, Ryan Hayward  //  6/14/17  //  Daily Update

196 Members of Congress have filed suit against President Trump for violating the Foreign Emoluments Clause. Attorney General Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee concerning Russian interference, his own prior testimony, and the firing of FBI Director James Comey. President Trump announced his first set of U.S Attorney nominations. The Senate voted against blocking an arms sale to Saudi Arabia. And Congress is considering a bill to roll back the whistleblower protections of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform Act.  

IMMIGRATION 

Discussion continues of the Ninth Circuit’s ruling largely upholding a lower court’s order enjoining President Trump’s revised entry ban.

• The opinion rests on a flawed statutory analysis of the Immigration and Nationality Act, argues Peter Margulies at Lawfare.
• And that statutory basis risks obscuring the moral clarity of the constitutional problems with the executive order, suggests Noah Feldman at Bloomberg.
• Also at Lawfare, Amira Mikhail and Jordan Brunner provide an overview of the facts and procedural history of the case, as well as potential implications for Supreme Court review.

The government asked the Supreme Court for permission to submit new briefs in response to the Ninth Circuit’s holding (The Hill, Lyle Denniston, ScotusBlog, Politico).

• The Supreme Court responded Tuesday afternoon by granting that request and requiring supplemental briefing and replies by June 21 (Lyle Denniston).

The argument that national injunctions are justified for uniformity of immigration enforcement is weak, argues Sam Bray at Volokh Conspiracy.

CIVIL RIGHTS 

LGBT advocates warned against complacency as the Trump Administration pursues policies that threaten to harm marginalized members of that community (Rewire). 

President Trump violates the First Amendment when he blocks Twitter users, Robert Loeb argues at Lawfare. 

DEMOCRACY

In The New York Times Magazine, Ari Berman explains how Kris Kobach, “the man behind Trump’s voter fraud obsession,” plans to restrict voting and immigration laws. 

JUSTICE & SAFETY 

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson defended proposed cuts to his department’s budget on the grounds that it should focus on a narrow conception of security (WaPo, NYT).

President Trump has announced the nomination of his first group of candidates for United States attorney positions (ABA Journal, NYT).

President Trump’s cybersecurity executive order could have stopped the May “WannaCry” cyber-ransomware attack if it had been in place sooner, argue Steven Weber and Chuck Kapelke at Lawfare.

President Trump is expected to announce a reversion to stricter trade and travel policies with Cuba (NPR).

• At Cato, Juan Carlos Hidalgo questions whom this policy change is supposed to help.

A new report shows that the United States in the last fifteen years has been highly secretive in its use of lethal force overseas, explain Alex Moorehead and Waleed Alhariri at Just Security.

Criminal-justice reformers are refocusing their efforts locally, in light of federal opposition from the Trump Administration (Buzzfeed News). 

Secretary of Defense Jim Mattis stated that a new strategy for Afghanistan is weeks away (WaPo, Politico).

• The Secretary also stated that North Korea is now the biggest threat to U.S. security (WaPo).

The Senate voted against blocking a Trump Administration sale of arms to Saudi Arabia (Politico, WaPo, The Intercept).

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Jeff Sessions testified before the Senate Intelligence Committee today (WSJ, NYT, WaPo, Just Security).

• He denied having additional undisclosed meetings with the Russians and defended his earlier false testimony that he never had any as an “honest mistake”; defended his role in former FBI Director Jim Comey’s firing against charges that it violated Sessions’s recusal from matters involving the Trump campaign and that it served as a pretext for President Trump’s decision; and refused to answer questions about a wide range of conversations he had with the president.  
• Analysts examine Sessions’ use of executive privilege--or lack thereof (WaPo, LA Times, Slate)
• Dan Froomkin notes that analysts should pay attention to how Sessions defines his recusal (ACS blog).
• Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein refused to answer questions about the scope of Sessions’ recusal (The Hill).

Russian cyberattacks on the U.S. electoral system before November are wider than previously known and included breaches in 39 states (Bloomberg Politics).

President Trump can’t lawfully fire Robert Mueller, argue Jack Goldsmith, Marty Lederman, and Peter Shane.

The Senate reached a bipartisan agreement to limit President Trump’s ability to lift sanctions without giving Congress a chance to weigh in and to impose new sanctions (The Hill).

• Rex Tillerson opposed the deal (Politico).

James Comey’s friend, Columbia law professor Daniel Richman, turned over his memos to the FBI, sidestepping requests to deliver them to congressional committees (Politico). 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

196 Members of Congress filed suit against President Trump for violations of the Foreign Emoluments Clause (WaPo).

• This page offers access to key documents and resources 

Take Care provides an ongoing update on corruption and conflicts. 

REGULATION

At WaPo, Tory Newmyer analyzes the Treasury Department’s report recommending rollbacks of postcrisis Dodd-Frank regulations.

• David Dayen views this report as a sign that the Treasury Department can be effective at regressing or blocking Wall Street reform (The Intercept).

Stressing the Fed’s independent role, Kevin Granville compares President Trump’s conflicts with Fed chairwoman Janet Yellen to Lyndon Johnson’s conflicts with his Fed chief (NYT).

Scientists praise an energy innovation office that President Trump wants to shut down (NYT).

Legislation is moving through Congress that would jettison the Dodd-Frank Act’s SEC whistleblower provision (POGO). 

RULE OF LAW

The reaction of the legal community and the media to Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s potential firing is helping to break down political norms, argues Dahlia Lithwick.

As the existence of White House tapes remains uncertain, Zachary Price questions the value of recordings as evidence (Take Care).

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

"Hope" is a sufficient basis for obstruction of justice, argue Daniel Epps and Leah Litman (in one Take Care post) and Ryan Hayward (in another).

And that's our update today!  Thanks for reading.  We cover a lot of ground, so our updates are inevitably a partial selection of relevant legal commentary.  

If you have any feedback, please let us know here.