Trump Admin’s ‘Extraordinary’ Lawsuit Against Maryland Judges Tossed By Virginia Court

By Zak Failla From Daily Voice

A Virginia judge has tossed out a lawsuit by the Trump administration targeting federal judges in Maryland. 

US District Judge Thomas Cullen — who was nominated by Trump in 2020 — ruled Tuesday, Aug. 26, that the administration’s lawsuit against Chief Judge George L. Russell III and every other active and senior judge in the US District Court for the District of Maryland could not stand. 

The case stemmed from temporary standing orders Russell issued earlier this year that briefly blocked the removal of immigrant detainees who had filed habeas petitions.

Instead of challenging the orders through appeals or judicial review, the Trump administration took the extraordinary step of suing the judges themselves, along with the court clerk, the ruling states. 

Cullen wrote that the lawsuit presented “an extraordinarily unusual” clash between co-equal branches of government and dismissed it in full.

The administration had argued that the Maryland judges overstepped their authority by halting deportations, even temporarily, calling it a violation of executive power over immigration. 

But Cullen ruled the judges were immune from such lawsuits, emphasizing that the executive branch had other avenues to raise its concerns, including appeals to the Fourth Circuit.

“Any fair reading of the legal authorities leads to the ineluctable conclusion that this court has no alternative but to dismiss,” Cullen wrote, adding that allowing the case to proceed would “offend the rule of law.”

The complete ruling can be found here.