Daily Update | July 10,2018
Nicandro Iannacci, Helen Marie Berg // 7/10/18 //
DHS Office of Inspector General reports that the ICE detention facilities are not adequately monitored for compliance with government standards. The Trump administration used trade and military threats in an effort to defeat a WHO resolution encouraging breastfeeding. Government officials should be required to offer an extraordinary reason for classifying people based on their transgender status. Organizations on both sides of the political spectrum are spending money to rally supporters over President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination. Federal agencies have begun implementing executive orders from President Trump about how to confront employee unions. Without citing any evidence, President Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, suggested that text messages amongst members of the special counsel’s team would indicate bias against the President.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
Without citing any evidence, President Trump’s attorney, Rudy Giuliani, suggested that text messages amongst members of the special counsel’s team would indicate bias against the President (WaPo).
- The Washington Post breaks down which Mueller probe targets may be part of a joint defense team with President Trump.
- The Washington Post also points out how Giuliani has recently contradicted the President.
Congress should stop pressuring Rod Rosenstein to comment on ongoing investigations, argue John McKay, Joyce Vance, and Norman Eisen at Politico.
When it comes to the Russia scandal, perhaps it’s all much worse than we suspect, writes Jonathan Chait at New York.
- The market demands a broad Trump-Russia theory, but the evidence doesn’t support one, writes Philip Bump at The Washington Post.
IMMIGRATION
DHS Office of Inspector General reports that the ICE detention facilities are not adequately monitored for compliance with government standards (Crimmigration).
In effort to outsmart smuggler networks, Border Patrol agents search for illegal immigrants far into the interior of the country (NYT).
DOJ tells a federal judge that only about half of the youngest children separated from their parents are set to be reunited with their families the day before the court-imposed deadline (NYT).
CBP officials claim that families are rarely separated at legal points of entry (NYT).
The Trump administration's aid to Central America is erroneously aimed at immigration enforcement instead of nation-building, writes Jacob Hofstetter at Just Security.
CIVIL RIGHTS
Government officials should be required to offer an extraordinary reason for classifying people based on their transgender status, explains Joshua Matz in an amicus brief for Karnoski v. Trump, summarized at Take Care.
The Supreme Court finally overruled Korematsu in Trump v. Hawaii, but the decision also ushered in a new form of discrimination, writes Leah Litman at The Regulatory Review.
- The Trump v. Hawaii decision also indicates that Establishment Clause challenges to executive assertions of the foreign affairs power will be reviewed very deferentially by the courts, explains Celestine McConville at Verdict.
The Trump administration should determine if its policies that impose liability for disparate impact could pass strict scrutiny, suggests Gail Heriot at The Volokh Conspiracy.
DEMOCRACY
This year, the Supreme Court has shifted from being “undemocratic” to “anti-democratic,” argues Ezra Klein at Vox.
Organizations on both sides of the political spectrum are spending money to rally supporters over President Trump’s Supreme Court nomination (Roll Call).
JUSTICE AND SAFETY
President Trump must be united with its allies but also must not be afraid to bring up uncomfortable truths, argues The Editorial Board at The Wall Street Journal.
- European leaders brace themselves for a tough NATO summit this week (WSJ).
- Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis also braces himself for what the President will say at the summit (WaPo).
President Trump must proceed carefully at his upcoming one-on-one meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin, argues Gerald F. Seib at The Wall Street Journal.
- The Washington Post predicts that President Putin will manipulate President Trump when they meet.
President Trump is retreating from traditional Western alliances to earn the favor of Russia and China, argues Maxim Tridolyubov at The New York Times.
President Trump’s contradictory foreign policy is harming the rest of the would, explains Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post.
Kim Jong Un has tricked President Trump—just as was always his plan, argues Max Boot at The Washington Post.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
Disgraced former EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt may attempt a second act in his home state of Oklahoma (NYT).
Many staff members in the Trump administration and Congress who worked on the recent tax overhaul are now lobbyists (NYT).
In Palm Beach County, most Trump Foundation donations have gone to organizations who hosted expensive events at Mar-a-Lago (Palm Beach Post).
