Conservative litigator Paul Clement to defend Maryland federal judges in DOJ case

By Nate Raymond

July 3 (Reuters) - Prominent conservative U.S. Supreme Court advocate Paul Clement has been retained by the federal judges in Maryland to defend them in an unusual lawsuit filed by President Donald Trump's administration that challenges a court order blocking the immediate deportation of migrants contesting their removal.

Clement and other lawyers at the law firm Clement & Murphy entered appearances on Friday to represent the 15 judges and the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, stepping into a role that U.S. Department of Justice attorneys would typically fill had their department not been the one suing the judges.

Clement, who will be defending the judges alongside his partner Erin Murphy, did not respond to requests for comment, nor did the Justice Department. The Maryland court declined to comment.

Legal experts have described the lawsuit the Justice Department filed on June 24 as unprecedented. U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi framed the case as being aimed at ending "judicial overreach" that has stymied Trump's agenda.

The lawsuit, which is pending in Baltimore, challenges a standing order the court issued in May that automatically blocks for two business days the deportation of migrants in the state who file a new lawsuit challenging their detention.

The order cited a "recent influx of habeas petitions concerning alien detainees purportedly subject to improper and imminent removal from the United States." A habeas petition is a legal action challenging the legality of a person's detention.

The two-day automatic pause on deportations, which are part of the Republican president's hardline approach toward immigration, was designed to ensure that migrants are not removed from Maryland before their cases could be reviewed.

The administration's lawsuit argues that the standing order runs afoul of U.S. Supreme Court precedent governing the standards for how courts can issue injunctions and flouts congressional intent.

Because the administration sued all of the judges in Maryland, the case has been assigned to an out-of-district judge within their region, U.S. District Judge Thomas Cullen, a Trump appointee in the Western District of Virginia.

Clement, who served as solicitor general under Republican President George W. Bush, is well known for advocating on behalf of conservative causes such as gun rights in court but has taken on several cases recently challenging aspects of the Trump administration's agenda.

He represents WilmerHale in its lawsuit challenging an executive order Trump signed that sought to sanction the law firm and that a judge has struck down. Clement also recently joined the legal defense team of Hannah Dugan, a Milwaukee County circuit judge charged with helping a man in her court briefly evade immigration authorities.

The case is United States v. Russell, U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland, No. 25-cv-02029.

For the United States: Brendan Moore and Zachary Cardin of the U.S. Department of Justice

For the Maryland judges: Paul Clement and Erin Murphy of Clement & Murphy

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