, Ryan Hayward  //  4/5/17  //  Daily Update

Department of Homeland Security agents plan to make unannounced visits to companies that rely heavily on H-1B visas. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has ordered a nationwide review of consent decrees implemented to address civil rights violations. White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer has confirmed that President Trump can withdraw money from his businesses at any time. Government officials have expressed concern about allegations that former National Security Advisor Susan Rice sought to identify surveilled Trump associates.

IMMIGRATION

President Trump’s revised entry ban returns to the Ninth Circuit’s calendar in May (Politico, LA Times).

• Here is the order scheduling briefing and argument.
• Former CIA chief John Brennan described President Trump’s entry ban as “simplistic” and “wrongheaded” (Guardian, NY Daily News, Telegraph).

Judicial consideration of Trump’s motives demonstrates legal fortitude and fidelity to the law, explains Joshua Matz at Take Care.

The California Senate passed a bill to make that state the first “sanctuary state” (Sacramento Bee, CNN, LA Times, Time).

Department of Homeland Security (DHS) agents will make unannounced visits to companies with a high ratio of workers on H-1B visas (WaPo).

• As the application period for this year’s H-1B lottery begins, changes to the program so far are only cosmetic (NYT).

A DHS spokesman said that federal immigration agents may arrest crime victims and witnesses at courthouses (WaPo).

Offering driver licenses to undocumented immigrants may makes roads safer, contrary to President Trump’s claims that accommodating such individuals threatens public safety (NPR).

 Sarah Wildman profiles a United States Senator who wanted to “build a wall” before President Trump (Vox).

CIVIL RIGHTS 

Attorney General Jeff Sessions ordered a nationwide review of consent decrees implemented to curb civil rights abuses (NYT, Washington Post, ABA Journal, Cato at Liberty).

• The Department of Justice (DOJ) asked a federal judge in Baltimore to delay a hearing on a consent decree regarding that city’s police force (NPR).
• Chiraag Bains argues at Take Care that the judge overseeing the Baltimore proceedings should enter the decree despite DOJ’s “brazen and unprecedented” reversal.
• German Lopez describes the important work imperiled by the DOJ’s policy shift (Vox).

Vice President Michael Pence’s view of women as “mother/daughter saints or . . . temptresses” colors his views on reproductive justice, argues Leah Litman at Take Care.

In a groundbreaking decision, the Seventh Circuit has ruled that employment discrimination based on sexual orientation violates federal law (Chicago Tribune, CNN, Lambda Legal, Human Rights Campaign).

President Trump’s proclamation marking World Autism Awareness Day angered autism activists by aspiring to “cure autism” (Disability Scoop).

The Trump Administration will eliminate funding for the United Nations Population Fund, citing allegations that the agency supports abortion and forced sterilization in China (WaPo).

• The agency “vigorously denied the charge” (Vox).

JUSTICE & SECURITY

Members of Congress introduced legislation to ban warrantless cellphone searches at the border in response to President Trump’s plans for “extreme vetting” (The Intercept, The Hill, Ars Technica).

Jay Morse outlines a framework for weighing the lives of civilians in armed conflict after a U.S. strike killed scores of civilians in Iraq (Just Security).

The White House violated traditional security protocol when announcing Jared Kushner’s visit to Iraq (WaPo).

President Trump’s proposed budget cuts may worsen a famine in Africa (Vox).

Several members of Congress asked Attorney General Jeff Sessions to exempt the Bureau of Prisons from President Trump’s federal hiring freeze (The Hill).

DEMOCRACY 

A non-citizen who “voted illegally and has become the national face of voter fraud” may have received an unduly harsh sentence, suggests Robert Samuels (WaPo).

RULE OF LAW

President Trump claimed he is immune while in office from suits challenging his private conduct, reports Adam Liptak (NYT).

Americans must be prepared for an “American Reichstag fire when it comes,” argues Timothy Snyder (Slate).

President Trump lacks legal authority to conduct war against ISIL, argues Bruce Ackerman in a brief to the D.C. Circuit (Lawfare).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer confirmed that President Trump can withdraw money from his businesses at any time, but denied reports that trust documents were changed to permit it (Politico).

The White House’s “opaque, incomplete filings” fail to demonstrate a commitment to ethics or transparency, argues the New York Times Editorial Board (NYT).

Jared Kushner acts as a “shadow secretary of state”, occupying a singular role in the White House that emanates from his personal relationship with President Trump (WaPo).

• The pending summit with the Chinese government at Mar-a-Lago will be a strategic disaster because of Kushner’s role, Daniel W. Drezner argues (WaPo).

Policing Trump’s business interests through state unfair competition and anti-corruption laws may be challenging, Matthew Stephenson muses (The Global Anticorruption Blog).

Many Trump staffers previously worked for right-wing advocacy groups funded by Charles and David Koch, according to recent ethics disclosures (The Intercept).

REGULATION

The Trump Administration’s sluggish transition process may foreshadow fundamental changes to the administrative state, Peter Strauss argues at Take Care.  

• Presidential candidates should release a list of proposed cabinet officials before leaving their nominating convention, Selim Savak and Lauren Sukin argue (WaPo).
• President Trump will nominate Dan Brouillette, a former Department of Energy (DOE) official under former President George W. Bush, as DOE’s deputy secretary (The Hill).
• Rod Rosenstein’s nomination to be the Deputy Attorney General is ready for consideration by the full Senate (The Hill).

President Trump reversed internet privacy protections promulgated by the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Obama (NYT, WaPo).

• Jon Brodkin documents the harm this will visit on internet users.
• The Electronic Frontier Foundation notes the measure prevents the FCC from enacting similar protections in the future.
• Matthew Yglesias situates the repeal in the broader context of business deregulation.

President Trump repealed regulations protecting bears hibernating in Alaska (The Hill).

President Trump donated his salary to the National Park Service, a move criticized as a publicity stunt by the Sierra Club (The Hill).

A collection of states, policy groups, and environmentalists sued President Trump over his decision to freeze a rule setting high-efficiency standards for appliances (The Hill).

FEDERALISM

Governors of four Western warned Attorney General Sessions and Treasury Secretary Mnuchin against interfering with state laws legalizing marijuana use (The Hill).

• Here is the letter.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE 

House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes expressed concern about alleged actions by former National Security Advisor Susan Rice regarding Trump officials (Bloomberg, The Hill, Slate).

• Senator Rand Paul also raised concerns about Ms. Rice’s potential actions (Politico).
• The Wall Street Journal Editorial Board opined that an investigation into potential domestic surveillance for political purposes is needed.
• Ms. Rice denied claims that she made politically-motivated requests or leaked information to the press (The Guardian).
• White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer decried a purported lack of media interest in alleged spying by the Obama Administration (WaPo, WSJ).
• Glenn Kessler fact-checks Mr. Spicer’s comments on the controversy surrounding Ms. Rice.
• The House Permanent Select Committee on Intelligence (HPSCI) wants Ms. Rice to testify in its investigation into Russian influence on the 2016 presidential election (WSJ).
• The HPSCI may resume witness interviews within the next two weeks (WaPo).

President Trump met with with “Putin’s favorite Congressman,” California Representative Dana Rohrabacher, in the Oval Office today (CNN, Daily Beast).

• The Trump administration has become more hawkish toward Russia as investigations into White House connections to Russia have progressed, argues Adrian Karatnycky (WSJ).

The Washington Post is cataloguing what we know about ties between Russia, President Trump, his family, and his Administration.

Researchers are exploring connections between Russian disinformation actors and American conspiracy theories, reports Philip Bump (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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