outcome of Rana’s habeas case.
What it means
This temporary emergency ruling does not decide whether Rana ultimately can block extradition. The docket lists habeas proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California and an appeal in the Ninth Circuit. No related Supreme Court case on the main legal questions is listed, and no argument was set.
Sources
Facts on this page come from the Supreme Court docket, orders, and opinions for No. 24A852. The answers restate that record in plain words; explainer copy is written from the record and the filings only.