Court tosses Trump lawsuit against Maryland federal judges, saying allowing it to continue would ‘offend the rule of law’

Unfavorable rulings for Trump

What the Maryland judge’s order said

BALTIMORE (

U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, who was nominated

“Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort

At issue in the lawsuit was an order

Cullen said 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

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 

Trump has railed against unfavorable judicial rulings and in one case 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

Cullen, who was nominated to the federal bench

“In casting its wide net, the Executive ensnared an entire judicial body — a vital part of this coordinate branch of government — and its principal officers in novel and potentially calamitous litigation,” he wrote.

Cullen found the administration lacked the legal

“One branch’s alleged infringement on another’s exclusive power does not license a constitutional free-for-all,” he wrote.

Signed

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.”

In an amended order pausing deportations, Russell said 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 found the Trump administration in March illegally deported Kilmar Abrego Garcia to El Salvador — a case that quickly 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 government,” he said. “There really is no precursor for this suit.”