Rachel Thompson  //  7/30/19  //  Daily Update

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court order blocking the U.S. government from spending Pentagon funds to extend the border wall. Attorney General Barr ended asylum protections for migrants whose immediate relatives have been persecuted. President Trump signed an agreement with Guatemala requiring asylum seekers who travel through that country to seek refuge there before continuing to the United States. President Trump plans to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe as the next Director of National Intelligence following Daniel Coats’s resignation.

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Working from the oath that members of Congress take, along with an apparent Constitutional imperative, the obligation for impeachment is documented by Quinta Jurecic at Lawfare.

• House Judiciary Committee Chairman Jerrold Nadler stated that the President “richly deserves impeachment” reports Karoun Demirjian at WaPo.

IMMIGRATION

The Supreme Court overturned a lower court order blocking the U.S. government from spending Pentagon funds to extend the border wall (Politico, NYT).

• The text of the summary order is available here.
• This decision points to a broader shift in how the court deals with emergency relief, argues Steve Vladeck at SCOTUSblog.

Attorney General Barr ended asylum protections for migrants whose immediate relatives have been persecuted (NYT, The Hill).

• Read the full text of Barr’s decision here.

President Trump signed an agreement with Guatemala requiring asylum seekers who travel through that country to seek refuge there before continuing to the United States (NYT, WSJ).

• Appeals to nullify the deal have already been filed in Guatemala (NYT).

REGULATION

The Trump Administration’s inconsistent rhetoric regarding the Clean Power Plan may serve to obscure the public health implications of the Affordable Clean Energy rule, write Jack Lienke and Richard L. Revesz at The Regulatory Review.

CHECKS & BALANCES

To what extent do legal and judicial precedents allow Congress to investigate the President and what could the scope of any investigation be?, asks Marty Lederman at the Balkanization blog.

RULE OF LAW

President Trump plans to nominate Representative John Ratcliffe as the next Director of National Intelligence following Daniel Coats’s resignation (WaPo, Politico).

• Both Democrats and Republicans have expressed concerns regarding Ratcliffe’s experience and partisanship.
• The legitimacy of the president’s appointment of an Acting Director for the post has come under question, writes Robert Chesney at Lawfare.