Rachel Thompson  //  3/28/19  //  Daily Update

Renewing calls to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act, the President has moved beyond the argument that portions of the law are unconstitutional, with the Justice Department now arguing it should be dismantled entirely. The Trump Administration is seeking to expand beyond precedent the reach of Anti-Abortion foreign policy regulations that would ban US funding from certain groups. New employees in the Trump White House aren’t the only ones flouting procedure, as watchdog groups have identified departing aides failing to disclose their new roles per Federal law. According to a lawsuit and recent report, the Trump administration is using a post-9/11 immigration regulation to indefinitely detain a Palestinian citizen.

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION

Rep. Rashida Tlaib appeared to break ranks with other House Democrats by introducing a resolution to call on the House Judiciary Committee to investigate possible impeachable offenses by the President, reports Cristina Marcos at The Hill.

Among the latest post-mortem pieces on the Mueller bombshell dud, a summary of what the full report may or may not include is presented by Charlie Savage at The New York Times. 

Despite the apparent lack of collusion, there may have been a real Quid Pro Quo between the Trump campaign and the Kremlin, in the opinion of Max Frankel in The New York Times.

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

Security clearances in the White House move fast and potentially break things (i.e. protocol, etiquette, etc.), as evinced by Margaret L. Taylor’s summary at Lawfare. 

New employees in the Trump White House aren’t the only ones flouting procedure, as watchdog groups have identified departing aides failing to disclose their new roles per Federal law, reports Anita Kumar in Politico.

REGULATION

The Supreme Court sought deference in Kisor v. Wilkie to both precedent and the jurisdiction of an agency’s reasonable interpretation of regulations, writes Lydia Wheeler at The Hill.

• The decision came as a blow to the conservative legal movement according to a summary of the precedents and arguments by Adam Liptak in The New York Times.

The Trump administration is seeking to expand beyond precedent the reach of Anti-Abortion foreign policy regulations that would ban US funding from certain groups, reports Ema O’Connor at Buzzfeed.

Deregulation, or rather a plan to release the backers of the majority of US mortgages, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac from government conservatorship, was the subject of a memo released by the President on Wednesday, writes Robert Armstrong in the Financial Times.

DEMOCRACY

According to a lawsuit and recent report, the Trump administration is using a post-9/11 immigration regulation to indefinitely detain a Palestinian citizen, writes Zack Budryk at The Hill.

CHECKS & BALANCES

Renewing calls to repeal and possibly replace the Affordable Care Act, the President has moved beyond the argument that portions of the law are unconstitutional, with the Justice Department now arguing it should be dismantled entirely. The push is alarming because of its threat to the rule of law, writes Take Care contributor Nicholas Bagley in The New York Times.  

• Maggie Haberman at the New York Times identifies Mick Mulvaney as the prime mover.
• Alexander Bolton at The Hill reports GOP Senators were caught off guard;
• While Paul McLeod at Buzzfeed reports that Democrats are thrilled.

On the subject of challenges to the Constitutionality of Presidential namesakes, new lawsuits allege that even in its latest iteration, the Trump Travel Ban faces fresh uncertainty based on how it may have been applied in practice, according to Robert L. Tsai in Politico Magazine. 

Republicans are displeased with the political prospect of any expansion of ‘economy-wrecking tariffs’ with all the requisite consequences for American workers and midterm voters, write Burgess Everett and Adam Behsudi in Politico.

Drawing upon the Youngstown canon, an option for Congressional reassertion following the President’s veto is presented by Kristen Eichensehr at Just Security.

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