Daily Update | May 14, 2018
The United States is prepared to impose sanctions on European companies if they don’t stop dealing with Iran. The Senate Intelligence Committee has invited James Comey and three former top intelligence officials to a closed-door hearing as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election. DACA opponents have brought a new lawsuit targeting those already protected by the program. The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era guidance protecting the safety of trans prisoners ignores medical expertise and defies common sense. The Education Department is unwinding a special team that had investigated abuses by for-profit colleges, including schools where top hires of education secretary Betsy Devos had worked. There is a growing national movement empowering formerly incarcerated people to vote if they are eligible and pushing to restore their rights if they are not.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS & LITIGATION
The Mueller probe is entering its second year as President Trump and allies go on war footing (WaPo).
IMMIGRATION
Hundreds of immigrant children have been separated from their parents at the border, and a new policy promises to increase that number drastically (NYTimes).
- Taking children from their parents is a form of state terror, writes Masha Gessen at The New Yorker.
The Trump administration has threatened to tighten the use of public benefits by immigrants, but immigrants use benefits at lower rates than U.S. citizens, writes Immigration Prof at ImmigrationProfBlog.
President Trump claimed that construction has already begun on his border wall; this is misleading (NYTimes).
DACA opponents have brought a new lawsuit targeting those already protected by the program (USA Today).
CIVIL RIGHTS
The Trump administration’s rollback of Obama-era guidance protecting the safety of trans prisoners ignores medical expertise and defies common sense, commented HRC Government Affairs Director David Stacy.
The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering and Medicine urge the federal government to improve disability services, writes Michelle Diament for Disability Scoop, breaking down a recent report.
DEMOCRACY
There is a growing national movement empowering formerly incarcerated people to vote if they are eligible and pushing to restore their rights if they are not (NYTimes).
JUSTICE & SAFETY
The United States is prepared to impose sanctions on European companies if they don’t stop dealing with Iran (WSJ).
The United States is lurching toward confrontation with Iran with an ad hoc strategy, writes J. Dana Stuster for Lawfare.
The Pentagon released an initial report on the October 2017 ambush in Niger that left four U.S. soldiers dead, but many questions remain (WaPo).
Department of Justice leaders are reluctant to bring ISIS fighters to the United States for trial, even as prosecutors push to make a case (WaPo).
A federal court has instructed the Justice Department to submit information about suspected eavesdropping on Guantanamo defense attorneys (Miami Herald).
The prosecution of Abd al-Rahim al-Nashiri is a microcosm of everything that’s gone wrong with the Guantanamo military commissions, writes Steve Vladeck at Just Security.
The War on Drugs has given law enforcement agencies financial incentives to use and abuse their authority, writes Douglas Berman at Sentencing Law and Policy, summarizing a recent paper.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
The Education Department is unwinding a special team that had investigated abuses by for-profit colleges, including schools where top hires of education secretary Betsy Devos had worked (NYTimes).
The Federal Trade Commission is expected to appoint an industry lawyer to head its consumer protection section, raising the prospect of frequent recusals (NYTimes).
REGULATION
President Trump said he was working with Chinese President Xi Jinping to keep sanctioned telecommunication company ZTE Corporation in business (NYTimes, WSJ, WaPo).
The Trump administration is ending construction on a South Carolina facility designed to convert weapons-grade plutonium into nuclear reactor fuel (WaPo).
The Trump administration has raised concerns about China’s failure to protect trade secrets but has ignored a WTO obligation that could provide more effective recourse, writes James Bacchus for Cato @ Liberty.
RULE OF LAW
Attorney General Jeff Sessions cheered for nationwide injunctions two years ago when they struck down Obama policies, but he’s now using those injunctions to villify the judiciary (BuzzFeed).
- Sessions called nationwide injunctions “a threat to our constitutional order” in a piece in the National Review last week.
The assault on Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein should alarm all of us—his client is not the president, it’s the people, writes Barbara McQuade at ACSblog.
CHECKS & BALANCES
Democrats have played too nice for too long when it comes to filling judicial vacancies, writes David Faris at the Daily Beast.
Of President Trump’s circuit court nominees, 79% were men and 89% were white, according to Barry McMillion's Congressional Research Service report on President Trump’s judicial nominations.
FEDERALISM
A proposed law would make attacks on police officers a federal crime; this is both unnecessary and an assault on federalism, writes Ilya Somin at the Volokh Conspiracy.
REMOVAL FROM OFFICE
Impeachment is a serious matter, but it should not be unthinkable, writes Neil Buchanan at Dorf on Law.
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
The Senate Intelligence Committee has invited James Comey and three former top intelligence officials to a closed-door hearing as part of its investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election (The Hill).
States may be able to sue Russia for election-related hacking under the Supreme Court’s original jurisdiction, writes Ingrid Wuerth at Lawfare.
When DOJ shared James Comey’s memos with House and Senate committees, executive branch champions protested—they were wrong to, congressional inquiries trump federal investigations, writes Mort Rosenberg for POGO.
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office Russian Interference