Theodore D. Chuang

In Does 1-26 v. Musk, No. 8:25-cv-00462-TDC (D. Md.), on March 18, 2025, Judge Theodore D. Chuang issued a memorandum opinion and a preliminary injunction, granted in part and denied in part, on Appointments Clause and separation-of-powers claims about actions to shut down the United States Agency for International Development. The RECAP opinion states: “Where the Court finds that Defendants’ unilateral actions to shut down USAID likely violated the United States Constitution, the Motion will be GRANTED IN PART and DENIED IN PART.” The accompanying injunction (ECF 75) bars Musk and DOGE from taking further shutdown steps as written in that order and directs restoration of systems access as specified there.

• Mar 18, 2025 — Memorandum opinion (ECF 73) and PI (ECF 75).
• Mar 24, 2025 — H.Res. 246 introduced (see below).
• Mar 28, 2025 — Fourth Circuit stays the PI pending appeal, No. 25-1273.

A preliminary injunction is not a final judgment. It is not a criminal finding against Elon Musk. On March 28, 2025, the Fourth Circuit stayed the injunction pending appeal; the panel’s stay opinion states defendants “have made a strong showing that they are likely to succeed on the merits of the appeal” (2025 WL 1020995).

District PI (in part) restraining further USAID shutdown steps and directing systems-access restoration as specified in ECF 75. Not a SCOTUS holding. Not a crime finding.

Fourth Circuit order and stay opinion, No. 25-1273 (Mar 28, 2025): stay pending appeal at the direction of Judge Quattlebaum, with Judge Niemeyer concurring and Judge Gregory concurring in the result. A stay pending appeal is not a full merits reversal — and it is not a vindication of the district PI.

In State of Maryland v. Patel, No. 8:25-cv-03644-TDC (D. Md.), complaint filed November 6, 2025 by Maryland and Prince George’s County. On August 17, 2026, Judge Chuang signed a 47-page memorandum opinion (ECF 32) and an order (ECF 33) granting plaintiffs’ motion for judgment on the pleadings on Counts 1, 2, and 6 and denying the government’s cross-motion. The opinion’s own summary: the FBI and GSA July 2025 selections of the Ronald Reagan Building as the consolidated FBI headquarters “were not in accordance with law and exceeded statutory authority, in violation of the APA,” and the FBI’s related reprogramming decision “was arbitrary and capricious.” The court vacated and set aside those actions, entered a declaratory judgment, and issued a permanent injunction against implementing them. The opinion states that vacatur “would have the effect of reinstating the Greenbelt site as the selected site.”

• Nov 6, 2025 — Complaint.
• Aug 17, 2026 — ECF 32 opinion; ECF 33 judgment / permanent injunction.
• Aug 19, 2026 — Notice of appeal (ECF 36); CA4 No. 26-2158.

District judgment on the pleadings vacating the Reagan Building site selections and related reprogramming, with permanent injunction. Holding turns on 2022/2023 appropriations site-selection provisions (Greenbelt / Landover / Springfield short-list). Not a SCOTUS holding. Not a crime finding.

Notice of appeal filed August 19, 2026. A district judgment on the pleadings is not the last word once an appeal is noted. Merits disposition on appeal not located for this spine as of last check.

In Philadelphia Yearly Meeting of the Religious Society of Friends et al., No. 8:25-cv-00243-TDC (D. Md.), on February 24, 2025, Judge Chuang issued a preliminary-injunction order (ECF 62) limited to houses of worship owned, operated, occupied, or used by the named plaintiffs or their members, as specified on a list the plaintiffs were to provide. As to those locations, the order directs defendants not to implement the January 20, 2025 Acting Secretary memorandum on enforcement actions in or near protected areas, and instead to apply the October 27, 2021 Mayorkas “Guidelines for Enforcement Actions in or Near Protected Areas,” including prior-approval rules and the direction that such actions not be undertaken “to the fullest extent possible.”

Plaintiff-limited PI. Not nationwide. Does not wipe all enforcement; administrative or judicial warrants remain outside the ban described in contemporaneous coverage of the same order. Not a crime finding.

Maryland Matters reported on August 19, 2026 that a Fourth Circuit panel later affirmed that preliminary injunction. Affirmance of a plaintiff-limited PI is not a holding that ICE may never enter a church. Treat outlet affirmance reporting as reporting until the order PDF is hosted here.

