A Trump-appointed judge threw out a rare case in which the Trump administration sued all 15 judges in a Maryland federal court to block judicial orders that slowed deportations.
The administration was challenging two orders by Judge George L. Russell III, the chief judge of the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, that blocked federal immigration officials from removing or altering the legal status of certain detainees for two business days. The orders were designed to give the Maryland federal court time to address court petitions before the detainees were transferred outside of the court’s jurisdiction.
However, Judge Thomas T. Cullen, who joined the federal bench in 2020, ruled that the Justice Department didn’t bring an appropriate challenge by suing judges. The agency could, instead, have appealed, challenging the orders as they were applied in specific cases.
“If these arguments were made in the proper forum, they might well get some traction,” Cullen wrote in his Aug. 26 opinion.
“It’s no surprise that the Executive chose a different, and more confrontational, path entirely,” Cullen added.
The Justice Department didn’t immediately respond to a request for comment.
This story is developing and will be updated.
This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Trump DOJ loses rare lawsuit against judges over deportation orders
