Case Explained: Opinion in case# 25-2256

Court: United States Court of Appeals for the Seventh Circuit

Filed: 2026-07-06

The seventh-circuit denied the government’s motions to dismiss petitions for review filed by noncitizens E.E.V. and M.C.C.-G., who sought withholding of removal or relief under the Convention Against Torture (CAT) after their statutory thirty-day filing deadlines had passed following the Supreme Court’s decision in *Riley v. Bondi*. The court held that it possesses jurisdiction to review reinstatement orders as “final orders of removal” under 8 U.S.C. § 1252, rejecting the government’s argument that such orders are unreviewable and affirming that the “zipper clause” allows for judicial review of withholding-only proceedings alongside challenges to final removal orders. Regarding timeliness, the court applied the standard that non-jurisdictional statutory filing deadlines carry a rebuttable presumption in favor of equitable tolling. The court found this presumption was not overcome by the statute’s mandatory language or the government’s policy arguments, and determined that the petitioners acted diligently by relying on binding circuit precedent that required them to wait for withholding proceedings to conclude before filing. Consequently, the Supreme Court’s decision in *Riley*, which changed the rule regarding when the deadline begins to run, constituted an extraordinary circumstance justifying equitable tolling. The court further denied the government’s motion to transfer venue and ordered the petitions held in abeyance pending the final administrative decisions on the petitioners’ withholding-only claims.

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