Rachel Chung, Lark Turner  //  8/29/17  //  Daily Update

The Ninth Circuit heard oral argument about which portions of the travel ban the Administration can enforce while the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision in the case is pending. U.S. Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) has requested approval for a plan to begin routinely destroying records related to its detention operations, including those related to sexual assaults, solitary confinement, and deaths in custody. The ACLU and Lambda Legal filed lawsuits arguing that the President’s ban on transgender troops is unconstitutional and discriminatory. President Trump signed an executive order allowing local police departments to receive surplus military equipment, reversing an Obama-era policy barring such transfers. Trump pardons Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop unconstitutional racial profiling.

SYMPOSIUM 

Josh Chafetz comments on the eight contributions to the symposium that discuss his new book, Congress's Constitution. 

IMMIGRATION

The Ninth Circuit heard oral argument about which portions of the travel ban the Administration can enforce while the Supreme Court’s ultimate decision in the case is pending (Politico).

• The three-judge panel appeared skeptical of the government’s argument (NYT).
• Two judges suggested the Administration was reading words into the Supreme Court’s June order that were not there, recounts Lyle Denniston at Lyle Denniston Law News.

A series of lawsuits claim ICE is targeting people for deportation based on false allegations of gang connection, writes Christie Thompson at The Marshall Project.

U.S. Immigration and Customs Service (ICE) has requested approval for a plan to begin routinely destroying records related to its detention operations, including those related to sexual assaults, solitary confinement, and deaths in custody (ACLU).

CIVIL RIGHTS

DOJ’s support for a recently blocked Texas voter ID law represents a dramatic shift in the agency’s stance on voting rights, writes Christina Ford at Take Care.

The ACLU and Lambda Legal filed lawsuits arguing that the President’s ban on transgender troops is unconstitutional and discriminatory (Politico, The Hill).

• The ACLU’s complaint is here, and Lambda Legal’s is here.
• The ban appears less severe than the President’s initial tweets proposing the idea, argues Russell Spivak at Lawfare.

JUSTICE & SAFETY

Humanitarian concerns and international human rights law cannot be ignored in our discussion of the North Korean nuclear problem, argues Julia Sherman at Take Care.

The White House is pressuring intelligence officials to find Iran in violation of the 2015 nuclear agreement (The Guardian).

• An upcoming report is like to show that Iran is largely compliant, but a finding could otherwise end the deal (NYT).

President Trump signed an executive order allowing local police departments to receive surplus military equipment, reversing an Obama-era policy barring such transfers (The Hill, WaPo).

• The executive order is here.
• Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced the policy change in a speech to the National Fraternal Order of Police. The speech is here.

REGULATION

Trump’s review of national monuments “arbitrary, opaque, and full of mischaracterizations,” writes Nicholas Bryner at Legal Planet.

RULE OF LAW

Trump pardons Joe Arpaio, the former Maricopa County sheriff convicted of criminal contempt for defying a court order to stop unconstitutional racial profiling (NYT, WaPo).

• The pardon of Joe Arpaio demonstrates his disregard for the rule of law, writes Michael C. Dorf at Take Care, as does Bob Bauer at Lawfare, as does Maggie Haberman at the New York Times.
• The substance of Arpaio’s violations, and not any threat to the rule of law, should be the focus of commentators’ reactions, argues Josh Chafetz at PostEverything.
• The president had previously asked whether the contempt investigation could be dropped altogether (NYT).
• The pardon could be a test-run for shutting down the Russia investigation, writes Bob Bauer at the Washington Post.

CHECKS & BALANCES

The Supreme Court may not react well to Trump DOJ’s flip-flops (NYT).

The incompetent mainstream media gave us President Trump, argues Jed Shugerman on his blog.

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Congress should begin a formal impeachment inquiry, argue Jane Chong and Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare.

Collusion may be “too kind a word” for Trump’s actions on Russia, writes Jennifer Rubin at the Washington Post.

Trump advisers Gary Cohn, Rex Tillerson, and James Mattis distance themselves from the President in recent remarks (Weekly Standard).

Trump is a nineteenth-century president stuck in the 21st, writes Julia Azari at FiveThirtyEight.

Trump’s presidency could spell the end of the Goldwater Rule, writes Jeannie Suk Gersen at the New Yorker.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

A Moscow deal could make “our boy” president, Trump associate wrote to Trump lawyer in 2015 (NYT).