Hetali Lodaya  //  3/27/19  //  Daily Update

Attorney General William Barr aims to release a public version of the Mueller report within “weeks.” The Trump Administration gained clear legal approval to implement limitations on the service of transgender individuals in the military through a D.C. Circuit Court order. The DOJ argued in the Second Circuit that the President can block users on Twitter because it is a personal, not official, account. The Trump Administration, through a DOJ letter to the Fifth Circuit, now takes the position that the entire Affordable Care Act should be found unconstitutional. The religious exemptions to contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act advanced by the Administration are unconstitutional. The House failed to override the President’s veto of the block on his national emergency declaration, which will likely move the fight to court.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

The DOJ argued in the Second Circuit that the President can block users on Twitter because it is a personal, not official, account. (Bloomberg, CNN, WaPo)

Attorney General William Barr aims to release a public version of the Mueller report within “weeks.” (The Hill)

• The obstruction of justice summary in the report leaves a lot of open questions, writes Paul Rosenzweig at Lawfare.
• The report’s conclusions as we know them make it very unlikely that the Senate would initiate impeachment proceedings, writes Burgess Everett at Politico.

The lack of an obstruction of justice charge in the Mueller investigation represents a significant expansion of effective presidential power, writes Peter Baker at The New York Times.

The Mueller reports represents a “low point” for substantive norms of presidential conduct and executive power, argues Bob Bauer at The New York Times.

CIVIL RIGHTS

The Administration gained clear legal approval to implement limitations on the service of transgender individuals in the military through a D.C. Circuit Court order. (Law News)

DEMOCRACY

Court-packing likely violates the Constitution in both substantive and normative ways, writes Neil Siegel at Balkanization.

REGULATION

The Administration, through a DOJ letter to the Fifth Circuit, now takes the position that the entire Affordable Care Act should be found unconstitutional. (WaPo, Politico)

• This position represents an extreme and bad-faith departure from previous policy, argues Nick Bagley at Take Care.
• The letter can be found here.

The religious exemptions to contraceptive coverage under the Affordable Care Act advanced by the Administration are unconstitutional, argues Joshua Matz at Take Care.

CHECKS & BALANCES

The House failed to override the President’s veto of the block on his national emergency declaration, which will likely move the fight to court. (NYT)

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