'The court has found no such case': Judge calls out immigration lawyer for citing 'seemingly non-existent authority' in battle against Trump administration

An lawyer from Maryland has been ordered to explicate wherefore she cited a "seemingly non-existent" lawsuit during an migration tribunal conflict with the Trump administration past month, with a federal judge calling her retired this week aft things ended with a dismissal.

"The tribunal has recovered nary specified lawsuit connected Westlaw oregon successful the court's physics docketing system," said U.S. District Judge Amit P. Mehta successful a Tuesday infinitesimal order. Mehta would know: it was his ain national territory — the District of Columbia — that was said to person heard the case, according to the filing successful question.

"Counsel for plaintiff shall amusement origin by July 11, 2025, wherefore the tribunal should not authorisation her for citing Moms Against Poverty v. Department of State," wrote Mehta, a Barack Obama appointee.

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Attorney Sarnata Reynolds, of the Maryland-based migrant advocacy radical Ceartas Solutions, is accused of citing the "non-existent" lawsuit successful a response brief filed connected June 20. Reynolds was representing a overseas doctoral pupil astatine Georgetown University, identified arsenic "Student Doe," who sued the Trump medication aft his pupil registration was revoked "without notice, explanation, oregon accidental for Student Doe to respond," per his complaint.

"Student Doe's doctoral enactment successful quantum computing addresses captious nationalist priorities successful scalable quantum systems, an country that is of strategical value to the U.S. authorities and captious to maintaining competitiveness successful planetary cybersecurity, encryption, and defence technologies," the ailment said. "On April 10, 2025, Georgetown notified Student Doe that DHS had terminated his F-1 grounds successful SEVIS and marked Student Doe arsenic 'OTHER – Individual identified successful transgression records check, and/or has had their visa revoked. SEVIS grounds has been terminated.'"

The student's ineligible team, which included lawyers from the radical RFK Human Rights, claimed the revocation had "deprived him of his ineligible status, quality to behaviour probe and teach, and entree to income," on with exposing him to "immediate hazard of arrest, detention, and removal — each without immoderate morganatic ineligible oregon factual basis."

The "seemingly non-existent authority" successful question, arsenic Mehta describes it, was utilized to reason wherefore the tribunal should contented a preliminary injunction to "prevent continued harm from an unlawful termination that has not been afloat reversed," successful notation to Student Doe's registration being revoked. "Courts successful this District marque wide that astatine the PI [preliminary injunction] stage, plaintiffs request lone show a likelihood of jurisdiction, not conclusively beryllium it," Reynolds said, earlier citing "Moms Against Poverty v. Dep't of State."

The lawsuit was dismissed connected Monday, June 30.

Reynolds was fixed a full of 10 days to explicate wherefore she should not beryllium sanctioned. She did not respond to Law&Crime's requests for remark Wednesday.