In a dramatic escalation in his efforts to restrain an activist judiciary from thwarting his popular immigration plans, President Donald Trump is suing all 15 of Maryland’s federal judges.
For months, Trump’s agenda has run into various legal roadblocks, with unelected judges ordering Trump to slow down or even reverse deportations in some instances.
This latest controversy stems from a bizarre rule fashioned by Chief Judge George L. Russell III of Maryland, an Obama appointee.
The rule permits any alien to obtain an automatic injunction against their removal as long as they file a habeas petition.
The Trump administration blasted the rule as the latest effort by meddlesome judges to interfere with Trump’s legitimate authority over immigration.
“This lawsuit involves yet another regrettable example of the unlawful use of equitable powers to restrain the executive,” Trump’s lawyers wrote.
“Specifically, defendants have instituted an avowedly automatic injunction against the federal government, issued outside the context of any particular case or controversy.”
The new rule fashions a novel “right” for aliens to obtain an injunction, contrary to the Supreme Court’s holdings on injunctive relief, the Trump team said.
The administration’s lawsuit named the entire bench of federal judges in Maryland.
The state has figured prominently in the Trump administration’s battles over immigration.
One of the judges, Paula Xinis, is an Obama appointee who has attracted attention for her role in the case of Salvadoran national Kilmar Abrego Garcia, an MS-13 gang thug widely depicted as a “Maryland man” by sympathetic media.
“Defendants’ automatic injunction issues whether or not the alien needs or seeks emergency relief, whether or not the court has jurisdiction over the alien’s claims, and no matter how frivolous the alien’s claims may be,” the administration wrote.
“And it does so in the immigration context, thus intruding on core Executive Branch powers.”
The habeas rule encourages aliens to engage in fraudulent legal games, as they can file petitions without any proof that they are located in Maryland.
The court’s rule does not allow the government “any opportunity to contest the alien’s assertion of being ‘located in the District of Maryland’ at the time of a habeas filing,” the administration wrote.
Adding to this problem, it permits filings “on behalf of an alien, even though the filer may not know the alien’s location at the time of filing.”
The administration cited a specific example of an alien detained in Texas.
The Department of Justice explained:
“The Court has applied the Amended Standing Order in a case in which the habeas petition, filed on June 6, alleged that the petitioner was detained in Maryland, but the petitioner had already arrived at a detention facility in Texas on the previous day, June 5….
“Despite this undisputed fact, the Court entered and later extended the Amended Standing Order.”
Trump’s dramatic decision to sue all 15 Maryland judges reflects his determination to barrel through judicial resistance to his mass deportations.
The resistance comes even though Trump was specifically elected by the people to carry out his immigration agenda.
The Supreme Court handed Trump some relief this week, ruling he can deport aliens to third countries where they have no ties.
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