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Karen Kadish  //  12/21/18  //  Daily Update

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Both houses of Congress have passed the FIRST STEP Act, a bill that will overhaul the country’s criminal-justice system if it is signed into law by President Trump. The President's nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, wrote a memo to the Justice Department in June that criticized the special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal theory of how President Trump may have obstructed justice. A senior DOJ ethics official has suggested that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker should recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but he does not plan to step aside. The Department of Homeland Security announced that asylum seekers at the southern border will be required to return to Mexico and wait there while their claims are processed. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention folded its Climate and Health Program into the office that handles asthma, eliminating the word “climate” from its title and forewarning a shift in focus.

 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

President Trump’s nominee for Attorney General, William Barr, wrote a memo to the Justice Department in June that criticized the special counsel Robert Mueller’s legal theory of how President Trump may have obstructed justice (WaPo).

• The memo is available here.

A senior DOJ ethics official has suggested that acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker should recuse himself from overseeing special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, but he does not plan to step aside (WaPo; NYT).

 

IMMIGRATION

The Department of Homeland Security announced that asylum seekers at the southern border will be required to return to Mexico and wait there while their claims are processed (ImmigrationProf Blog; WaPo; NYT).

The Northern District of California issued an injunction barring the Trump administration’s ban on asylum applications filed outside of a port of entry (Lawfare; ImmigrationProf Blog)

District Court Judge George Hazel rejected the Trump administration’s request to dismiss a lawsuit challenging the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 census, reports Tal Axelrod at The Hill.

Democrats and President Trump can compromise by using the funding that is currently used to employ Border Patrol agents to fund a border wall, writes Alex Nowrasteh at Cato Institute.

The United States needs to improve the process for getting a U-Visa (a program that aids undocumented victims of crimes and incentivizes cooperation with law enforcement by reducing fear of deportation) by allowing for interim approvals and employment authorization, write Jason A. Cade and Mary Honeychurch at ImmgrationProf Blog.

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

Both houses of Congress have passed the FIRST STEP Act, a bill that will overhaul the country’s criminal-justice system if it is signed into law by President Trump (Sentencing Law and Policy).

Congress should enact protections for workers and professionals whose ability to act cooperatively is being targeted by anti-trust suits, writes Sandeep Vaheesan at Take Care Blog.

 

JUSTICE AND SAFETY

The Trump administration has decided to pull out the United States troops stationed in Syria within 30 days.

• An initial assessment suggests that this may leave the Kurdish forces in a vulnerable position, will create a power vacuum in the region, and may allow the Islamic State to revive. (Lawfare)
• Foreign policy commentators reacted strongly, and generally negatively, to this decision. (Cato Institute)
• The decision to withdraw puts Kurdish forces at risk and raises the question of with which powers they will ally after the United States withdraws. (WSJ)

The Trump administration may also reduce the number of American troops in Afghanistan, report Gordon Lubold and Jessica Donate at The Wall Street Journal.

The U.S. military has stopped publishing information on air strikes in Afghanistan just two months after deciding to release it, write Jessica Purkiss and Abigail Fielding-Smith at Just Security.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

There is evidence suggesting the Michael Flynn may have been working as an unregistered agent of the Turkish government while serving the United States in an official capacity, vindicating statements made by Judge Emmet Sullivan at Flynn’s sentencing hearing, writes Ryan Goodman at Just Security.

Official government events – including many attended and hosted by Vice President Pence – have been held at Trump properties, report Caitlin Moniz and Hannah Rabinowitz at CREW.

 

REGULATION

President Trump continues to aver that he will not sign an interim budget measure to prevent a government shutdown without securing funding for a border wall (WaPo; NYT; WSJ).

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention folded its Climate and Health Program into the office that handles asthma, eliminating the word “climate” from its title and forewarning a shift in focus, write Lisa Friedman and Sheila Kaplan at The New York Times.

There are several workable legislative solutions that Congress can use to save the Affordable Care Act, write Nicholas Bagley and Richard Primus at The Atlantic.

Jason Harrow and Charlie Gerstein discuss the recent district-court ruling, determining that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional (Versus Trump).

The FDA has announced a new framework for using “real-world evidence” to support the development of drugs and biologics, writes Bill Gardner at The Incidental Economist.

 

CHECKS & BALANCES

Professor Laurence Tribe responds to other academics and develops his argument that the Constitution allows the indictment of the President (Lawfare).

 

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

In response to President Trump’s decision to withdraw from Syria, Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis has resigned, effective February 28, 2019 (NYT; WaPo; WSJ).

• His letter of resignation can be found here.

 

Tags:

Immigration Conflicts Checks & Balances Regulation Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office

 

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