A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Trump administration's lawsuit against Maryland's entire federal bench over an order by the chief judge that stopped the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals. US District Judge Thomas Cullen granted a request by the judges to toss the case. Cullen was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2020. He serves in the Western District of Virginia, reports the AP, but he was tapped to oversee the case because all 15 of Maryland's federal judges are named as defendants, a highly unusual circumstance that reflects the administration's aggressive response to judges who slow or stop its policies. Cullen expressed skepticism of the lawsuit during an earlier hearing, questioning why it was necessary for the Trump administration to sue all the judges as a means of challenging the order.
The order prevents the Trump administration from immediately deporting any immigrants seeking review of their detention in Maryland district court. It blocks their removal until 4pm on the second business day after their habeas corpus petition is filed. The order says it aims to maintain existing conditions and the potential jurisdiction of the court, ensure immigrant petitioners are able to participate in court proceedings and access attorneys, and give the government "fulsome opportunity to brief and present arguments in its defense."
Attorneys for the Maryland judges argued the lawsuit was intended to limit the power of the judiciary to review certain immigration proceedings while the Trump administration pursues a mass deportation agenda. "The executive branch seeks to bring suit in the name of the United States against a co-equal branch of government," attorney Paul Clement said. "There really is no precursor for this suit." Clement is a prominent conservative lawyer who served as solicitor general under President George W. Bush. Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Themins Hedges said the government was simply seeking relief from a legal roadblock preventing effective immigration enforcement. "The United States is a plaintiff here because the United States is being harmed," she said.
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Among the judges named in the lawsuit is Paula Xinis, who found the Trump administration in March illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador. Xinis recently prohibited the administration from taking Abrego Garcia into immediate immigration custody if he's released from jail pending trial.