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Lark Turner  //  6/5/18  //  Daily Update

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The president wrote on Twitter that he can pardon himself for any crime. The Supreme Court gave the federal government a narrow win in Garza, the unaccompanied immigrant minor abortion case, while sidestepping sanctions for ACLU attorneys. In Masterpiece Cakeshop, the Court held that the application of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to the baker violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause because it was “inconsistent with the State’s obligation of religious neutrality.” The Trump White House disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a presidential visit over national anthem protests. Paul Manafort tried to contact witnesses against him, the special counsel wrote in a filing requesting that Manafort’s bail be revoked or revised.

 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

The president wrote on Twitter that he can pardon himself for any crime (NYT).

• Despite the bluster, Trump’s legal team is prepping for a “showdown” with the special counsel (WaPo).
• Senate Republicans suggest a self-pardon would be a very serious abuse of power (WaPo).
• The president has “claimed the powers of an autocrat,” writes Michelle Goldberg in The New York Times.

Paul Manafort tried to contact witnesses against him, the special counsel wrote in a filing requesting that Manafort’s bail be revoked or revised (NYT, WaPo).

The Trump administration’s secret letter reveals that officials repeatedly lied and said the president had not dictated a misleading statement attributed to his son (NYT).

• The about-face is part of a pattern of lying by the administration (WaPo).
• The letter most notably reveals the president’s lawyers’ understanding of Mueller’s investigation, write Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes at Lawfare.
• President Trump is “a bald-faced liar” trying to save himself from impeachment, writes Eugene Robinson at The Washington Post. 

Few of the documents seized from Michael Cohen are protected by attorney-client privilege, special master reports (NYT).

It’s time for the special counsel to subpoena the president, writes Ruth Marcus at The Washington Post.

• The president’s lawyers’ argument that Trump is too busy for a subpoena is laughable, argues Richard Cohen in The Washington Post.

 

IMMIGRATION

Pre-Trump law and policy set the stage for his administration’s policy of separating children from parents at the border, writes Leah Litman at Take Care.

The Supreme Court gave the federal government a narrow win in Garza, the unaccompanied immigrant minor abortion case, while sidestepping sanctions for ACLU attorneys (LA Times, NYT).

• Read the opinion here.
• The opinion vacating for mootness the D.C. Circuit’s ruling is a “big victory,” argues Ed Whelan at the National Review.
• The ruling doesn’t vacate a federal court order preventing the government from interfering with access to abortion for other unaccompanied minors, writes Brigitte Amiri at the ACLU’s Speak Freely.

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

In Masterpiece Cakeshop, the Court held that the application of the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act to the baker violated the First Amendment’s Free Exercise Clause because it was “inconsistent with the State’s obligation of religious neutrality” (NYT, WaPo, WSJ).

• Read the opinion here.
• The Court’s reasoning in the case knocks out several of the government’s arguments in the entry ban litigation, writes Leah Litman at Take Care, as does Ilya Somin at The Volokh Conspiracy.
• The case should, but likely will not, affect the ban, argues Michael Dorf at Dorf on Law.
• It could also affect partisan gerrymandering claims, writes Rick Hasen at the Election Law Blog.
• Masterpiece was decided on narrow grounds, writes Amy Howe at SCOTUSBlog.
• The case represents the “worst form of judicial minimalism,” writes Richard A. Epstein at SCOTUSBlog.
• The narrowly-decided case settled nothing, argues Mark Joseph Stern at Slate, as does Eugene Volokh at The Volokh Conspiracy, as does Ilya Shapiro at Cato at Liberty.
• The ACLU “lost the battle, but won the war,” writes the organization’s David Cole in The Washington Post.
• Statements made by the Colorado commission at issue in the case made it “easy” for the Court to decide, writes Robert P. George for The New York Times.
• Masterpiece reveals some justices’ increasingly low opinion of Smith, writes Mark Tushnet at Balkinization.
• The case reveals the need for a Dignity Amendment to the Constitution, argues Jennifer Finney Boylan in The New York Times.

 

DEMOCRACY 

The Trump White House disinvited the Philadelphia Eagles from a presidential visit over national anthem protests (WaPo).

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The OLC opinion justifying the Trump Administration’s recent strike on Syria made broad new ground in conflicts involving chemical weapons, writes Deborah Pearlstein at Balkinization.

Could the Trump administration attempt to justify an Iran strike as authorized by Congress under the 2001 AUMF? asks Tess Bridgeman at Just Security.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

An aide to Scott Pruitt was told to track down a used Trump International Hotel mattress for the EPA chief (WaPo).

 

RULE OF LAW

The president’s pardons are further undermining any remaining presumption of regularity in the presidency, argues Paul Rosenzweig at Lawfare.

 

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Giuliani’s argument that Trump could only be impeached, not indicted, for murder he commits in office raises serious questions about his lawyers’ view of the scope of presidential power, writes Bob Bauer at Lawfare.

 

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office

 

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