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Nicandro Iannacci  //  5/14/19  //  Daily Update

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President Trump hosted Hungarian President Viktor Orban and praised his authoritarian approach to leadership. China announced $60 billion in tariffs in retaliation against new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration. An initial U.S. assessment indicates that Iran is likely responsible for an attack on four oil-industry ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday. Restore Public Trust filed a lawsuit against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to force the disclosure of documents related to the decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census. A former Trump campaign staffer asked a federal judge to expand her lawsuit over allegations of sexual misconduct and pay discrimination to include former staffer and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman and others.

 

TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS & LITIGATION

President Trump opposed a federal judge’s order to consolidate arguments in a lawsuit seeking to block a congressional subpoena for the president’s financial records (The Hill).

• The president’s court filing is here.
• A change in House rules would help Congress enforce its subpoenas by establishing a regular process for requesting documents, writes Michael Stern at Just Security. 

A former Trump campaign staffer asked a federal judge to expand her lawsuit over allegations of sexual misconduct and pay discrimination to include former staffer and White House aide Omarosa Manigault Newman and others (WaPo, BuzzFeed).

Former Trump campaign deputy chairman Rick Gates may testify in upcoming trials against former White House counsel Greg Craig and Trump adviser Roger Stone (Politico).

 

IMMIGRATION

Congress should reject the Trump administration’s effort to detain immigrant children and families at Guantanamo, writes Naureen Shah for the ACLU.

The use of “rapid DNA testing” at the border to identify migrant families borrows from racist immigration policies and isn’t a guaranteed solution to the problem, writes Nara Milanich at The Washington Post.

 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

Take Care launched a symposium on Reproductive Rights and Justice Stories, a new book edited by Melissa Murray, Kate Shaw, and Reva Siegel.

 

DEMOCRACY

Restore Public Trust filed a lawsuit against Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross to force the disclosure of documents related to the decision to include a citizenship question on the 2020 Census (The Hill, Politico).

• The complaint is here.

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

President Trump hosted Hungarian President Viktor Orban and praised his authoritarian approach to leadership (NYT, Politico).

An initial U.S. assessment indicates that Iran is likely responsible for an attack on four oil-industry ships in the Strait of Hormuz on Sunday (WSJ).

• Secretary of State Mike Pompeo made a surprise visit to a meeting of E.U. foreign ministers but had little success building support for united opposition to Iran (WaPo).

President Trump plans to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin and Chinese President Xi Jinping at the G-20 summit in Japan next month (Politico).

The Trump administration is more likely to declare the Muslim Brotherhood a “specially designated global terrorist” (SDGT) group instead of a foreign terrorist organization, writes Scott Anderson at Lawfare.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

A recent Trump tweet about a House bill related to a Massachusetts Indian tribe highlights the challenges of the president’s network of business interests, personal relationships, and political alliances (WaPo).

 

REGULATION

China announced $60 billion in tariffs in retaliation against new tariffs imposed by the Trump administration (WaPo, WSJ, Politico).

• Trade talks between the two countries have been fraught with tension and distrust (WSJ).

Two former Treasury secretaries and two former Federal Reserve leaders urged the Trump administration not to relax its oversight of the financial system (NYT).

• The letter from Jacob Lew, Timothy Geithner, Ben Bernanke, and Janet Yellen is here.

 

CHECKS & BALANCES

House Democrats should use the power of the purse to reign in President Trump and the GOP, writes Eric Segall at Take Care.

 

RULE OF LAW 

In many of its legal and policy positions, the Trump administration has embraced the Lochner era’s conceptions of rights, state power, and sovereignty, writes Mila Sohoni in the Georgetown Law Journal (forthcoming).

 

FEDERALISM

In response to proposed DOE rollbacks of Obama-era efficiency standards for lightbulbs, states are passing their own regulations to keep the standards in place (The Hill).

 

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

In the event of a dispute involving President Trump, the Supreme Court is unlikely to find any significant judicial limits on Congress’s impeachment power, writes Vikram David Amar at Verdict.

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

President Trump said he would not use information from foreign agents in the 2020 campaign (Politico).

 

Tags:

Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Federalism Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Removal from Office Russian Interference

 

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