Raquel Dominguez , Ian Eppler  //  7/19/17  //  Daily Update

Hawaii has urged the Supreme Court to disregard the federal government’s request for clarification on a bona fide relationship. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity intends to discriminate against voters of color. An effort to repeal aspects of the Affordable Care Act without replacing them in the Senate has failed. More details have emerged about the June 9, 2016 meeting held by Donald Trump Jr., which has spurred legal analyses about the implications of these new details.

IMMIGRATION

Hawaii urged the Supreme Court to ignore the federal government’s request that the high court block U.S. District Judge Derrick Watson’s interpretation of close relationship (Scotus Blog).

• Hawaii’s brief can be found here.
• Lyle Denniston summarizes Hawaii’s argument on Lyle Denniston Law News.

Subtle new policies will ensure a Muslim Ban, argue Farhana Khera and Johnathan Smith for the New York Times.

According to a recent State Department memo, grandparents now qualify as a close enough relation to be eligible to receive a US visa (Reuters).

President Trump has expanded the H-2B visa program, which allows lower-skilled workers into the United States on a seasonal basis (WaPo, LA Times).

Immigration courts have become backlogged, and new hiring of judges will not be enough (LA Times).

Maslenjak v. United States, a case regarding misrepresentations and revocation of naturalization, sets a heightened standard for a range of cases, theorizes Cyrus Mehta on The Insightful Immigration Blog.

DEMOCRACY

The NAACP Legal Defense Fund filed a lawsuit alleging that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity has behind it the intention to discriminate against voters of color (WaPo).

• The NAACP’s complaint can be found here.  

The Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity argues that it does not need to follow the E-Government Act as it is not a federal agency (The Hill, Washington Times).

• Chris Geidner explains how this argument works at Buzzfeed.

The DOJ has urged a district court to end their supervision of the Texas voter ID controversy remedy, writes Rick Hasen at Election Law Blog. 

• The DOJ’s brief can be found here.

SAFETY AND JUSTICE

President Trump will seek to impose new sanctions on Iran, though the country is technically in compliance with the nuclear deal (WaPo, WSJ, LA Times).

President Trump will follow Obama’s approach and not push very hard for a release of Xiyue Wang, Reuel Marc Gerecht argues at the New York Times.

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson will majorly restructure the State Department (NYT).

• The office in charge of investigating war crimes will be closed (Foreign Policy).
• The Office of Global Criminal Justice should be saved from the chopping block, argues Beth Van Schaack at Just Security.
• Former diplomats and national security officials have written a letter supporting the maintenance of a separate refugee office (Guardian).
• Noting Secretary of State Rex Tillerson’s divergent public stance from that of President Trump, J. Dana Stuster summarizes recent developments in the Middle East conflicts on Lawfare.

Senator Kamala Harris publicly criticized Attorney General Jeff Session’s tough on crime approach (The Hill).

Protecting an FBI Director from firing without good cause has merit, argues Andrew Kent at Lawfare.

REGULATION

Majority Leader Mitch McConnell announced a vote on full repeal of the Affordable Care Act after four Republican Senators announced their opposition to the Senate health care proposal, but that proposal failed, as well (NYTimes, Politico, WaPo).

• Rachel Sachs provides an in-depth analysis on provisions of the failed bill that are worth discussing because of what they reveal about the Senate process at Take Care.
• The Trump administration may be able to undermine the Affordable Care Act through regulations (NYTimes, Politico).
• The Affordable Care Act still faces an uncertain future (WaPo).
• The Republican health care proposal reflects a narrow and inappropriate understanding of freedom, argues Neil Buchanan at Dorf on Law.

President Trump’s selections for Federal Reserve General Counsel and Vice Chair of Supervision may have a significant influence on the future of financial regulation, argues Peter Conti-Brown at the Yale Journal on Regulation: Notice and Comment.

The Ninth Circuit has rejected a challenge by environmental advocacy groups to the decision of the Environmental Protection Agency not to ban the use of the pesticide chloropyrifos (The Hill).

The Federal Communications Commission is declining to release the text of over 40,000 complaints regarding plans to roll back “net neutrality” (Ars Technica).                                                                                                                                                       

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

President Trump held a previously undisclosed, private meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin at the G-20 summit, and the United States government has no records of the meeting (NYTimes, WaPo).

Irakly Kaveladze, a Russian-American businessman with a history of involvement in money laundering, participated in a June 9, 2016 meeting between Trump campaign officials and individuals with ties to the Russian government (CNN, LA Times, WaPo).

• According to a 2000 Government Accountability Office Report, Kaveladze-linked companies laundered over $1.4 billion (Daily Beast).
• In a contemporaneous op-ed, Kaveladze described the allegations as a “witch hunt” (Just Security).

Special Counsel Robert Mueller will allow Donald Trump, Jr. and Paul Manafort to testify publicly before Congress (Politico).

Donald Trump Jr.’s failure to inquire into the identity of the “crown prosecutor” of Russia mentioned in an email thread raises questions, suggests David Post at Volokh Conspiracy.

Rinat Akhmetshin, a participant in the June 9, 2016 meeting, is “low-hanging fruit” for investigators, as public information suggests he may have lied on his naturalization application, writes Asha Rangappa at Just Security. 

Russian interference, and Trump campaign collusion, may have extended beyond the general election and occurred during the Republican primary, argues Ryan Goodman at Just Security.

The interests of Trump White House employees under investigation--and their lawyers--often do not align, increasing tensions within the White House, report Julie Pace and Julie Bykowicz for the Associated Press.

Despite Jared Kushner’s failure to provide a full accounting of his meetings with foreign nationals on his SF-86 security clearance form, prosecution is unlikely due to the complexity of the form, argues Paul Rosenzweig at Lawfare.

RULE OF LAW                       

Despite the president’s control of federal law enforcement, the president can commit the crime of obstruction of justice in exercising that control, argue Eric Posner and Daniel Hemel in a new paper.