Prisoners' Legal Services of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security
- Gregory Woods
- 1:25-cv-01965
- U.S. District Court · Southern District of New York
- 1
In Prisoners' Legal Services v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security, Judge Woods construed plaintiffs' preliminary-injunction motion as made before Magistrate Judge Figueredo.
The plaintiffs' preliminary-injunction motion was treated as made before Magistrate Judge Figueredo under the case's referral for dispositive motions.
What happened
Prisoners' Legal Services of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security concerns how the court would handle the plaintiffs' motion for a preliminary injunction.
The plaintiffs filed that motion on May 27, 2025, before Judge Woods. The case had already been referred to Magistrate Judge Figueredo for general pretrial matters and dispositive motions.
Because the court treated a preliminary-injunction motion as a dispositive motion, Judge Woods construed the plaintiffs' motion as one made before Magistrate Judge Figueredo. The order did not decide whether to grant or deny the injunction.
The detailed version
- Prisoners' Legal Services of New York v. U.S. Department of Homeland Security · No. 1:25-cv-01965
- Gregory Woods
- May 28, 2025
Background
On May 27, 2025, the plaintiffs filed a motion for a preliminary injunction before Judge Woods. The case had been referred to Magistrate Judge Figueredo for general pretrial matters and dispositive motions.
Court's Reasoning
The court explained that motions for preliminary injunctions are dispositive motions, meaning motions that can substantially affect the case's outcome. Because the case's referral included dispositive motions, the court construed the plaintiffs' motion as one made before Magistrate Judge Figueredo.
Ruling
Judge Woods ordered that the preliminary-injunction motion be treated as filed before Magistrate Judge Figueredo. The order addressed which judge would handle the motion; it did not rule on the motion's merits or state whether the injunction should be granted or denied.
Read the full 1-page opinion on CourtListener, the free public archive maintained by the Free Law Project.