BALTIMORE — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Trump administration’s lawsuit against Maryland’s entire federal bench in a ruling that underscored the extraordinary nature of the suit and accused the White House of a “concerted effort” to “smear and impugn” judges who rule against it.
U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, who was nominated by President Donald Trump, 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 by one branch on another’s authority. But mediating those disputes must occur in a manner that respects the Judiciary’s constitutional role.”
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 by rulings blocking Trump’s agenda, repeatedly accusing federal judges of improperly impeding his powers.
The White House had no immediate comment Tuesday.
At issue in the lawsuit was an order by the chief judge of the Maryland district court that stopped the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals. The Justice Department said the automatic pause impeded the president’s authority to enforce immigration laws.
The Maryland judges, who were represented by prominent conservative lawyer Paul Clement, argued the suit was intended to limit the power of the judiciary to review certain immigration proceedings while the Trump administration pursued a mass deportation agenda.
Cullen, who was nominated to the federal bench by Trump in 2020, serves in the Western District of Virginia but was tapped to oversee the case because all 15 of Maryland’s federal judges were named as defendants, a highly unusual circumstance that reflects the Republican administration’s harsh response to judges who slow or stop its policies.
