Christina Ford, Ian Eppler  //  8/18/17  //  Daily Update

Thirteen people were killed and over eighty injured when a suspected terrorist drove a van through a crowd of tourists in Barcelona. President Trump, in response, tweeted that Americans should study what “General Pershing of the United States did to terrorists when caught,” a reference to a false story about an American general who dipped bullets in pigs’ blood and used them to kill unarmed prisoners of war. Three days after white supremacists and neo-Nazis marched on Charlottesville, VA, killing one and injuring many others, President Trump tweeted that removing “beautiful” confederate statues was “foolish,” and that doing so would risk our country’s “history and culture.” Meanwhile, President Trump’s personal attorney, John Dowd, forwarded an email claiming that there is “literally no difference” between Robert E. Lee and George Washington.

PODCAST

The latest episode of Versus Trump features an interview with Marc Elias, former General Counsel of Hillary for America and current voting rights superlawyer, about upcoming legal challenges in the next campaign cycle and current voting rights cases in front of the Court.

CIVIL RIGHTS

On Thursday, President Trump defended “beautiful” Confederate statutes from the threat of removal, lamenting a loss of “history and culture” (NYT, WaPo).

• Michael Dorf responds to President Trump’s comments equating Confederate leaders to slave-owning Founding Fathers (Take Care).

President Trump’s personal lawyer, John Dowd, forwarded an email echoing secessionist Civil War propaganda and claiming Black Lives Matter had been infiltrated by terrorists (NYT).

The Trump administration will soon announce a new regulation allowing any business to opt out of the contraceptive coverage mandate under the Affordable Care Act (WSJ).

President Trump’s response to the events in Charlottesville suggests he is unwilling to honor core principles of equality under law, argues Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

IMMIGRATION

The RAISE Act, which President Trump has endorsed, would significantly exclude Asian, Latino, and African immigrants from the U.S. (ImmigrationProf Blog).

DEMOCRACY

President Trump’s re-election campaign has spent $50,000 in legal fees for Donald Trump, Jr., raising campaign-finance concerns (Brennan Center).

JUSTICE & SAFETY

A bipartisan group of former diplomats discussed their concerns about the Trump Administration's plan to merge the State Department and USAID (WaPo).

The Trump Administration’s disregard for national security screening procedures puts the United States as risk and requires a response from Congress, writes Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi at The Hill.

In reaction to the terror attack in Barcelona, President Trump spread falsehoods and signaled a willingness to commit war crimes, writes Bill Kristol at National Review.

• Unlike with Charlottesville, it didn’t take long for the President to “know the facts” with the events in Barcelona (Vox).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Justice Gorsuch will speak at an event at the Trump Hotel in Washington, DC, next month, raising ethical concerns (NYTimes, The Hill).

REGULATION

The Justice Department is in the final stages of reviewing the AT&T and Time Warner merger (The Hill).

Lawyers have several means by which they can help to protect the environment during the Trump era, writes Michael B. Gerrard at Climate Law Blog.

President Trump’s recent executive order on infrastructure includes promising initiatives to improve the permitting process, argues Cass Sunstein in Bloomberg View.

• But the administration eliminated its council on infrastructure development (Politico).

Over 20 million comments have been filed regarding the Federal Communications Commission’s proposal to roll back Obama-era net neutrality regulations (The Hill).

RULE OF LAW

A former official at the Department of the Interior claims he was removed from his position for publicly discussing the risks posed by climate change to Native Alaskan villages, and members of Congress are investigating (POGO Blog).

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Beyond impeachment, there are several options for sanctioning a president, each with strengths and weaknesses, argues Hannah Ryan at Just Security.

A careful reading of Nixon v. Fitzgerald suggests that five Supreme Court justices have concluded that a sitting president can be indicted, argues Ryan Goodman at Just Security.