At the heart of the case is immigration enforcement and Maryland District Court Judge George Russell III's order that every deportation must be halted for two business days to give migrants time for a hearing and due process.

A judge on Wednesday questioned why it was necessary for the Trump administration to sue Maryland’s entire federal bench over an order that paused the immediate deportation of migrants challenging their removals.

The spectacle of the White House suing an entire district court in the name of the United States of America underscored just how rancorous relations between the two branches had become.