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Meet Paula Xinis, judge taking on Trump for defying SCOTUS order in Kilmar Abrego Garcia case
Judge Paula Xinis is clashing with Trump after his administration defied the Supreme Court order to provide information in the Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia case
US District Court Judge Paula Xinis is clashing with President Donald Trump after his administration defied the Supreme Court's order to provide information in the Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia case. The Maryland man was wrongfully deported to El Salvador despite an order protecting him from deportation.
Xinis ordered Justice Department lawyers to tell her Abrego Garcia’s location and status in prison. She added that the administration should do everything to ‘facilitate’ his return. Trump's team was given until Friday to answer these questions.
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“This is a direct question — where is he and under whose authority?” Xinis asked in federal court in Greenbelt, Maryland. Justice Department lawyer Drew Ensign said that the administration is ‘still internally reviewing the Supreme Court’s decision and vetting what we can say to this court’.
“There is no evidence as to where he is today and that is extremely troubling,” Xinis said.
Who is District Court Judge Paula Xinis?
Paula Xinis is a US District Judge for the District of Maryland. Born in 1968 in Mineola, New York, she graduated summa cum laude from the University of Virginia in 1991 and earned her Juris Doctor from Yale Law School in 1997. Her legal career began as a law clerk for Judge Diana Gribbon Motz on the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals. From 1998 to 2011, she served as an Assistant Federal Public Defender in Maryland, taking on roles like Director of Training and Research and Writing Attorney Supervisor.
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She later joined the Baltimore law firm Murphy, Falcon & Murphy, becoming a partner and handling complex civil and criminal litigation until 2016.
President Barack Obama nominated her to the federal bench in March 2015 to replace Judge Deborah K Chasanow, who took senior status. The Senate confirmed her in May 2016 by a 53-34 vote.
