President Donald Trump’s opponents failed to stop him at the ballot box, so now they are attempting to neutralize his presidency in the courts.
U.S. district court judges have proven more than willing to help out in this regard, slapping the government with more nationwide injunctions in the first 100 days of Trump’s second term than were entered throughout the whole of the 20th century.
As of Wednesday, the New York Times indicated that 199 or more of the court rulings against the president’s executive actions so far this year have at least temporarily halted the Trump administration’s initiatives.
While the U.S. Supreme Court has intervened in a number of cases to reaffirm the president’s Article II powers and his exercise thereof, it’s abundantly clear that the Trump administration is tiring of what White House Deputy Chief of Staff Stephen Miller has repeatedly called a “judicial coup.”
The Department of Justice turned the tables on Wednesday, filing a lawsuit against the U.S. District Court of Maryland and all 16 of its judges — including its 10 authorized judges, all but one of whom were appointed by former Presidents Joe Biden or Barack Obama.
The lawsuit takes aim at an order handed down last month that automatically blocks the deportation of illegal aliens in the state whose detention is challenged by immigration attorneys.
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If a petition for writ of habeas corpus is filed on behalf of an illegal alien detainee in or said to be in the District of Maryland, the Trump administration is automatically enjoined and restrained from removing the alien from the country or altering the alien’s legal status for at least two days.
The district court’s Chief Judge George Russell III, an Obama appointee, claimed that the May 28 amended standing order was necessary because the recent flood of illegal alien detention and removal challenges “that have been filed after normal court hours and on weekends and holidays has created scheduling difficulties and resulted in hurried and frustrating hearings.”
Chad Mizelle, DOJ chief of staff, stressed that “this obviously illegal practice cannot stand. To stop it, the Department of Justice has no choice but to sue the Maryland federal district court — and its judges — to ensure that they stop overstepping their authority in this critical area.”
Lawyers for the government noted in the lawsuit that the district court’s automatic injunction does “precisely what the Supreme Court has forbidden: make equitable relief a ‘matter of right’ in the District of Maryland.”
‘This pattern of judicial overreach undermines the democratic process and cannot be allowed to stand.’
“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,” said the lawsuit.
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The complaint notes further that the standing orders:
“violate congressional limits on district courts’ jurisdiction over immigration matters”;”disregard the procedural and substantive requirements for issuing what amounts to a local rule”;”are fundamentally inconsistent with the judicial role to resolve only concrete and discrete ‘cases’ and ‘controversies'”;rob Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s Enforcement and Removal Operations of any opportunity to contest the alien’s assertion of being “located in the District of Maryland” at the time of a habeas filing; and”can also adversely impact the operational planning necessary to coordinate a removal, especially a removal of an alien to a country that is recalcitrant about accepting the alien.”
The DOJ characterized the Maryland District Court’s automatic injunctions as “a particularly egregious example of judicial overreach interfering with Executive Branch prerogatives — and thus undermining the democratic process.”
“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 Pam 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.”
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Department of justice, Doj, Justice department, Donald trump, Trump, Pam bondi, Pamela bondi, Maryland, Deportation, Illegal aliens, Illegal alien, Illegal immigration, Immigration, Deport, Border, Politics