The future of a lawsuit challenging the Trump administration’s right to surveil immigrants’ social media posts using artificial intelligence was thrown into doubt Wednesday following the sudden death of a federal judge who only weeks ago ruled the case could move forward.

“Plaintiffs’ allegations are of an ongoing surveillance program that is actively chilling the speech of their members and otherwise causing harm. ... I agree,” U.S. District Court Judge Alvin K. Hellerstein wrote on Oct. 1.

In the wake of Judge Hellerstein’s death, a new judge will be “randomly” assigned to his cases, according to the district executive for the Southern District of New York.

The surveillance suit, brought by three of the nation’s major labor unions, argues that the government’s monitoring of millions of visa and green card holders’ online activity is a form of “viewpoint discrimination” that violates the First Amendment.…