Trump administration to appeal dismissal of lawsuit against Maryland federal judges

Jeff Barker, Baltimore Sun on Aug 26, 2025

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The Trump administration is appealing a judge’s decision to dismiss its unusual lawsuit against all of Maryland’s 15 federal judges and voice concern about the administration’s attempt to “smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it.”

U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen wrote in a scathing, 39-page opinion that the suit did not respect “the judiciary’s constitutional role.”

The Justice Department filed notice later Tuesday that it planned to appeal Cullen’s ruling to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals in Richmond, Va.

The 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 President Donald 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.

“This will not be the final say on the matter, and the Trump Administration looks forward to ultimate victory on the issue,” White House spokesperson Abigail Jackson told The Baltimore Sun in a written statement.

Cullen had also raised an appeal possibility, saying during a hearing two weeks ago: “Whatever I say will not be the last word on this matter.”

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.”

Cullen — a Trump appointee — went further, criticizing Trump administration spokespeople for calling federal district judges “left-wing,” “liberal,” “activists,” “radical,” “politically minded,” “rogue,” “unhinged,” and other descriptions in recent months.

“This concerted effort by the Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is both unprecedented and unfortunate,” he wrote.

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 for two business days “shall be entered in every such case upon its filing.”

Cullen said the two-day pause was relatively “modest.”

But 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.”

Cullen, a former U.S. attorney for Virginia, was nominated to the bench during Trump’s first term in 2019 and was easily confirmed by the Senate. His father, Richard Cullen, is a former Virginia attorney general who is a counselor to Republican Virginia Gov. Glenn Youngkin.

University of Richmond law professor Carl Tobias said an appeal could move first to a three-judge panel of the appeals court, and could ultimately end up before the Supreme Court. “The whole process may not be completed this year, depending on whether SCOTUS decides to hear an appeal,” Tobias said.

The Trump administration’s lawsuit named all ten of the state’s federal judges — plus five senior judges with limited caseloads — as defendants.

Democratic former President Joe Biden appointed six of the 10 judges to the federal court whose members are split between courthouses in Baltimore and Greenbelt. Three other judges were named by former Democratic President Barack Obama. The remaining judge, Stephanie Gallagher, was also nominated by Obama and renominated by Trump in 2019 because she was not confirmed during Obama’s administration.

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