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Eve Levin, Ian Eppler  //  4/23/18  //  Daily Update

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The Democratic National Committee sued the Russian government, Russian government entities, the Trump campaign, Wikileaks, and Trump campaign officials alleging a conspiracy to hack DNC servers and release information during the 2016 election. Attorney General Jeff Sessions told White House Counsel Don McGahn that he would consider resigning if President Trump fired Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein. The Trump administration will pivot its teen pregnancy prevention funding efforts toward abstinence-based programs and away from comprehensive sexual education. The CIA’s campaign for controversial deputy director Gina Haspel to be confirmed as its director is atypically public and political. The future of the Iran nuclear deal will be central to meetings between French President Emmanuel Macron and President Trump next week.

 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

The Democratic National Committee sued the Russian government, Russian government entities, the Trump campaign, Wikileaks, and Trump campaign officials alleging a conspiracy to hack DNC servers and release information during the 2016 election (Ars Technica, NYT, Politico, WaPo)

• The complaint is available here.
• Max Kennerly analyzes the complaint at his eponymous blog.
• Foreign sovereign immunity may be a significant obstacle to the Democratic National Committee’s lawsuit against Russian entities and Trump campaign officials stemming from 2016 election interference, notes Ingrid Wuerth at Lawfare.

Attorney General Jeff Sessions told White House Counsel Don McGahn that he would consider resigning if President Trump fired Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, report Sari Horwitz, Rosalind S. Helderman, Josh Dawsey and Matt Zapotosky in the Washington Post.

Former FBI Director James Comey’s memos show that President Trump was irate when former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn failed to tell him about a call from Russian President Vladimir Putin and frequently spoke with Comey about allegations in the Steele dossier (WaPo).

 

IMMIGRATION

The DHS’s draft regulation denying immigration applications from people likely to rely on government services has seven serious problems, argues David Bier in an in-depth analysis at Cato.

Several Congressmen wrote to Attorney General Jeff Sessions to express concern that the DOJ is politicizing the hiring of immigration judges in violation of department policy and federal law (ImmigrationProf Blog).

The Seventh Circuit upheld a nationwide district court injunction against Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ attempt to deprive “sanctuary cities” of federal funding (Chicago Tribune).

• The government’s substantive position is weak, though the propriety of the nationwide injunction is a closer call possibly justifying a cert grant, argues Jonathan Adler at the Volokh Conspiracy.
• Ilya Somin agrees and notes that the this is the latest in a long string of defeats on these issues for the Trump administration (Volokh Conspiracy).
• Samuel Bray also has an in-depth analysis of the nationwide injunction issue at Volokh.
• Marty Lederman also offers an extensive analysis of the question as it arises in the case at Balkinization.

Justice Gorsuch’s opinion in Sessions v. Dimaya may indicate that he will advance his philosophy on the administrative state through immigration cases, observes Jill Family at Notice and Comment.

• Garrett Epps agrees that the Dimaya opinion reflects Justice Gorsuch’s view on the administrative state and compares it to his dissent in an AEDPA case decided the same day at the Atlantic.  
• George Will also agrees on the case’s implications for administrative law cases at the Washington Post. 

An ICE raid at a Tennessee meat-processing plant prompted some conservative voters to rethink their support of President Trump; Jonathan Blitzer provides a look at the aftermath at the New Yorker via ImmigrationProf Blog.

Data from the Immigration Court show a dramatic rise in the proportion of cases involving long-term residents of the United States (ImmigrationProf Blog).

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear arguments in Pereira v. Sessions, a seemingly arcane immigration case with potentially far-reaching implications (ImmigrationProf Blog).

Next week, the Supreme Court will also hear oral arguments in the travel ban case.

• John Reed previews the arguments with Josh Geltzer in a Just Security podcast.
• Lawrence Hurley also previews the arguments for Reuters.

More than 700 children have been separated from their parents by Border Patrol officials, and there is no clear process for reuniting them, a report by Caitlin Dickerson at the New York Times reveals.

The Southern Poverty Law Center filed a class action challenging conditions at immigrant detention centers run by private prison company CoreCivic (ImmigrationProf Blog).

A video released this month shows Border Patrol agents attempting to dump an injured, incoherent man on the Mexican side of the border without any verification whether he was American or Mexican (ImmigrationProf Blog).

Immigrants, including undocumented immigrants, pay billions of dollars in taxes each year (ImmigrationProf Blog).

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Seventh Circuit struck down an Indiana law from Vice President Pence’s tenure as Governor that prohibited abortions sought because a fetus had been diagnosed with a disability (IndyStar). 

The DOJ civil rights division again recommended pursuing a case against the police officer responsible for Eric Garner’s death, but it remains to be seen whether Deputy Attorney General Rosenstein and Attorney General Sessions will greenlight the prosecution (WaPo; NYT).

Controversy continues over the nomination of Kyle Duncan to the Fifth Circuit due to his long history of litigation against LGBTQ rights.

• HRC called for the Senate to reject the nomination.

