Jacqueline Sahlberg, Ian Eppler  //  6/11/18  //  Daily Update

Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted Paul Manafort and Konstantin Kilimnik on new charges related to his alleged attempts to tamper with witnesses. DOJ is refusing to defend the DACA programin court. It is also arguing that the Affordable Care Act is unconstitutional. At the G-7 summit, President Trump rejected a joint statement and aggressively confronted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau. The Commerce Department released documents about the 2020 census question regarding citizenship. 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

Special Counsel Robert Mueller indicted former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort—along with his Russian business associate, Konstantin Kilimnik—on new charges related to his alleged attempts to tamper with witnesses (WaPo).

• The superseding indictment is available here.
• The new charges suggest that a judge will likely revoke Manafort’s bail, note Alex Whiting and Renato Mariotti at Just Security.

IMMIGRATION

The Justice Department is refusing to defend the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program, in a lawsuit brought by Texas and six other states (NYTimes, CNN).

• The Justice Department’s brief is available here.
• The Justice Department’s plan could result in a swift appeal to the Supreme Court, writes Lyle Denniston.

DEMOCRACY

The Commerce Department released documents about the 2020 census citizenship question; those documents revealed intense political lobbying and internal resistance (NYTimes, NPR).

• The documents are available here.

The Justice Department charged a former Senate Intelligence Committee aide with lying to the FBI about his contacts with reporters, showing that it would crack down on leaks (NYTimes, WashPo, WSJ).  

• The seizure of a reporter’s email records threatens the freedom of the press, writes Josh Bell for the American Civil Liberties Union.
• The arrest represents a dangerous escalation in “The War on Leaks” (POGO).

JUSTICE AND SAFETY

At the G-7 summit, President Trump rejected a joint statement and aggressively confronted Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau (NYTimes, WaPo, WSJ)

• European leaders were disappointed but unsurprised, report Griff Witte and James McAuley in the Washington Post.

Without the support of President Trump and Congress, Attorney General Jeff Sessions plan to strengthen federal enforcement on marijuana has faltered (WSJ).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

In a letter to members of Congress, the Department of Justice said that Michael Cohen had no role in the antitrust challenge to the AT&T/Time Warner merger (WSJ).

• An opinion in the case is expected Tuesday (NYTimes). 

A prominent Trump donor helped Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt choose EPA science advisors (Politico).

RULE OF LAW

The Trump administration’s decision to not defend the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality is part of a broader pattern of switching positions in litigation, reports Robert Barnes in the Washington Post.

• The arguments made by the government in its brief are indefensible, writes Marty Lederman at Balkinization.
• The Trump administration has the right to not defend the Affordable Care Act’s constitutionality, but its decision to make dubious arguments in doing so reflects a troubling pattern, argues Ilya Somin at Volokh Conspiracy.
• The Obama administration’s decision not to defend the constitutionality of the Defense of Marriage Act is readily distinguishable from the Trump administration’s decision here, contends Daniel Hemel in Slate.
• The administration’s move carries political risks, suggest Abby Goodnough, Robert Pear, and Charlie Savage in the New York Times.

Three Democratic senators called for an investigation into whether President Trump violated insider trading laws by tweeting about the federal jobs report before the report’s release (The Hill).

The requirements of the Presidential Records Act, coupled with President Trump’s tendency to tear up documents after he finishes reading them, means that a number of White House employees are tasked with taping together documents for preservation (Politico).

FEDERALISM

Several Democratic-controlled states have created workarounds to protect their taxpayers against tax increases caused by the recent federal tax legislation (Politico).

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

In the latest entry in Take Care’s symposium  on To End A Presidency, Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz’s new book on impeachment, Erwin Chemerinsky notes  the essential role of the judiciary in constraining the president.

The Constitution gives presidents the authority to pardon themselves, but doing so puts them at considerable risk of impeachment, argues Michael McConnell in the Washington Post.

An eventual Trump self-pardon may be reviewable by the courts, suggests Neil Lloyd at Slate.