The Justice Department <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-justice/> took the unusual step of suing an entire federal court, saying the judges in Maryland were taking extreme measures to give breaks to illegal immigrants facing deportation.
Legal experts said they couldn’t think of a precedent for the lawsuit, which names all 15 active judges on the U.S. District Court in Maryland as defendants.
The Justice Department <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-justice/> is objecting to a “standing order” issued last month by Chief Judge George Russell III that creates an automatic short-term blockade on deportations for illegal immigrants who file a “habeas” challenge to their detention and potential removal.
Government attorneys called the move “unlawful,” and Attorney General Pam Bondi characterized it as part of a wall of resistance from federal judges who are stretching the law to stop President Trump, particularly on immigration cases.
“The American people elected President Trump to carry out his policy agenda. This pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand,” she said.
The lawsuit was filed a day after the Trump administration asked the Supreme Court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/> to step in and deliver a legal rebuke to a federal judge in Massachusetts who was blocking the administration from carrying out the deportations of eight major felon illegal immigrants to South Sudan.
Solicitor General D. John Sauer said that was in defiance of the Supreme Court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/>, which hours earlier ruled against Judge Brian Murphy’s injunction on deportations to “third countries.” Mr. Sauer said Judge Murphy was engaged in “a lawless act of defiance.”
Judge Murphy is a Biden appointee to the court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/> in Massachusetts, where all but one of the 12 active judges were appointed by Democrats.
According to The Washington Times’ database, at least 40 legal challenges to Trump administration actions have been brought in the court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/>, and 25 have had substantive rulings. The administration has lost, or is currently losing, all but one.
In Maryland, all but two of the active judges and senior judges were appointed by Democrats.
The Times’ database shows 18 cases that have reached substantive rulings, and the president is prevailing in five. Josh Blackman, a professor at South Texas College of Law who has been tracking the Maryland standing order, said he couldn’t think of any precedent for this type of lawsuit filed by the Justice Department <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-justice/> against an entire federal court.
*With every judge a named defendant, he said, the case likely will have to be transferred. Carl Tobias, a law professor at the University of Richmond, said the court could refer the case to the 4th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals. “I cannot think of a precedent for DOJ suing an entire court, especially over adoption of a local rule. The complaint raises all manner of procedural issues,” he said. Federal district courts are supposed to play a limited role in deportation cases, which are largely left to the specialized immigration courts within the Justice Department <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-justice/>. Appeals of those decisions generally go directly to the federal circuit courts of appeals.*
*However, district judges — particularly Obama and Biden appointees — have been asserting a role in deportations.*
*Under the standing order, a migrant who files a habeas petition challenging his detention and potential deportation is granted an automatic stay of removal until at least 4 p.m. on the subsequent day.*
Andrew “Art” Arthur, a former immigration judge and longtime Capitol Hill immigration staffer, said to win injunctive relief, a petitioner is supposed to prove an injury and irreparable harm, and usually the defense is given a chance to respond.
The Maryland court’s order short-circuits that process and automatically issues an injunction without any proof or chance at rebuttal, Mr. Arthur said.
The court, through its clerk’s office, declined to comment on the legal challenge.
*Judge Paula Xinis, one of the Maryland judges, gained national attention by ordering the return of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.*
*“I don’t think it’s coincidental this came out of the same court that attempted to have Abrego Garcia brought back,” said Mr. Arthur, who is now with the Center for Immigration Studies.*
*The Justice Department <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/department-of-justice/> said the rule has been abused.*
*In one case, attorneys for a deportation target filed a habeas case, triggering the automatic stay of deportation, even though the migrant was in Texas at the time, supposedly well beyond the reach of the Maryland court. The court issued its automatic injunction anyway, the department said.*
In the South Sudan deportations case, Judge Murphy halted the flight carrying eight illegal immigrants midjourney, forbidding the government from completing the trip and releasing the migrants until it delivered more “due process.”
He said they deserved a chance to object to being sent to a country that the State Department says is unsafe for Americans to visit.
Judge Murphy, citing a dissent by Justice Sonia Sotomayor, said he didn’t think this week’s Supreme Court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/> ruling setting aside his initial due process ruling applied to the eight migrants.
Sen. Eric Schmitt, Missouri Republican, suggested the judge was leading an “insurrection” and giving the justices “the middle finger.”
“A radical liberal, progressive, leftist judge, Brian Murphy, who was confirmed in the lame duck session when Joe Biden, President Autopen, may not even have known he was appointing this person, approved by the Democrats in the Senate is now refusing, refusing to obey by a Supreme Court <www.washingtontimes.com/topics/supreme-court/> order for the deportation of seven criminal aliens,” Mr. Schmitt said.
*• Stephen Dinan can be reached at sdinan@washingtontimes.com <sdinan@washingtontimes.com>.*
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