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A federal judge on Tuesday tossed out an unusual lawsuit the Trump administration brought against all 15 judges of the district court in Maryland over a policy the court has regarding deportation cases.
Judge Thomas Cullen, an appointee of President Donald Trump, scolded the administration for the confrontational lawsuit and said he dismissed it because the judges were protected by judicial immunity and because the executive branch lacked standing to bring the claims in the first place.
Cullen criticized the administration for suing not just the chief judge of the district court, who issued the court policy in question, but “ostensibly for good measure” all the court’s other judges.
TRUMP DHS SUES ENTIRE BENCH OF FEDERAL JUDGES IN MARYLAND DISTRICT COURT OVER AUTOMATIC INJUNCTIONS
The policy, known as a standing order, requires court clerks in Maryland to automatically enter administrative pauses that last two business days in cases brought by alleged illegal immigrants who are challenging their detentions or removals. The injunctions have the effect of temporarily barring the Department of Homeland Security from deporting or changing the legal status of an immigrant until a judge has time to review the case.
Chief Judge George Russell, who issued the standing order, noted in it that the policy change was necessary to help the court briefly maintain the status quo in deportation cases until a judge could examine them. Russell cited an influx of immigration lawsuits brought in the court, including on weekends and holidays.
Government attorneys argued on behalf of the DHS that the order encroached on the department’s authority over immigration policy and that a “sense of frustration and a desire for greater convenience do not give Defendants license to flout the law.” They said that the court does not have authority to automatically interfere with all deportation proceedings brought before it and to briefly put a hold on them.
TRUMP DHS SUES ENTIRE BENCH OF FEDERAL JUDGES IN MARYLAND OVER AUTOMATIC INJUNCTIONS
Cullen, who is based in the Western District of Virginia, presided over the lawsuit because the Maryland judges recused themselves.
Cullen’s 39-page order was laced with harsh words for the Trump administration. The judge said he was unsurprised that “the Executive chose a different, and more confrontational path entirely” than to challenge the policy on a case-by-case basis, which the judge said would have been the appropriate route.
The judge said these were not “normal times” and that the administration has made a “concerted effort” to tarnish the reputation of the judiciary branch, an observation that comes as district court judges have routinely hindered the executive branch from carrying out Trump’s top agenda items, including on immigration, tariffs and government cuts.
“Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate,” Cullen said.
The Trump administration quickly appealed Cullen’s decision to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
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