Judge tosses unusual lawsuit against all Maryland federal judges

Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun on Aug 26, 2025

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A judge tossed out the Trump administration’s unusual lawsuit Tuesday against all of Maryland’s 15 federal judges, saying it did not respect “the judiciary’s constitutional role.”

The Justice Department had sued the judges in June over a standing order designed to prevent migrants from being immediately deported without review.

The suit heightened tensions over Trump’s efforts to limit the power of federal judges, particularly in immigration cases. Judges in Maryland and other jurisdictions have often rejected executive branch actions they deem unlawful and lacking a legal basis.

U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen ruled that the suit was “not ordinary” and that the Justice Department chose an incorrect approach to challenge the Maryland order. Cullen, a judge from the Western District of Virginia, was assigned to the suit because a Maryland judge could not hear a case in which they were a party.

“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.”

President Donald Trump’s Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security had sought an injunction to block Maryland judges from abiding by a standing order that prevents the administration from immediately deporting migrants who seek a review of their detention.

The Maryland order was signed by Baltimore-based Chief Judge George L. Russell III. Russell said the order pausing deportations “shall be entered in every such case upon its filing.”

Justice Department attorney Elizabeth Hedges told Cullen during a hearing in Baltimore that the order was an overreach and the suit was needed to dial it back. “This is an extraordinary standing order and therefore we are in this position,” Hedges said. “The United States is a plaintiff here because the United States is being harmed.”

But Cullen was immediately skeptical.

“One of the things about me is I don’t have a very good poker face,” the judge told Hedges, who was arguing that the suit should not be dismissed. “You probably picked up on the fact that I have some skepticism.”

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