Daily Update | January 26, 2018
Ian Eppler, // 1/26/18 //
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 fields, writes 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 favor, writes 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 (WaPo, WSJ, LA 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 Act, writes 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 Hill, WSJ).
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 provision, contends 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 speech, argues 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 overstated, suggests 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 quit, report 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 investigations, argues Bob Bauer at Lawfare.
Trump administration officials may have conspired to lie to federal investigators during the course of the Russia investigation, suggests 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 Post, WSJ).
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).
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference