DOJ defends failed lawsuit against 15 federal judges as 'most efficient' path, claims acting normally would not solve

Source: Law & Crime

The DOJ told an appellate panel on Monday that judicial immunity was no obstacle to suing all of a Maryland federal court's judges, an action the government still defends as the "proper" and "most efficient" way of reacting to "unlawful" automatic two-day stay orders in habeas corpus cases. In a lengthy filing before the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals, the DOJ argued the judge below "made three critical, reversible legal errors" when he dismissed the lawsuit in August.

Contrary to U.S. District Judge Thomas T. Cullen's belief, the Trump administration claimed it had a cause of action, had standing to sue because the standing orders "interfer[ed] with its enforcement of immigration law," and asserted it was not "barred" from suing the judges and the clerk of the court. Instead, the lawsuit — which was dismissed — was an example of "how the system is supposed to work," the government maintained in the brief. "Invoking a longstanding equitable cause of action, the government filed an action seeking prospective injunctive relief against the district court and its judges in their official capacities," read the DOJ's description of its suit.

"Courts and judges are not above the law, and the government properly sought judicial relief as the remedy for an unlawful rule.". The DOJ and the Department of Homeland Security brought the "unprecedented" suit claiming that Chief U.S. District Judge George Russell III's "standing orders" in response to an "influx of habeas petitions" were evidence of "judicial overreach" purporting to thwart President Donald Trump's "executive authority" and his 2024 election mandate to swiftly carry out deportations.

When Cullen, a Trump appointee, tossed the "novel and potentially calamitous" lawsuit, he called it "not normal" and an unnecessary "constitutional free-for-all" in light of the existence of "proper" ways to raise challenges — whether with the Judicial Council or through appeals — short of a "constitutional standoff."

Read more: https://lawandcrime.com/high-profile/doj-insists-lawsuit-against-entire-court-and-judges-is-how-system-is-supposed-to-work/