Chad Wolf appears to be unlawfully serving as the acting secretary of the Department of Homeland Security, a Maryland judge has ruled. The opinion came as part of a challenge to the Trump administration’s new asylum restrictions, which have been temporarily blocked because Wolf may lack the authority needed to introduce them. Judge Paula Xinis’ ruling said: “The Court concludes that Plaintiffs are likely to demonstrate (former Acting Homeland Security Secretary Kevin) McAleenan’s appointment was invalid under the agency’s applicable order of succession, and so he lacked the authority to amend the order of succession to ensure Wolf’s installation as acting secretary.” She added: “Because Wolf filled the role of acting secretary without authority, he promulgated the challenged rules also ‘in excess of... authority,’ and not ‘in accordance with the law.’” New York Attorney General Letitia James, one of the plaintiffs, welcomed the ruling and called Wolf a man with “no authority and no business sitting in the chair of the acting secretary of Homeland Security.”