Whole court sued by Trump admin sounds alarm that DOJ may try same tactic against appellate judges

Source: Law & Crime

Aug 12th, 2025, 11:09 am


A whole Maryland court and the federal judges appointed to serve on it have had enough of the Trump administration's "rather rich" lawsuit and have asked a judge appointed by the president to dismiss the "first of its kind" case once and for all, lest the government try this tactic again — perhaps against an appellate court.

The Trump administration attempted to move its sweeping immigration enforcement and deportation agenda forward by suing the entire U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland and its judges in June, claiming that the court's "standing orders" issuing two-day administrative stays against the government when potential deportees file habeas corpus petitions were evidence of "judicial overreach" purporting to thwart President Donald Trump's "executive authority" and his 2024 election mandate.

In late May, defendant Chief Judge George Russell III said an "influx of habeas petitions," due to the Trump administration's own Alien Enemies Act removal actions "filed after normal court hours and on weekends and holidays," led to "hurried and frustrated hearings," making the two-day stay a common-sense tool to manage the district court's calendar and ensure due process in light of the U.S. Supreme Court's rulings.

The judges are now asking U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen — a Trump appointee in the Western District of Virginia sitting by designation in the case since July due to the administration's whole-court recusal push — to "dismiss this unprecedented and uniquely disruptive lawsuit" in its entirety. "This suit is not just novel, but deeply flawed. It is non-justiciable; the Plaintiffs lack a cause of action; and the Defendants have immunity. And even if the Executive could clear all those hurdles, the suit would fail on the merits," the defendants summarized, through conservative lawyer Paul Clement.

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/whole-district-court-sued-by-trump-lashes-out-over-rather-rich-argument-from-doj/