REGULATION
You shouldn’t buy the Trump administration’s claim that it’s suspending payments to health insurers under the ACA due to a federal district court ruling, writes Nicholas Bagley at Take Care.
- The move fits a larger pattern of using litigation to undermine the ACA, writes Catherine Rampell at The Washington Post.
There may be a silver lining to the Supreme Court’s deregulatory ruling in NIFLA v. Becerra: the invalidation of many mandatory abortion counseling laws, writes Caroline Mala Corbin at Take Care.
- In NIFLA and in Janus, the Court used the First Amendment as a weapon against democratically enacted policies, writes Kenneth Jost at Jost on Justice.
Federal agencies have begun implementing executive orders from President Trump about how to confront employee unions (WaPo).
The Trump administration used trade and military threats in an effort to defeat a WHO resolution encouraging breastfeeding (NYT, Ars Technica).
- The move is part of a long U.S. history of using trade threats to help corporations, writes David Dayen at The Los Angeles Times.
President Trump’s trade war was decades in the making (Politico).
- Tariffs impose hidden costs on Americans, writes David Boaz at Cato at Liberty.
- The president promised a win-win on trade, but he’s delivering a lose-lose, writes Jared Bernstein at The Washington Post.
- U.S. exporters are the biggest losers when tariffs are imposed, writes Greg Ip at The Wall Street Journal.
A recent ruling from the D.C. federal district court makes it much harder for the Trump administration to revamp Medicaid without congressional approval, writes Carmel Shachar at Bill of Health.
We should design climate policies to be sturdy in the face of shifting political currents, writes Dan Farber at Legal Planet.
RULE OF LAW
Yesterday was the 150th anniversary of the ratification of the 14th Amendment. The new Supreme Court nomination puts the amendment’s legacy at risk, writes David Gans at Take Care.
- Any nominee whose record does not show a commitment to the amendment’s core guarantees of equality and liberty for all should be soundly defeated, writes Sherrilyn Ifill at Politico.
- Justice Kennedy’s replacement will likely determine the shape of the amendment for decades to come, writes Jeffrey Rosen at The Atlantic.
President Trump’s longtime personal driver is suing the Trump Organization for more than $200,000 in overtime wages (WaPo).
The Daily Dot is suing the NYPD for the Trump family’s gun permits (Columbia Journalism Review).
CHECKS AND BALANCES
Despite U.S. Senator Susan Collins (R-Me.)’s protestations to the contrary, the reality is that every judge believes in stare decisis to some extent, and every judge believes it has exceptions, writes Leah Litman at Take Care.
- President Trump can’t honestly justify his newfound pro-life politics, writes Michael Dorf at Dorf on Law.
- No Supreme Court nominee is likely to say how they would rule on a challenge to Roe, writes David Graham in The Atlantic.
- If Roe is overturned, state courts may fill the void, writes Mark Joseph Stern at Slate.
- Going forward, the Roberts Court is not likely to overturn precedents at a faster rate, but when it does, it may do so in a more conservative direction, writes Jonathan Adler at The Volokh Conspiracy.
- Still, Obergefell is likely here to stay, writes Walter Olson at The Wall Street Journal.
The White House tapped former U.S. Senator Jon Kyl (R-Texas) to help oversee the Supreme Court confirmation process (The Hill).
- U.S. Senator Bob Casey (D-Pa.) vowed to oppose any nomination from President Trump, calling it a “corrupt bargain” with the “far Right” (The Hill).
We may be in store for one of the toughest Supreme Court confirmation fights in decades, writes Philip Bump at The Washington Post.
- But this is no time for liberal despair, writes David Leonhardt at The New York Times.
- Justice David Souter changed everything about the confirmation process, writes Jeff Greenfield in Politico.
The Supreme Court released its October argument calendar (SCOTUSblog).
- Liberal Supreme Court justices should issue bold, defiant dissents instead of seeking elusive swing votes, writes Jon Michaels at The Los Angeles Times.
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
President Trump should listen to the Senate Intelligence Committee’s conclusion that Russia interfered in the 2016 election, writes the Washington Post editorial board.
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference