Berger Montague Files Amicus Brief in Eighth Circuit Immigration Detention Appeal

Berger Montague, a leading national plaintiff-side law firm, on September 16, 2026 filed a pro bono amicus curiae brief in the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit in Morozov v. Warden, Lawrence County Jail, urging the Court to affirm a district court ruling that barred the government from re-detaining a noncitizen without new evidence or a hearing. The firm filed the brief on behalf of five Minnesota-based immigrant and detainee rights organizations.

“No one should lose their liberty a second time without ever getting a chance to be heard,” said Joe Hashmall, counsel for Amici Curiae. “These are our neighbors we’re talking about. We all need to come together to support them—and that is exactly what happened in this amicus brief. It was a true team effort.”

The brief, filed on behalf of The Advocates for Human Rights, the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, the Detainee Rights Clinic, the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Immigration Law Project, argues that due process requires an individualized inquiry before the government detains a noncitizen under 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2), and that mandatory, process-free detention cannot be reconciled with due process where the government has already found, through an individualized determination, that a person poses no flight risk or danger. The Eighth Circuit is reviewing the government’s appeal of a decision by the U.S. District Court for the District of South Dakota ordering Petitioner-Appellee Aleksei Morozov’s release.

Additional Information

• Read the Brief of Amici Curiae in Support of Petitioner-Appellee, filed September 16, 2026 here.
• Amici Curiae: The Advocates for Human Rights, the Federal Immigration Litigation Clinic, the Detainee Rights Clinic, the Immigrant Law Center of Minnesota, and Mid-Minnesota Legal Aid’s Immigration Law Project
• View the case page for Morozov v. Warden, Lawrence County Jail here.

Berger Montague is one of the nation’s preeminent law firms focusing on complex civil litigation, class actions, and mass torts in federal and state courts throughout the United States. With more than $2.4 billion in 2025 post-trial judgments alone, the Firm is a leader in the fields of complex litigation, antitrust, consumer protection, defective products, environmental law, employment law, securities, and whistleblower cases, among many other practice areas. For over 55 years, Berger Montague has played leading roles in precedent-setting cases and has recovered over $50 billion for its clients and the classes they have represented. Berger Montague is headquartered in Philadelphia and has offices in Chicago; Malvern, PA; Minneapolis; San Diego; San Francisco; Toronto, Canada; Washington, DC, and Wilmington, DE.