Daily Update | June 1, 2018
Karen Kadish, Eve Levin // 6/1/18 //
The Human Rights Campaign has called for an investigation into the death of Roxsana Hernandez, a transgender woman who died while in ICE custody. A lawsuit filed by 21 organizations and two citizen plaintiffs challenges the constitutionality of a citizenship question the Trump administration has added to the 2020 census. DHHS is investigating requirements in California and Hawaii that obligate anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” to inform women about state subsidized family planning services. The administration is moving forward with metal tariffs imported from close allies in the EU, Mexico, and Canada. New Jersey became the second state after Massachusetts to enact an individual health insurance mandate.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
The President denied he fired FBI Director James Comey to end the Russia probe in a tweet (WSJ;Politico).
The executive branch’s extremely broad view of the pardon power could become important if the President seeks to pardon those under investigation by Special Counsel, including himself, explain Jack Goldsmith and Maddie McMahon in an in-depth analysis at Lawfare.
During the Obama era, the DOJ used the same tactics President Trump has derided in “spygate” to investigate Democratic campaigns, writes Liam Brennan at Just Security.
President Trump’s lawyers are resisting a discovery request for documents related to the 2016 DNC hack in a lawsuit by nonprofit Protect Democracy (Election Law Blog).
IMMIGRATION
The Human Rights Campaign has called for an investigation into the death of Roxsana Hernandez, a transgender woman who died while in ICE custody, writes Aaron Rodriguez at Human Rights Campaign.
The State Department has made it harder for Chinese citizens to get visas, which could result in shorter student visas and delays in work visas, report Jessica Donati and Te-Ping Chen at The Wall Street Journal.
A lawsuit filed by 21 organizations and two citizen plaintiffs challenges the constitutionality of a citizenship question the Trump administration has added to the 2020 census, writes Michael Wines at The New York Times.
CIVIL RIGHTS
President Trump signed legislation giving terminally-ill patients the right to determine the course of their medical treatment, raising questions of how patients can decide what treatments to try, and how extensive this right it, writes Michael F. Cannon at Cato at Liberty.
Lambda Legal and OutServe-SLDN filed a lawsuit against the Department of Defense for discriminating against service members and limiting their advancement opportunities due to their HIV-positive status, writes Lambda Legal.
DHHS is investigating requirements in California and Hawaii that obligate anti-abortion “crisis pregnancy centers” to inform women about state subsidized family planning services, reports Stephanie Armour at The Wall Street Journal.
Three civil rights organizations have sued the Department of Education over a new policy allowing its Office of Civil Rights to decline to investigate complaints it finds burdensome, reports Erica L. Greene at The New York Times.
DEMOCRACY
With SCOTUS scheduled to rule on the third iteration of the travel ban, questions about the scope of executive orders and presidential authority come back into the forefront, writes Jennifer Ko at The Regulatory Review, in an in-depth analysis of the path of the previous travel bans and the issues the travel bans raise.
Another Article Two power, the pardon power, has traditionally been viewed extremely broadly by the executive branch. This broad interpretation may become relevant as the investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 federal election continues, write Maddie McMahon and Jack Goldsmith at Lawfare.
JUSTICE & SAFETY
President Trump announced via Twitter that he will be granting a pardon to Dinesh D’Souza, a political conservative who pled guilty to campaign finance violations in 2014, report Peter Baker and Eileen Sullivan at The New York Times.
- President Trump also suggested that he will continue to pardon high-profile people, reports Brooke Singman at Fox News.
The Department of Commerce and the Department of Homeland Security released a report on how the government can combat “botnets,” or networks of infected internet-connected devices used by hackers, writes Olivia Beavers at The Hill.
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo had long talks with North Korean Vicechairman Kim Yong Choi, reviving the possibility of a summit between President Trump and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, report Carol Morello and Anne Gearan at The Washington Post.
REGULATION
The Federal Reserve voted to move forward with rewriting and loosening the Volcker Rule (The Hill).
The administration’s proposed 25% tariff on auto imports will raise prices on all cars sold in America, argues Cody Lusk at the Hill.
The President is reportedly considering a total ban on the import of German luxury cars (The Hill).
The administration is moving forward with metal tariffs imported from close allies in the EU, Mexico, and Canada (NYT;WSJ; Politico).
- Daniel Ikenson slams the decision as an example of “the whims of an unorthodox president who precariously steers policy from one extreme to another” at Cato.
- Inu Manaka calls the decision “reckless,” also at Cato.
- The move will hurt the U.S. economy, the Republican party, and foreign policy, says the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.
- The decision also reflects deep schisms among the President’s top advisors, write Ben White, Andrew Restuccia, and Nancy Cook at Politico.
- Republican lawmakers were “gobsmacked” by the decision, reports Burgess Everett at Politico.
- John Lauinger and Pradnya explain how a potential trade war may play out, at Politico.
- A Politico/Morning Consult poll suggests a majority of voters would prefer trade deals to tariffs.
The administration’s approach to coal is likely to hurt, rather than help, Appalachian coal miners, argues Dan Farber at Legal Planet.
Education Secretary Betsy DeVos is moving forward with a plan to overhaul higher education regulations after growing impatient with the pace of progress in Congress (NYT).
Litigants challenging the CFPB’s Payday Rule are seeking a stay of the litigation during the CFPB’s rulemaking to reconsider the rule (Consumer Finance Monitor).
AT&T is dropping a lawsuit challenging the FTC’s authority over telecommunications providers (The Hill; Ars Technica).
The EPA took a major step toward rolling back auto emissions standards (Ars Technica).
President Trump’s civil-service orders are a much-needed update to a system susceptible to abuse, opines the Wall Street Journal Editorial Board.
RULE OF LAW
President Trump will pardon conservative commentator Dinesh D’Souza and is considering a pardon for Martha Stewart and Rod Blagojevich (NYT;WSJ; Politico).
- Brian Svoboda provides an explainer at Law & Politics Update.
- Douglas Berman hopes the President’s “clemency juices . . . flow to the benefit of some non-elites ASAP” at Sentencing Law and Policy.
- Josh Gerstein and Matthew Nussbaum also note the celebrity slant of the President’s pardons, at Politico.
- New York’s interim Attorney General Barbara Underwood criticized the decision as “thwart[ing] the cause of justice” (The Hill).
- A former top FBI official strongly criticized the consideration of a commutation for Blagojevich (Politico).
CHECKS & BALANCES
The 2018 midterms are about one thing: electing a lawmakers who will “put a check on Trump’s power—when his own party demonstrably will not,” argues Thomas Friedman at the New York Times.
FEDERALISM
New Jersey became the second state after Massachusetts to enact an individual health insurance mandate (Politico).
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
New evidence has emerged that an Israeli-based private intelligence firm, PSY-Group, may have been involved in a social media disinformation campaign to influence the 2016 election (Just Security).
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference