Court tosses lawsuit by Trump against Maryland federal judges, calling
it 'potentially calamitous'
[August 27, 2025]
By LEA SKENE and SUDHIN THANAWALA
BALTIMORE (AP) — A federal judge on Tuesday threw out the Trump
administration’s lawsuit against Maryland’s entire federal bench in an
emphatic ruling that underscored the extraordinary nature of the suit,
slamming it as “potentially calamitous."
U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, who was nominated by President Donald
Trump, also criticized the administration's attacks on the judiciary,
highlighting in a footnote that White House officials in recent months
had described judges as “rogue,” “unhinged” and “crooked,” among other
epithets.
“Although some tension between the coordinate branches of government is
a hallmark of our constitutional system, this concerted effort by the
Executive to smear and impugn individual judges who rule against it is
both unprecedented and unfortunate,” he wrote.
The Trump administration filed a notice of appeal.
At issue in the lawsuit is 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, and
it sought a court order blocking it.
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
by one branch on another’s authority. But mediating those disputes must
occur in a manner that respects the Judiciary’s constitutional role.”
Unfavorable rulings for Trump
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 Maryland court’s order upholds a direct assault on the President’s
ability to enforce the immigration laws,” White House spokesperson
Abigail Jackson said in a statement Tuesday. “This will not be the final
say on the matter, and the Trump Administration looks forward to
ultimate victory on the issue.”
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 Maryland judges, represented by prominent conservative lawyer Paul
Clement, argued the administration's lawsuit sought to limit the power
of the judiciary to review certain immigration proceedings while it
pursued a mass deportation agenda.
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.
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
along with the court clerk and the court itself, a highly unusual
circumstance he noted in his ruling.
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President Donald Trump listens during a meeting with South Korean
President Lee Jae Myung in the Oval Office of the White House, Aug.
25, 2025, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, File)
“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 authority to bring
the suit, but he said even if it could, the judges were immune.
Instead of the “more confrontational” approach of a lawsuit, the
administration should have appealed the chief judge's order, he
wrote, calling that the “tried-and-true recourse available to all
federal litigants.”
“One branch’s alleged infringement on another’s exclusive power does
not license a constitutional free-for-all,” he wrote.
What the Maryland judge's order said
Signed by Chief Maryland District Judge George L. Russell III, the
order at issue in this case prevents the Trump administration from
immediately deporting any immigrants seeking review of their
detention in Maryland district court. It blocks their removal until
4 p.m. on the second business day after the filing of their habeas
corpus petitions, which allow people to challenge their detention by
the government.
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.”
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”
___
Thanawala reported from Atlanta.
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