Daily Update | June 20, 2019
Mackenzie Walz // 6/20/19 //
A district judge in Maryland said, in light of the new evidence, he would reconsider whether the Trump Administration’s decision to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census was motivated by discriminatory intent. President Trump announced his intention to nominate Army Secretary Mark Esper as the Secretary of Defense after the former acting Secretary, Patrick Shanahan, withdrew from consideration. The Trump Administration finalized its replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which gives states more flexibility to set their own emissions goals.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
The audit of President Trump’s inaugural committee was only a short, general assessment, comparing the committee’s financial statements to official records, discusses Robert Maguire for CREW.
IMMIGRATION
A district judge in Maryland said, in light of the new evidence, he would reconsider whether the Trump Administration’s decision to add the citizenship question to the 2020 census was motivated by discriminatory intent (The Hill; WaPo).
The acting director of ICE announced that the agency is increasing deportations of undocumented families, focusing on 2,000 family members who already have deportation orders (NYT).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
President Trump announced his intention to nominate Army Secretary Mark Esper as the Secretary of Defense after the former acting Secretary, Patrick Shanahan, withdrew from consideration (WaPo).
Mexico became the first country to ratify USMCA, the new North American trade agreement (Politico).
The State Department’s special representative for Iran declared the Administration is not seeking military action in Iran, but did not rule out the possibility they would use the law that authorized the Afghanistan war to justify any potential action (Politico).
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
In retaliation to the tariffs imposed by the United States, China has placed tariffs on many US goods, including a 62% levy on pork, which is hindering the present and future success of American pig farmers (Politico).
REGULATION
The Trump Administration finalized its replacement for the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, the Affordable Clean Energy rule, which gives states more flexibility to set their own emissions goals (WaPo; NYT).
RULE OF LAW
It is hypocritical of conservatives to call for Supreme Court Justices to not be mindful of judicial legitimacy when ruling on cases, given they previously used this concern to protest progressive rulings, discuss several Take Care contributors for The Washington Post.