U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen seemed skeptical on Aug. 13 of the Trump administration’s lawsuit against more than a dozen other federal judges in Maryland, which has set up an unusual battle between the executive and judicial branches.
The case, United States of America v. Russell, named each of the U.S. District Court judges in Maryland as defendants. In court on Aug. 13, Cullen told Department of Justice (DOJ) attorney Elizabeth Hedges that he lacked a “good poker face” and that she could probably tell he was skeptical about the administration’s arguments.
The Trump administration brought the lawsuit in June after U.S. District of Maryland Chief Judge George Russell set up an automatic block on deportations, citing an influx of petitions from people seeking to challenge their detention….