Court tosses lawsuit by Trump against Maryland federal judges, calling it ‘potentially calamitous’

President Donald Trump speaks during an event signing a proclamation honoring the fourth anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in the Oval Office of the White House Monday Aug in Washington AP Photo Alex Brandon AP Alex Brandon President Donald Trump speaks during an event signing a proclamation honoring the fourth anniversary of the attack at Abbey Gate in Afghanistan in the Oval Office of the White House Monday Aug in Washington AP Photo Alex Brandon AP Alex Brandon BALTIMORE AP A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Trump administration s lawsuit against Maryland s entire federal bench in a ruling that underscored the extraordinary nature of the suit slamming it as potentially calamitous U S District Judge Thomas Cullen who was nominated by President Donald Trump also criticized the administration s attacks on the judiciary saying in a footnote that White House representatives in contemporary months had described judges as rogue unhinged and crooked among other epithets Although various tension between the coordinate branches of executive 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 he wrote At issue in the lawsuit was an order by the chief judge of the Maryland district court that stopped the immediate deportation of refugees challenging their removals The Justice Department declared the automatic pause impeded the president s authority to enforce immigration laws and it sought a court order blocking it Cullen explained allowing the suit to continue would run counter to overwhelming precedent depart from longstanding constitutional tradition and offend the rule of law In their wisdom the Constitution s framers joined three coordinate branches to establish a single sovereign Cullen wrote That structure may occasionally engender clashes between two branches and encroachment by one branch on another s authority But mediating those disputes must occur in a manner that respects the Judiciary s constitutional role Unfavorable rulings for Trump The lawsuit which the Justice Department filed in June was a remarkable legal maneuver ratcheting up the Trump administration s fight with the federal judiciary The department has grown increasingly frustrated by rulings blocking Trump s agenda repeatedly accusing federal judges of improperly impeding his powers Trump has railed against unfavorable judicial rulings and in one occurrence called for the impeachment of a federal judge in Washington who ordered planeloads of deported immigrants to be turned around In July the Justice Department filed a misconduct complaint against that judge The White House had no immediate comment Tuesday on Cullen s decision The Maryland judges represented by prominent conservative lawyer Paul Clement argued the administration s lawsuit sought to limit the power of the judiciary to review certain immigration proceedings while it pursued a mass deportation agenda Cullen who was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in serves in the Western District of Virginia but was tapped to oversee the occurrence because all of Maryland s federal judges were named as defendants along with the court clerk and the court itself a highly exceptional circumstance he noted in his ruling In casting its wide net the Executive ensnared an entire judicial body a vital part of this coordinate branch of executive and its principal officers in novel and potentially calamitous litigation he wrote Cullen discovered the administration lacked the legal authority to bring the suit but he noted even if it could the judges were immune Instead of the more confrontational approach of a lawsuit the administration should have appealed the chief judge s order he wrote calling that the tried-and-true recourse available to all federal litigants One branch s alleged infringement on another s specific power does not license a constitutional free-for-all he wrote What the Maryland judge s order reported Signed by Chief Maryland District Judge George L Russell III the order at issue in this event prevents the Trump administration from at once deporting any immigrants seeking review of their detention in Maryland district court It blocks their removal until p m on the second business day after the filing of their habeas corpus petitions which allow people to challenge their detention by the executive The order says it aims to maintain existing conditions and the prospective jurisdiction of the court ensure immigrant petitioners are able to participate in court proceedings and access attorneys and give the regime fulsome opportunity to brief and present arguments in its defense In an amended order pausing deportations Russell disclosed the court had received an influx of habeas petitions after hours that resulted in hurried and frustrating hearings in that obtaining clear and concrete information about the location and status of the petitioners is elusive Attorneys for the Trump administration accused the Maryland judges of prioritizing a regular schedule writing in court documents that a sense of frustration and a desire for greater convenience do not give Defendants license to flout the law Among the judges named in the lawsuit was Paula Xinis who uncovered the Trump administration in March illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador a affair that swiftly became a flashpoint in Trump s immigration crackdown Clement who served as solicitor general under Republican President George W Bush denounced the suit during a hearing earlier this month The executive branch seeks to bring suit in the name of the United States against a co-equal branch of governing body he mentioned There really is no precursor for this suit Thanawala released from Atlanta Source