Legal experts described the move as an attack on judicial independence. The DOJ said its goal was to preserve Trump’s constitutional authority over immigration.

Lawyers for the administration said that a rule issued by a judge in Maryland intruded on the White House’s inherent powers to “enforce the nation’s immigration laws.”

The Department of Justice in an unusual move has filed a lawsuit against all the judges in the federal court in Maryland, in an attempt to block the court’s two-day pause on deporting immigrants who challenge their detention in the state.