On March 6, 2017, President Trump issued Executive Order 13,780. On March 16, 2017, in International Refugee Assistance Project et al. v. Donald J. Trump et al., TDC-17-0361, Judge Chuang issued a memorandum opinion granting in part and denying in part; the accompanying order enjoined enforcement of Section 2(c) of EO 13,780 on a nationwide basis and denied the motion as to the other provisions. On September 24, 2017, the President issued Proclamation 9645. On October 17, 2017, in the same Maryland docket family, Judge Chuang granted in part and denied in part motions for a preliminary injunction against Section 2 of that proclamation: the signed order enjoins enforcement of Section 2 on a nationwide basis except as to Sections 2(d) and 2(f) and except as to individuals lacking a credible claim of a bona fide relationship with a person or entity in the United States; denied as to the President himself and remaining provisions; court declined to stay its own ruling pending appeal.

Fourth Circuit en banc later affirmed a substantial part of the EO-2 injunction (IRAP v. Trump, 857 F.3d 554 (4th Cir. 2017)). On December 4, 2017, the Supreme Court stayed the Maryland and Hawaii injunctions pending appellate disposition (Trump v. IRAP, 138 S. Ct. 542). On June 26, 2018, the Supreme Court upheld Proclamation 9645 in Trump v. Hawaii, No. 17-965. A nationwide preliminary injunction is not a Supreme Court holding.

In American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists et al. v. Food and Drug Administration et al., No. 8:20-cv-01320-TDC (D. Md.), on July 13, 2020, Judge Chuang signed a memorandum opinion and granted a nationwide preliminary injunction barring, for the duration of the COVID-19 public-health emergency as then framed, FDA in-person dispensing and related signature requirements for mifepristone. On October 8, 2020, the Supreme Court held the government’s stay application in abeyance and directed the district court to consider a motion to dissolve, modify, or stay (No. 20A34). On December 9, 2020, the district court denied relief from the July order. On January 12, 2021, the Supreme Court granted the application: “the district court’s July 13, 2020 order granting a preliminary injunction is stayed” pending Fourth Circuit appeal and any timely certiorari petition.

Supreme Court stay granted January 12, 2021 (No. 20A34). Chief Justice Roberts concurred; Justices Breyer, Sotomayor, and Kagan would have denied. The stay is the last word on that injunction’s immediate force.

Theodore David Chuang was first nominated September 25, 2013 (no Senate vote); renominated by President Barack Obama on January 6, 2014 to the District of Maryland seat vacated by Roger W. Titus. The Senate confirmed him May 1, 2014 by a vote of 53–42 (Roll Call Vote 127, 113th Congress, 2nd Session, PN1221). The commission issued May 2, 2014. The Congressional Record daily digest for that day also records cloture, 54–43, earlier on May 1. The Federal Judicial Center career line records: law clerk to Judge Dorothy W. Nelson, Ninth Circuit, 1994–1995; trial attorney, Civil Rights Division, DOJ, 1995–1998; AUSA, District of Massachusetts, 1998–2004; private practice, Washington, D.C., 2004–2007; House Oversight deputy chief investigative counsel (2007–2009) and House Energy and Commerce chief investigative counsel (2009); DHS associate general counsel (2009–2011) and deputy general counsel (2011–2014). The District of Maryland chambers page records Harvard College B.A. 1991; Harvard Law J.D. 1994; Greenbelt chambers.

H.Res. 246, 119th Congress, is titled “Impeaching Theodore Chuang, a judge of the United States District Court for the District of Maryland, for high crimes and misdemeanors.” Congress.gov and the GPO introduced PDF record introduction on March 24, 2025, by Mr. Ogles (for himself and Mr. Davidson), referred to the Committee on the Judiciary. Status: Introduced. The introduced text resolves that Theodore Chuang “is impeached for high crimes and misdemeanors” and recites his March 18, 2025 preliminary injunction in the USAID/DOGE case (styled in the resolution J. Does v. Elon Musk, et al. — this file’s docket is Does 1-26 v. Musk, 8:25-cv-00462-TDC), including the direction to reinstate systems access. Those are the resolution’s allegations — not a court finding of high crimes, not a Senate conviction, and not a removal from office.

House resolution introduced. Introduction ≠ House vote ≠ Senate conviction ≠ removal from office. This file will not write “IMPEACHED” as a status badge.