Daily Update | January 25, 2019
The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Michael Cohen to compel testimony about his role in the proposed Trump Organization tower in Moscow. Jerome Corsi, a witness and subject of intense scrutiny by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has been collecting $15,000 per-month payments from Infowars in an arrangement set up by Roger Stone. The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would allow federally funded foster-care agencies to discriminate against non-Christians and same-sex couples. If the federal courts run out of money over the course of the government shutdown, the Supreme Court will continue to perform its essential functions, although precisely how it will do so remains unclear. The Navy is denying civil claims by approximately 4,500 plaintiffs, totaling $963 billion in damages, stemming from exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
The Senate Intelligence Committee has subpoenaed Michael Cohen, President Trump’s former personal attorney, to compel testimony about his role in the proposed Trump Organization tower in Moscow (NYT).
Jerome Corsi, a witness and subject of intense scrutiny by Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation, has been collecting $15,000 per-month payments from Infowars in an arrangement set up by Roger Stone, report Manuel Roig-Franzia and Rosalind S. Helderman in the Washington Post.
Even as Congressional Democrats renew calls to investigate Donald Trump’s tax returns, the Joint Committee on Taxation may already possess significant information about Trump’s tax returns, argues Andy Grewal in Notice & Comment.
CIVIL RIGHTS
The Department of Health and Human Services announced that it would allow federally funded foster-care agencies to discriminate against non-Christians and same-sex couples, writes Mark Joseph Stern in Slate.
- Read HHS’s letter announcing the policy here.
A bill introduced in Congress this month would ensure that people with disabilities who are eligible for institutional care would have the right to access those same services in their own homes, if they choose, writes Michelle Diament in DisabilityScoop.
DEMOCRACY
The United States should consider adopting a single-transferable-vote system of electing members of Congress, Steve Mulroy argues in Election Law Blog.
The Federal Circuit Court of Appeals is hearing a challenge to the Administrative Office of the federal judiciary's practice of running large surpluses from PACER fees, Ilya Shapiro and Patrick Moran write in Cato at Liberty.
JUSTICE & SAFETY
The State Department’s legal justification for recognizing Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela doesn’t hold water, Noah Feldman argues in Bloomberg.
- Read the State Department announcement here.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Russia renewed trademarks belonging to Ivanka Trump’s business shortly before the 2016 election, Caroline Sheng writes in CREW Blog.
REGULATION
The FDA’s insufficient regulatory oversight process for high-risk drugs is partly responsible for the U.S.’s opioid epidemic, writes Benjamin Barsky in The Regulatory Review.
The Supreme Court’s decision in New Prime Inc. v. Oliveira was only a partial victory for workers, Andrew Strom argues in On Labor.
The Trump Administration’s efforts to freeze fuel efficiency standards might be its most incompetent regulatory rollback yet, Dan Farber writes in Legal Planet.
The CFPB announced that it has entered a settlement with Mark Corbett to resolve allegations that he violated the Consumer Financial Protection Act in connection with his brokering of contracts providing for the assignment of veterans’ pension payments to investors in exchange for lump sum amounts, write Jeremy T. Rosenblum and Scott M. Pearson in Consumer Finance Monitor.
- Read the consent decree here.
A coalition of state attorneys general responded to CFPB’s request for information on small-dollar lending, writes Alan S. Kaplinsky in Consumer Finance Monitor.
- Read the AGs’ letter here.
The Navy is denying civil claims by approximately 4,500 plaintiffs totaling $963 billion in damages stemming from exposure to contaminated drinking water at Camp Lejeune, Courtney Kube reports in NBC News.
The EPA’s return to Bush-era interpretations of the Clean Air Act is a betrayal of the agency’s mission and ignores legal requirements, argues Meredith Hankins in Legal Planet.
RULE OF LAW
While there are plenty of reasons to be pessimistic about a special prosecutor’s ability to hold a president criminally accountable, democratic politics has already played an important and surprisingly effective role in safeguarding the Mueller investigation, writes Andrew Coan in Take Care.
If the federal courts run out of money over the course of the government shutdown, the Supreme Court will continue to perform its essential functions, although precisely how it will do so remains unclear, Stephen Wermiel writes in SCOTUSBlog.
CHECKS & BALANCES
President Trump’s denial of Speaker Pelosi’s use of military aircraft to travel to Afghanistan should be seen as a grave abuse of power, Andy Wright argues in Just Security.
There is an irreconcilable tension between the unitary executive theory and the Justice Department's reluctance to ascribe the president’s motivations to the executive branch, Michael C. Dorf argues in his eponymous blog.
The courts have played an important role in ceding the executive branch power to declare a national emergency, writes William Yeatman in Cato at Liberty.
Tags:
Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety