Judge Dismisses Trump Administration Suit Against Federal Bench in Maryland

The New York Times – no paywall: “A federal judge on Tuesday threw out an extraordinary lawsuit that the Trump administration had filed against the entire federal bench in Maryland, challenging a standing order intended to briefly slow down the government’s ability to deport undocumented immigrants. In a scathing 39-page ruling, the judge, Thomas T. Cullen, called the suit “novel and potentially calamitous,” saying that the administration had simpler — and clearly more legal — ways to contest the standing order aside from bringing a suit against all 15 federal judges who sit in Maryland. Judge Cullen, who was appointed by President Trump, went out of his way to describe the complaint as extremely unusual, offering his own role in the case as a prime example of its unorthodox nature. Because the suit was filed against the state’s entire federal bench, all of the district judges there were forced to recuse themselves and Judge Cullen had to be brought in from his home courthouse in Roanoke, Va., to preside over the case. The judge used the ruling to take President Trump and some of his top aides to task for having repeatedly attacked other judges who have dared to rule against the White House…”