15 judges, 1 target: Trump escalates war on the judiciary
The Trump administration launched its latest attack on judges, targeting all 15 judges on the Maryland federal bench, continuing the ongoing feud between the executive and judicial branches that has persisted since President Donald Trump began his second term.
The U.S. Department of Justice filed its complaint earlier this week in response to the Maryland court's habeas corpus filed last month by its Chief Judge George L. Russell III. In what the Justice Department called an 'egregious example of judicial overreach,' the brief order requires every apparent illegal immigration case be granted a temporary injunction 'upon its filing, and its terms shall remain in effect until 4 p.m. on the second business day following the filing of the Petition, unless the terms of this Order are further extended by the presiding judge,' per the order.
The Trump administration viewed the order as the work of district court judges who 'have used and abused their equitable powers' to undermine Trump's immigration policy enforcement.
'President Trump's executive authority has been undermined since the first hours of his presidency by an endless barrage of injunctions designed to halt his agenda,' Attorney General Pamela Bondi said in a statement. '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.'
Although filed in the Maryland court where they are suing the judges, the Justice Department requested that every judge recuse themselves and allow the issue to be heard before an outside judge who can take over or transfer the case to a different court district.
Among the judges included in the lawsuit is Paul Xinis, who is overseeing the high-profile deportation case of Salvadorian national Kilmar Abrego Garcia.
Accused of being an MS-13 gang member, Abrego Garcia was deported and sent to the Terrorism Confinement Center, a megaprison in El Salvador, last March. He gained national attention as part of the Trump administration's efforts to deport suspected immigrant gang members living illegally in the U.S. — painted as a hardened criminal by the administration and as a victim by Trump's opponents.
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