Daily Update | July 25, 2019
Nicandro Iannacci // 6/25/19 //
Citing “longstanding precedent,” the White House instructed Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to refuse to testify before the House Oversight Committee about potential violations of federal ethics law. Hundreds of migrant children were transferred from a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, which was overcrowded and in increasingly bad condition. In a letter, the ACLU notified the Supreme Court about a recent court ruling and a new study about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census. President Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran that focus on the international banking system and other financial systems. The inspector general of the Treasury Department will investigate the decision to delay the printing of Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill. The White House has refused to tell the House Judiciary Committee what happened to a series of interpreter notes from a meeting in January between President Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS & LITIGATION
Citing “longstanding precedent,” the White House instructed Trump adviser Kellyanne Conway to refuse to testify before the House Oversight Committee about potential violations of federal ethics law (NYT, WaPo, Politico).
The House Judiciary Committee reached an agreement with former White House lawyer Annie Donaldson to delay her testimony to the committee (NYT, WaPo).
- Even under the theory of “absolute immunity” articulated by prior administrations, Donaldson is required to testify, write Ryan Goodman and John T. Nelson at Just Security.
Sidney Powell, new attorney for former National Security Adviser Michael Flynn, asked a federal judge in DC for three months to prepare for Flynn’s sentencing (The Hill, Politico).
- Powell also asked for security clearance to review unknown evidence (NYT).
Campaign finance charges against former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort were dismissed by a deadlocked FEC (Bloomberg Law).
IMMIGRATION
Hundreds of migrant children were transferred from a Border Patrol station in Clint, Texas, which was overcrowded and in increasingly bad condition (NYT, BuzzFeed).
- HHS Secretary Alex Azar criticized CBP facilities but defended HHS border shelters (Politico).
- The House and Senate put forward competing bills to meet the Trump administration’s request for emergency aid to manage the border (NYT).
- DHS is dodging accountability for the dire conditions found in its border facilities, writes Cynthia Pompa for the ACLU.
Mexico’s crackdown on migration from the south, part of a deal reached with the U.S. earlier this month, may have reduced the flow of migrants into the U.S. (NYT, BuzzFeed).
The State Department removed from its website two authoritative factsheets on the U.S. Refugee Admissions Program (Sunlight Foundation).
DEMOCRACY
In the Bladensburg cross case, the Supreme Court adopted unreflectively the perspective of Christians in a political majority, without regard to the perspective of others, write Chip Lupu and Bob Tuttle on Take Care.
In a letter, the ACLU notified the Supreme Court about a recent court ruling and a new study about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census (The Hill, SCOTUSblog).
- The letter is here.
- In the court ruling, Judge George Hazel for the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland says the court will reopen litigation about the addition of a citizenship question to the 2020 Census if it is permitted to do so by a federal appeals court (Election Law Blog).
- In the new study, Census researchers show that the addition of a citizenship question could depress the response rate by 8 percent from households that have noncitizens (Election Law Blog).
- Civil rights groups are preparing to respond to a loss in the Census case (BuzzFeed).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
The reach of the Supreme Court’s new 5-4 opinion in United States v. Davis will be dictated by a host of procedural rules, explains Leah Litman on Take Care.
President Trump imposed new sanctions on Iran that focus on the international banking system and other financial systems (NYT, WaPo, WSJ, Politico).
- The director of the DHS Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency warned of increasing cyber attacks from Iran (Ars Technica).
- Secretary of State Mike Pompeo tried to recruit allies in the Persian Gulf to join a surveillance program for ships in the region (WaPo).
- Acting Defense Secretary Mark Esper is traveling to Europe to also recruit allies to counter Iran (AP).
- Lawfare provides legal context on the U.S. response to Iranian cyber attacks.
- Just Security provides legal context on the aborted U.S. strikes on Iran.
- Examining the possible legal theories authorizing war with Iran may anticipate when and how the Trump administration will act, writes Scott Anderson at Lawfare.
FedEx filed a lawsuit against the Commerce Department to halt the enforcement of restrictions on business with Chinese telecommunications company Huawei (WSJ).
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The role of coal executive Joseph Craft in the business of his wife, U.S. Ambassador to Canada and U.N. Ambassador nominee Kelly Craft, is raising questions about her nomination (WaPo).
REGULATION
The Supreme Court will hear an Affordable Care Act case about whether the United States broke a promise to make $12 billion in federal payments to the insurers that participated on the ACA's exchanges, writes Nick Bagley at Take Care.
The inspector general of the Treasury Department will investigate the decision to delay the printing of Harriet Tubman on the $20 bill (NYT, Politico).
Despite emergency food stamp aid passed two weeks ago, the Trump administration has not distributed the money to Puerto Rico (WaPo).
President Trump signed an executive order compelling greater disclosure of health care prices (WSJ).
The president has done great damage to the institutions that we need to fight climate change and other environmental challenges, writes Dan Farber at Legal Planet.
CHECKS & BALANCES
The White House has refused to tell the House Judiciary Committee what happened to a series of interpreter notes from a meeting in January between President Trump and President Vladimir Putin of Russia (WaPo).
The Supreme Court denied review of a challenge to President Trump’s authority to impose steel tariffs for national security (The Hill, Politico).
President Trump said he would try to fill any new Supreme Court vacancy before the 2020 election (The Hill).
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
Senior intelligence officials are tracking efforts by Russian, China, and Iran to influence the 2020 elections (The Hill).
RULE OF LAW
President Trump has unapologetically embraced the politicization of the executive branch, writes Bob Bauer at Lawfare.