Daily Update | August 27, 2019
Nicandro Iannacci // 8/27/19 //
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House aide Rob Porter to testify about President Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russian investigation. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay in order to enforce a new rule on asylum that would bar migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country first. California announced that a group of states and D.C. will sue the Trump administration over a new rule allowing the expansion of child and family detention. FEC Commissioner Matthew Peterson resigned, leaving the commission without a quorum and unable to take official action. Federal prosecutors will pursue the death penalty for the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, just one month after DOJ announced it would resume executions. President Trump offered to host the next G7 meeting at his golf resort in Doral, FL, raising the spectre of an Emoluments Clause violation.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS & LITIGATION
The House Judiciary Committee subpoenaed former White House aide Rob Porter to testify about President Trump’s efforts to obstruct the Russian investigation (NYT, WaPo, WSJ, POLITICO).
IMMIGRATION
The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court for an emergency stay in order to enforce a new rule on asylum that would bar migrants from applying for asylum in the U.S. if they passed through another country first (SCOTUSblog, WSJ).
- The stay application is here.
California announced that a group of states and D.C. will sue the Trump administration over a new rule allowing the expansion of child and family detention (WaPo, POLITICO).
ICE shut down a national hotline for detained immigrants after it was featured on the Netflix show “Orange Is the New Black” (WaPo, Hollywood Reporter).
Citing President Trump’s pardon, former Maricopa County Sheriff Joe Arpaio announced that he will seek another term as sheriff (NYT, WaPo).
DEMOCRACY
FEC Commissioner Matthew Peterson resigned, leaving the commission without a quorum and unable to take official action (Election Law Blog, WaPo, The Hill, Center for Public Integrity).
Close allies of President Trump are pursuing an aggressive campaign to discredit news organizations deemed hostile to the president (NYT).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
DOJ is nearing a decision on whether to indict former Deputy FBI Director Andrew McCabe for lying to federal agents about disclosure of information related to an investigation into the Clinton Foundation (NYT, WaPo).
Federal prosecutors will pursue the death penalty for the alleged Pittsburgh synagogue shooter, just one month after DOJ announced it would resume executions (NYT, WSJ).
Many entry-level and mid-level State Department officers have resigned under President Trump, including Bethany Milton, who writes about her experience at The New York Times.
Congress should amend existing law to restrain President Trump’s use of emergency powers, writes Michael Dorf at Dorf on Law.
We should blame the president, not our laws, for his abuse of emergency powers, writes Joshua Geltzer at Just Security.
It would be foolish to obey AG Bill Barr’s request for companies to weaken encryption systems in consumer devices for criminal investigations, writes Bruce Schneier at Lawfare.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
President Trump offered to host the next G7 meeting at his golf resort in Doral, FL, raising the spectre of an Emoluments Clause violation (NYT, WaPo, The Hill).
Former energy lobbyist and current Secretary of the Interior David Bernhardt delivered a win for his old colleagues when he announced rollbacks to the Endangered Species Act, write Linnaea Honl-Stuenkel and Lauren White for CREW.
REGULATION
DEA announced that it will expand the number of federally approved marijuana growers for scientific and medical research purposes (The Hill, WSJ).
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
The Senate’s investigation into Russian interference and Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s congressional testimony shows that the U.S. is at war with Russia, write Alex Pascal and Tim Hwang at Just Security.