Ryan Hayward,  //  4/4/17  //  Daily Update

DOJ's brief defending the revised entry ban is flawed. VP Pence's policy of refusing to dine alone with women raises legal and ethical concerns. Notwithstanding a trust arrangement, President Trump can still access his assets, including his businesses, at will. Trump's deregulatory agenda has raised a host of legal challenges and may have grave national security implications. Trump has continued to deflect attention from the Russia inquiry by tweeting about President Obama and Hillary Clinton.

IMMIGRATION

DOJ's Fourth Circuit brief in the revised entry ban appeal, which argues that the plaintiffs lack standing, “advances a number of profoundly incorrect claims,” explain Ira C. Lupu, Peter J. Smith, and Robert W. Tuttle on Take Care.

DOJ has issued a warning to employers that they should not use H-1B visas to discriminate against U.S.-based workers (Ars Technica).

• Here is DOJ's press release.
• H-1B visa applications are surging as the future of immigration policy remains unclear (NYT, WSJ).
• Despite promises to the contrary, President Trump has done nothing to reform the H-1B visa program, notes Issie Lapowsky (Wired).

NYPD has told federal immigration officials about the court dates of some immigrants facing deportation, despite Mayor Bill De Blasio’s contrary assurances (NY Daily News, Daily Mail).

• House Democrats have introduced a bill to ban ICE agents from conducting activity near “sensitive” locations like courthouses (WaPo).
• San Francisco courts are “anything but a safe harbor” for some immigrants (San Francisco Chronicle).
• The deportation system makes it difficult even for lawyers to find their clients (Slate).

House Democrats have sent a letter asking the Trump Administration to remind schools that they have a legal obligation to educate undocumented children (WaPo).

• Here is the letter.

Highlighting crimes by undocumented migrants drums up support for President Trump’s immigration policies, explains John Burnett (NPR).

Tamer El-Ghobashy, Peter Nicholas, Felicia Schwartz, and Ben Kesling document why President Trump excluded Iraq from the entry ban (WSJ).

Promoting immigration is a “strategy for national growth and national greatness” rather than only kindness, explains Matthew Yglesias (Vox). 

CIVIL RIGHTS

An anti-LGBT “religious freedom" law in Mississippi is unconstitutional, but may portend future Trump Administration actions, argues Joshua Matz on Take Care.

Vice President Michael Pence’s policy of never dining alone with a woman other than his wife is a disturbing sign for the future of anti-discrimination law, argues Leah Litman on Take Care.

• At Vox, Joanna L. Grossman argues such conduct may violate Title VII.
• Michael Dorf (Dorf on Law) offers suggestions for VP Pence to follow his morals legally.

Carol Sanger’s new book on abortion and the law is a “model of what  . . . conversations about abortion might be like,” writes David Pozen (Balkinization).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Newly released documents show President Trump can, at will, reach into the trust governing his assets (WaPo).

• Trump can access everything from profits to underlying assets, such as the businesses themselves (ProPublica).

States cannot regulate access to ballots in order to achieve preferred political outcomes, including the release of President Trump’s tax returns, argues Derek T. Muller (NYT).

Charles V. Bagli examines the Kushner family’s need for an investor in 666 Park Avenue, now that a potential deal with the Anbang Insurance Group has been called off (NYT).

President Trump pledged to donate his first quarter salary to the National Park Service, pursuant to his campaign promise to work for free (NYT, WaPo).

An explosion in political spending after the 2010 Citizens United decision expanded the array of lucrative private political work opportunities in Washington (NYT).

• Some of President Trump’s former campaign workers are signing lucrative deals with foreign clients despite pledges to avoid foreign lobbying (Politico).

JUSTICE & SAFETY

Two Democratic Senators have sent a letter asking the Trump Administration to explain its reopening of the federal prison system to private prisons (Vox).

• Here is the letter.

Incidental collection of information on citizens is “merely an inherent feature of surveillance,” argues Benjamin Wittes (Lawfare).

President Trump has sent Jared Kushner, who has sometimes acted in “a parallel structure to . . . Secretary of State Rex W. Tillerson,” to Iraq (NYT).

President Trump’s strategy to get China to pressure North Korea is “all sticks and no carrots,” argues Ted Galen Carpenter (Cato at Liberty).

RULE OF LAW

A Trump aide may have violated the Hatch Act by urging a primary challenge to a House Freedom Caucus member (Politico).

Top human right lawyers have weighed in on the Trump Administration’s record thus far (Just Security).

REGULATION

The Trump administration’s issuance of a permit for construction of the Keystone XL pipeline will likely be held reviewable by courts, Eli Savit argues on Take Care.

It would be impossible for the federal government to abdicate regulatory responsibility for the environment to the states, Dan Farber argues (LegalPlanet).

Increased use of the Congressional Repeal Act to undo regulations promulgated by prior administrations may lead to more hastily developed regulations that undermine regulatory effectiveness, Stuart Shapiro explains (RegBlog).

The two trade-oriented executive orders issued on Friday are inconsequential and reflective of the failure of President Trump’s broader trade agenda, writes Paul Krugman (NYT).

After the defeat of President Trump’s health care reform plan, Republicans in the White House and Congress are most likely to turn their attention to dismantling financial regulations through the budget reconciliation process, Mike Konczal argues (Vox).

At Just Security, Ganesh Sitaraman analyzes the national security consequences of deregulation.

President Trump’s March 28th executive order revising President Obama’s Clean Power Plan is particularly concerning for its removal of rules to limit methane emissions from oil and gas sites, writes The Economist.

The Project on Government Oversight comments on President Trump’s proposed increase of funding from drug companies for the Food and Drug Administration.

CHECKS AND BALANCES

Although the actions of the Trump administration raise many concerns, the American system of checks and balances is working for now, The Economist writes.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

In mid-January, the UAE arranged a secret meeting as part of an apparent effort to establish back-channel communications between Moscow and President-Elect Trump (WaPo).

• Aaron Blake reports that the White House has denied any connection to these meetings (WaPo).

President Trump sent out several tweets Monday reiterating that the “real story” is President Obama’s targeting of him, as well as Hillary Clinton’s links to Russia, rather than contacts between his administration and Russia (NYT).

• Charles Blow opines on the dwindling odds of coincidental connections between the Trump administration and the Russian government (NYT).
• Susan Glasser of Politico interviews Lisa Monaco, a senior Obama national security official, about why President Obama didn’t do more to alert the public about Russia’s interference in the 2016 presidential election.
• Steve Vladeck provides an overview of how federal law tries to police the relationship between U.S. officials and foreign agents (Just Security).

Russia’s 2014 hack of an unclassified State Department computer system was more serious than previously reported (WaPo).

And that's our update today!  Thanks for reading.  We cover a lot of ground, so our updates are inevitably a partial selection of relevant legal commentary.  

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