The State Department eliminated references to women’s reproductive rights and uses of the phrase “Occupied Territories” in connection with Gaza and the West Bank in its annual human rights report (WaPo).

HHS must do better to balance healthcare providers’ interest in their religious beliefs with patients’ right to receive unfettered access to healthcare services through referrals, argues Cynthia Romero at ACSblog.

The Trump administration will pivot its teen pregnancy prevention funding efforts toward abstinence-based programs and away from comprehensive sexual education (The Hill). 

The administration plans to roll back an Obama-era rule prohibiting medical providers who receive federal funds from discriminating against transgender individuals (NYT).

The Department of Education began using a controversial new rule that permits it to dismiss civil rights cases from serial filers or those that put an “unreasonable burden” on department resources (NYT).

 

DEMOCRACY

Sen. Ted Cruz’s view that Facebook must choose between the First Amendment and Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act is incorrect, argues Catherine Padhi at Lawfare. 

The Supreme Court will hear oral arguments next week in a case to determine whether Texas Republicans’ redistricting was a racial gerrymander (Austin American-Statesman).

Christian television stations have become increasingly ardent in their support of President Trump, writes Ruth Graham at Politico.

 

JUSTICE AND SAFETY 

Critics claim the State Department’s human rights report muted criticisms of countries the administration considers friendly and amplified those of countries it considers rivals (NYT).

Congress can and should take five steps to protect America against foreign intelligence operations, write Laura Rosenberger and Jamie Fly at the Hill.

Mike Pompeo “has the intelligence, the integrity, and the experience to serve as America’s secretary of State,” argues Sen. John Barrasso at the Hill.

Commentary continues on the lawfulness of the President’s strikes in Syria and the future of the AUMF.

• A Just Security map tracked countries’ responses to the strikes.
• “If the congressional war power is not dead, the actions of Congress and the president suggest it might be on life support,” opines Keith Whittington at Lawfare.
• International law cannot be altered by counties’ post hoc attempts to justify military operations, argued Patrick Luna, second secretary to Brazil’s Permanent Mission to the UN, at this month’s ASIL conference (Just Security).
• The moral legitimacy of the strikes and their compliance with the law of armed conflict does not change the fact that they were not authorized under U.S. law and violated the jus ad bellum, writes Laurie Blank at ACSblog.
• Senators Kaine and Corker’s draft for a new AUMF “is a long-overdue, serious proposal,” but it must be tailored carefully, argues Tess Bridgeman in an in-depth analysis at Just Security.
• Susan Hennessey, Bobby Chesney, and Scott Anderson discuss the proposal in a podcast at Lawfare.
• Israel’s involvement in the conflict is likely to prompt a retaliatory attack by Iran, write Dror Michman and Yael Mizrahi-Arnaud at Lawfare.

In a tweet, President Trump rejected the notion that the United States would give up too much in negotiations with North Korea due to the President’s eagerness to reach a deal (NYT).

• Aides and allies remain concerned, however, that the President will not proceed cautiously enough with the negotiations (NYT).
• Verifying North Korea’s putative suspension of its nuclear testing program would pose substantial obstacles, observes Joby Warrick at the Washington Post.

American foreign policymakers must reconsider the U.S.’s “global posture” and adapt to “a world with many capable actors,” argues Christopher Preble at Cato.

• His original, full remarks are available at the New York Times.

The future of the Iran nuclear deal will be central to meetings between French President Emmanuel Macron and President Trump next week (WaPo).

• The Iranian foreign minister warned that the country would “resum[e] at a much greater speed [its] nuclear activities” should President Trump withdraw from the deal (WaPo).

The President once again berated his Attorney General on Twitter, a pattern the ACLU’s David Cole calls “curious” at the New York Review of Books.  
The President is considering a posthumous pardon for boxer Jack Johnson at the urging of actor Sylvester Stallone (NYT).
The CIA’s campaign for controversial deputy director Gina Haspel to be confirmed as its director is atypically public and political, write Adam Goldman and Matthew Rosenberg at the New York Times.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

Political groups supporting President Trump are spending millions of dollars at Trump properties (Politico).

 

REGULATION

The Trump administration may attempt to use the Defense Production Act of 1950 to support coal and nuclear power plants, reports Megan Geuss at Ars Technica. 

The administration is seeking to impose Medicaid work requirements on Native American tribes (Politico).

 

RULE OF LAW

While serving as a state legislator in Oklahoma, Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt used a shell company to purchase a home from a lobbyist at a below market price, and several business associates who assisted with the transaction now work at the EPA, report Steve Eder and Hiroko Tabuchi for the New York Times.

Despite denials, records reveal that the lobbyist whose wife rented a townhouse to EPA Administrator Pruitt at a below-market rate was lobbying the EPA at the time Pruitt was renting from his wife, report Theodoric Meyer and Eliana Johnson in Politico.

 

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Fearful that the Senate may change party control after the 2018 election, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell is moving to quickly confirm President Trump’s judicial nominees (Politico).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

A bipartisan group of senators is currently working to revive a proposed election security bill that would help states prevent against cyberattacks (The Hill).

 

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference

 

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