Ian Eppler,  //  1/26/18  //  Daily Update


 

IMMIGRATION

The Mexican American Legal Defense Fund has sued Motel 6 over its cooperation with federal immigration agents (The Hill).

The Trump administration has significantly increased regulation of immigration, in contrast with its anti-regulatory policies in other fieldswrites Ilya Somin at The Regulatory Review.

President Trump offered a proposal that would offer legal status for the Dreamers in exchange for a border wall and increased regulation of immigration (NYT).

  • The proposal would mean difficult concessions for Democrats.
  • While most Americans support legal status for the ‘Dreamers,’ not all do (NYT).
  • On average, immigrants who come to the U.S. on family and diversity visas are better educated than U.S.-born Americans (Cato).
  • Senators Flake and Cornyn voiced support for the proposal.
  • The Democrats are attempting to narrow the scope of the deal (WSJ).

The NAACP has filed suit against DHS for the removal of temporary protective status for Haitian refugees (ImmigrationProf Blog).

 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

The Senate confirmed Sam Brownback, former Kansas governor, as the American Ambassador-at-Large for Religious Freedom (WaPo). 

Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN asked a federal district court to permanently enjoin President Trump’s transgender military ban (Lambda Legal

Advocacy groups sued the Department of Education over its sexual assault guidance (NYTimes)

 

DEMOCRACY

The Republican Party has used a combination of dark money, voter ID laws, and political gerrymandering to tip the political scales in its favorwrites Ari Berman at Rolling Stone.

  • Sam Baker argues that this is gerrymandering’s moment of reckoning.
  • 538 drew 2,568 congressional districts by hand. 

Betsy DeVos made critical comments about the U.S. education system (WaPo).

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY           

A new push for prison reform may be gaining traction (The Hill).            

  • Three-quarters of Americans support criminal justice reform.

Eleven Guantanamo Bay detainees petitioned the D.C. District Court for writs of habeas corpus (Lawfare).

  • Scott Roehm looks at two updates in the case.

President Trump threatened to take aid away from Palestine if Palestinian leadership remained unwilling to negotiate with Israel (WaPoWSJLA Times

President Trump expressed willingness to reenter the Trans-Pacific Partnership if the deal were restructured (Politico).

Congress should demand answers from the intelligence community following the reauthorization of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Actwrites Jake Laperruque at The Hill.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

A federal district judge in Maryland heard arguments in a case brought by several state attorneys general contending that President Trump’s business interests violate the Emoluments Clause (Politico).            

 

REGULATION

The Environmental Protection Agency has proposed a unified national automobile emissions standard, which may preempt California’s stricter standard (The Hill).

Idaho has proposed regulations that would allow insurance companies to offer plans that do not comply with the Affordable Care Act. It is unclear whether the Department of Health and Human Services will intervene (The HillWSJ).

Despite potential progressive implications of the limits of the state and local tax deduction included in the recently passed tax legislation, Democrats should still attempt to repeal the provisioncontends Neil Buchanan at Dorf on Law.

 

RULE OF LAW

While conservatives purport to defend the First Amendment, they have been largely silent in the face of President Trump’s attacks on free speechargues Eliza Newlin Carney in the American Prospect.

The Department of Justice has filed a statement of interest in support of two conservative groups that sued the University of California-Berkeley over alleged limits on their ability to host events (Washington Post).

 

CHECKS & BALANCES

Michael Brennan, President Trump’s nominee for a position on the United States Court of Appeals for the 7th Circuit, faced a confirmation hearing. Democrats pressed him on a law review article criticising stare decisis (Courthouse News).

President Trump’s ability to reshape the judiciary may be overstatedsuggests Russell Wheeler at the Brookings Institution Blog.

President Trump nominated John Nalbandian, a Kentucky attorney, for a seat on the United States Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit (Cincinnati.com).

 

FEDERALISM

New York Governor Andrew Cuomo has signed an executive order preventing state agencies from purchasing services from internet service providers that do not adopt “net neutrality” policies (Ars Technica).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE                                                           

President Trump attempted to fire Special Counsel Mueller in June 2017 over his obstruction of justice probe, but refrained after White House Counsel Don McGahn threatened to quitreport Michael Schmidt and Maggie Haberman in the New York Times.

If Special Counsel Mueller attempts to interview President Trump, he may refuse and violate a norm of presidential cooperation with investigationsargues Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

Trump administration officials may have conspired to lie to federal investigators during the course of the Russia investigationsuggests Ryan Goodman at Just Security.

The White House has turned over more than 20,000 pages of documents to the Special Counsel, according to an attorney for President Trump (WSJ).

The Inspector General of the Justice Department has reported that missing text messages between FBI officials Peter Strzok and Lisa Page have been recovered. President Trump had contended that messages related to the Russia investigation had been intentionally misplaced (Washington PostWSJ).

William Burck is representing several individuals connected to the Trump administration, including Steve Bannon, Reince Preibus, and Don McGann, raising questions of conflicts of interest (Politico).

An erroneous court filing suggests that federal investigators had an informant at Paul Manafort’s political consulting firm (Politico).

                       

 

 

 


Daily Update | May 31, 2019

5/31/19  //  Daily Update

Trump implied in a tweet that Russia did in fact help him get elected—and quickly moved to clarify. Mueller relied on OLC precedent in his comments earlier this week. Nancy Pelosi continues to stone-wall on impeachment.

Kyle Skinner

Harvard Law School

Daily Update | May 30, 2019

5/30/19  //  Daily Update

Special Counsel Robert Mueller delivered a statement regarding the Russia investigation. Mitch McConnell says that Republicans would fill a Supreme Court vacancy in 2020 even if it occurs during the presidential election. A recent decision from AG Barr may deprive asylum seekers from a key protection against prolonged imprisonment. A federal judge has agreed to put the House subpoenas for the President’s banking records on hold while he appeals a ruling refusing to block them.

Hetali Lodaya

Michigan Law School

Daily Update | May 29, 2019

5/29/19  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration will soon intensify its efforts to reverse Obama-era climate change regulations by attacking the science that supports it. The Supreme Court upheld an Indiana law regulating the disposal of fetal remains, effectively punting on a major abortion rights decision. The Court also declined to hear a challenge to a Pennsylvania school district’s policy of allowing students to use the restroom that best aligns with their own gender identity on a case-by-case basis.

Kyle Skinner

Harvard Law School