Emily Morrow  //  12/20/19  //  Daily Update

Speaker Nancy Pelosi indicated the House will be “ready” to move forward with the next steps once the Senate has agreed on ground rules, but the House may withhold from sending the articles to the Senate until after the new year. Commentary continues about the Fifth Circuit's mixed decision on the status of the ACA.

IMPEACHMENT INQUIRY

Speaker Nancy Pelosi stated the House is “ready” to move forward with a trial once the Senate has agreed on ground rules (Politico).

• At the extreme, President Trump could stay in office with support from 17 states representing 7% of the population  (WaPo).

Others report that House leaders may withhold the articles of impeachment from the Senate through the New Year (NYT; WSJ; BuzzFeed).

• Regardless, the Senate may still hold a trial, explains Gerard N. Magliocca at Balkinization.

The DOJ argues that the House Judiciary Committee’s subpoena ordering former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify is moot following Trump’s impeachment (The Hill).

Democrats may be concerned that Mitch McConnell would hold a sham trial—because, in essence, he said he would do so, explain Greg Sargent and Paul Waldman at The Washington Post.

Article II of the impeachment articles, pertaining to obstruction of Congress, deserves greater public attention, in particular as precedent for future presidents, writes Keith E. Whittington at the New York Times.

Former White House officials indicate that Trump’s focus on Ukrainian interference in the 2016 election is a result of Putin influence (WaPo).

It is “implausible” that Senators could be “impartial” in the upcoming trial—the real threat isn’t “partiality” but that Republican Congressmen have already decided that Trump “didn't even abuse the powers of his office,” argues Marty Lederman at Balkinization.

• Senators who take seriously their oath to “do impartial justice” must not apply friendlier standards to their own party write Ira C. Lupu and Robert W. Tuttle at Take Care. 

House Republicans’ refusal to take the proceedings seriously, and the Senate’s threat to conduct a trial without witness cheapens and trivializes Constitutional obligations, writes George T. Conway III at The Washington Post.

IMMIGRATION

Immigration advocacy organizations sued the Trump administration to block implementation of public charge rules, specifically, the recent Proclamation requiring green-card applicants to have “approved” medical coverage or resources to pay for it (WaPo).

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The United States and India agreed to mutual cooperation as India deals with massive protests over its new citizenship law (WaPo).

CHECKS & BALANCES

Eliminating the ACA would be highly consequential—the Fifth Circuit’s decision allows President Trump to escape accountability, writes Abbe R. Gluck at The New York Times.

By declining to rule on severability and inviting the district court that invalidated the entire ACA to reach a similar conclusion, the Court of Appeals gave the Republican Party a big advantage in the 2020 election, writes Leah Litman at Take Care.

The Supreme Court may not hear a challenge to Texas v. United States right away, but the “writing is on the wall” for the ACA following the Fifth Circuit’s decision which blended “arrogance and cowardice” argues Nicholas Bagley at The Atlantic.

Agreeing with dissenting Judge King that the 2017 Congress already decided the issue, the Fifth Circuit should not have remanded the case, writes Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy.

• The case is “necessary,” though, because Chief Justice Roberts saved the ACA on conditions that are no longer present argues Josh Blackman at The Volokh Conspiracy.