//  12/21/17  //  Daily Update

State officials and parents are beginning to worry that the Children’s Health Insurance Program will not be renewed in time to stop millions of children from losing insurance. A group of House Republicans has secretly gathered for weeks in an effort to build a case that the DOJ and FBI mishandled the use of the Steele Dossier, which alleged ties between President Trump and Russia. The Trump administration voluntarily withdrew its appeal to the D.C. Circuit to prevent Jane Roe, a young immigrant woman, from being released to have an abortion. The House gave final approval to the new tax bill.

IMMIGRATION

The Trump administration has quietly limited legal immigration (NYT).

• Canada has used this opportunity to woo tech firms (ImmigrationProf Blog).

ICE has continued to detain hundreds of Iraqi immigrants despite lack of evidence of flight risk or danger, writes Bonsitu Kitaba-Gaviglio and Monica Andrade at ACLU.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Trump administration voluntarily withdrew its appeal to the D.C. Circuit to prevent Jane Roe, a young immigrant woman, from being released to have an abortion (WaPo, CNN).

Justice Gorsuch’s limitation of his use of the word ‘privacy’ at the oral argument of Carpenter v. United States may mean a desire to limit substantive due process doctrine in the future, writes Sherry F. Colb at Verdict.

It is cruel and unusual punishment to sentence a teenager to die in prison, writes Rachel Wainer Apter at the ACLU.

Use of fear-mongering tactics in the campaign to pass the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Amendments Act demonstrates contempt for Fourth Amendment rights, writes Patrick G. Eddington at Cato.

• Sen. Rand Paul has threatened to filibuster the bill.

The Concealed Carry Reciprocity Act of 2017 is opposed by 83% of gun owners and 83% of Republicans, writes Daniel Webster at The Hill.

The Pentagon released a detailed policy for recruiting transgender troops (Nat Sec)

DEMOCRACY

A federal district court in Michigan has upheld a right to display signs depicting aborted fetuses (Volokh).

• This case pertains to the Supreme Court’s decision in Erznoznik v. City of Jacksonville, writes Eugene Volokh.

JUSTICE & SAFETY     

President Trump’s attribution of the ransomware attacks in May 2017 to North Korea raises three important questions, writes Kristen Eichensehr at Just Security. 

The National Security Strategy is a dramatic departure that abandons the United States’ role as a global force for good, writes Susan Rice at NYT.

• The new National Security Strategy’s proposal to weaken arms export controls will lead to global insecurity, contributing to human rights violations, writes Brian Chang at Just Security.
• The failure to address climate change in the new National Security Strategy is a wishful, unstrategic mistake, writes Mark Nevitt at Just Security.

The recent withdrawal of three judicial nominees is an aberration from President Trump’s large success in nominating young conservation jurists to the federal bench over the last year, write Philip Rucker, Josh Dawsey, and Ashley Parker at WaPo.

• Lambda Legal has released a new report that shows nearly one-third of President Trump’s judicial nominees have anti-LGBT records.

President Trump suggested that U.S. foreign aid might hinge on countries’ votes on the U.N. resolution condemning the decision to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital (WaPo).

The Trump administration has approved the first sale of lethal defensive weapons to Ukraine (WaPo).

REGULATION

The House gave final approval to the new tax bill (NYT, WSJ)

• The bill minimizes damage to renewables, electric vehicles, and affordable housing, writes Ethan Elkind at Legal Planet.
• Despite President Trump’s assertion, the bill does not repeal Obamacare.
• The bill is a win for the wealthy, the entitled, and the irresponsible, writes the Editorial Board at the WSJ.
• Republicans’ next challenge will be to get voters to embrace the bill, writes Joshua Jamerson at WSJ.

The National Labor Relations Board has used its new Republican majority to overrule three rules from the Obama administration (The Hill).

A New York state legislator has introduced a net neutrality bill designed to serve as an end-run around the FCC’s repeal of net neutrality (Ars Technica).

The D.C. Circuit has asked the EPA to report when it plans to take a key step in implementing a 2015 smog pollution rule (The Hill).

Tom Wheeler, former chairman of the FCC under President Obama, called for giant internet companies, like Facebook and Google, to be regulated (The Hill).

Lambda Legal filed a FOIA request regarding the Trump administration’s prohibition of the use of certain words in CDC reports (Lambda Legal).

The fact that raising the issue of ownership of semiautomatic weapons in a confirmation hearing caused the nomination to be put on hold is a sad development, writes Dean L. Winslow, the former nominee for assistant secretary of defense for health affairs, at WaPo. 

State officials and parents are beginning to worry that the Children’s Health Insurance Program will not be renewed in time to stop millions of children from losing insurance (Politico).

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

If President Trump decides to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller, it might result in impeachment, writes Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

Reps. Zoe Lofgren and Jerry Nadler are competing for the ranking member role on the House Judiciary Committee, which would become important if the Democrats win the House (Politico).

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE      

A group of House Republicans has secretly gathered for weeks in an effort to build a case that the DOJ and FBI mishandled the use of the Steele Dossier, which alleged ties between President Trump and Russia (Politico).         

• Congressional Democrats are claiming that Republican lawmakers, the administration, and conservative media figures are orchestrating a campaign to discredit special counsel Robert Mueller (Politico).    
• President Trump’s allies’ attacks on Special Counsel Robert Mueller may give the President cover for future pardons, writes Darren Samuelsohn at Politico.      
• Sen. Mark Warner warned President Trump not to fire Mueller or to interfere with the investigation.
• President Trump has the power to fire Mueller, but the Constitution also poses formidable restraints, write John Yoo and Saikrishna Prakash at the LA Times.
• This would be the best time to fire Mueller, writes Harry Litman at the LA Times.