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Helen Marie Berg, Caroline Cox  //  4/3/18  //  Daily Update

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President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are discussing ways to pressure North Korea before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the president. Texas has submitted a request to Attorney General Sessions to opt into the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which would allow the state to more quickly death row execute prisoners. President Trump praises Sinclair Broadcasting in wake of criticism that the broadcaster required local anchors nationwide to read the same scripted message about fake news. The publisher of the National Enquirer moved to dismiss Karen McDougal’s lawsuit, claiming that the deal they struck with her to remain silent about her alleged affair with President Trump is protected by the First Amendment. When President Trump called to congratulate Putin on his reelection, he proposed meeting him at the White House.

 

IMMIGRATION

President Trump is calling DACA “dead” and blaming Democrats for the demise of the program (NYT).

New Justice Department directives that aim to speed up deportations create a quota system in the annual performance reviews of U.S. immigration judges (WaPo).

President Trump’s tweets about a caravan of Central American migrants heading toward the U.S. border are making an international incident out of a regular occurrence, writes Kirk Semple at The New York Times.

Brandon Judd, the president of the National Border Patrol Council, appears to have significant influence on President trump’s immigration views (NYT).

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

A libel suit with President Trump as the defendant will likely help sexual misconduct victims sue when their accusations are denied as lies (NYT).

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

President Trump is expressing renewed complaints about the Department of Justice, this time for the production of documents to Congress (WaPo).

President Trump and Japanese Prime Minister Shinzo Abe are discussing ways to pressure North Korea before the summit between North Korean leader Kim Jong Un and the president (WaPo).

Texas has submitted a request to Attorney General Sessions to opt into the 1996 Antiterrorism and Effective Death Penalty Act, which would allow the state to more quickly death row execute prisoners (The Hill).

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The district court’s ruling that that Maryland and the District of Columbia have standing to sue under the Emoluments Clause is a welcome surprise, notes Matthew Stephenson at The Global Anticorruption Blog.

• Slate suggests that courts should not shy away from answering “political questions” like this one.

 

REGULATION

New EPA rules that require the agency to rely only on publicly available information is likely an attempt to undermine the current basis for certain air pollution regulations, explains Peter Van Doren at the Cato at Liberty. 

EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt announces that the Trump Administration will rollback greenhouse gas emission standards for automakers (The Hill).

• California is poised to sue over the rollback (NYT).
• The announcement marks a setback in the fight against global warming (NYT).

Mick Mulvaney, acting director of the CFPB, asks Congress to limit the agency’s power and independence (The Hill, NYT).

President Trump praises Sinclair Broadcasting in wake of criticism that the broadcaster required local anchors nationwide to read the same scripted message about fake news (Ars Technica).

• The President’s praise reveals his bias towards companies that favor him (WaPo).

President Trump taps Justin Muzinich, a top aide to Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin, to serve as Deputy Treasury Secretary (NYT).

 

RULE OF LAW

If former VA Secretary Dan Shulkin actually resigned, the Administration should produce his resignation letter, argues Aaron Blake at The Washington Post.

 

FEDERALISM

The Justice Department is suing California over a state law that restricts the ability of the federal government to sell federal public lands (WSJ).

 

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

President Trump appeals the decision to let Summer Zervos’s defamation lawsuit proceed (WaPo).

The publisher of the National Enquirer moved to dismiss Karen McDougal’s lawsuit, claiming that the deal they struck with her to remain silent about her alleged affair with President Trump is protected by the First Amendment (WaPo).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

When President Trump called to congratulate Putin on his reelection, he proposed meeting him at the White House (NYT).

Reality Winner, a former government contractor accused of divulging to the media confidential NSA materials, is seeking subpoenas for officials from the CIA and Department of Homeland Security in her trial (Politico).

Special Counsel Robert Mueller looks into an alleged meeting with Trump aide Roger Stone and Wikileaks founder Julian Assange (WSJ).

  

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Federalism Regulation Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office Russian Interference

 

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