As most well know, this legislation was drafted in the wake of such terrorist activities as the World Trade Center bombing and the tragedy in Oklahoma City. However, the bill had many unrelated riders attached to it by Congressional zealots who took advantage of the popularity of the anti-terrorism bill and realized that the President could not, with political sanity, veto such legislation. For terrorist activities, it provides inter alia a federal death penalty. In Buffalo, they initially did so but then were persuaded to continue cases before them. Judge's were split in Houston.
Similar disparities appear in cases in Philadelphia and York, Pennsylvania.
However, review of the BIA's decision is being sought in the appellate court. In the Courts of Appeal, there exists a similar inability to predict this issue's ultimate ending based on existing precedent. The 2nd Circuit accepted jurisdiction to review but dismissed the appeal for other reasons. In the 9th Circuit, the Court discussed the issue and found it had jurisdiction, but in the end, it did not grant relief to the petitioner. If it does, then this litigation all would have been in vain.