DHS challenge to entire Maryland federal court thrown out

A federal judge in Virginia on Tuesday dismissed an unusual government lawsuit against the Maryland federal court and all 15 of its judges. The Department of Homeland Security brought the suit over two similar standing orders the court issued in May. The orders barred the government for two business days from deporting or changing the legal status of any person who previously filed for a writ of habeas corpus, officially requesting a court hearing.

The federal government argued that the orders violated federal procedure rules and were outside the court’s authority.

Why did the judge dismiss the suit? U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee who normally sits in the Virginia federal court, wrote that the government’s challenge went against the doctrine of separation of powers. The Trump administration should have used a standard legal process, such as appealing a specific decision, instead of suing all the judges, he wrote.

Dig deeper: Read my report on the ruling a Maryland judge—one of the defendants in the case dismissed Tuesday—handed down in the case of Kilmar Abrego Garcia.