Britany Riley , Raquel Dominguez  //  5/2/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump issued a controversial "Loyalty Day" proclamation. The new budget does not permit Trump to build a border wall with Mexico. The Office of Government Ethics detailed new restrictions on Ivanka Trump. Trump has misdescribed (or lied about) key aspects of his proposed health care bill, including its coverage of people with pre-existing conditions. The D.C. Circuit declined to reconsider a decision upholding Obama-era net neutrality rules, though Trump's FCC likely will revise that policy.

IMMIGRATION

The new budget contains provisions restricting how appropriated funds can be used for border security and does not allow for the building of a new wall (WaPo, NYT).

Criminalizing unauthorized entry to the United States had racist designs, and this racism will infect Attorney General Sessions’s plan to “restore a lawful system of immigration,” writes Kelly Hernandez for The Conversation.

CIVIL RIGHTS

On the same day President Trump declared “Loyalty Day,” Protestors expanded the traditional May Day events revolving around labor issues to include the rights of immigrants, women, workers, and gay men and lesbians (NYT).

President Trump will reportedly appoint Teresa Manning, who has previously questioned the efficacy of contraception, to run the Office of Population Affairs (WaPo, Rewire).

Given the United States’ large role in funding international aid organizations, a tightening of the wallet would have far-reaching effects, argues Nikki Reisch at Just Security.

The administration will likely decline to continue defending the ACA’s birth control provision, suggests Jessica Mason Pieklo (Rewire).

RULE OF LAW

President Trump’s "Loyalty Day" proclamation is disturbing and at odds with historical practice, explain Laurence Tribe and Joshua Matz (Take Care).

Michael Dorf outlines five reasons why news coverage of Trump will start normalizing the Trump Presidency (Dorf On Law).

• President Trump probably did not call the Constitution archaic, argues Eugene Volokh.

Evan Osnos describes the most likely avenues for removing President Trump from office (New Yorker).

DEMOCRACY

Clinton v. Jones, which rejected the idea that presidents enjoy immunity from civil lawsuits while in office, may sink President Trump’s current defense to the various lawsuits pending against him, argues Michael Dorf for Take Care.

Chief of Staff Reince Priebus favors the idea of a constitutional amendment to make burning the American flag illegal, but Eugene Volokh warns against succumbing to the dangers  of “censorship envy."

A new proposal to shrink the membership of the Federal Election Committee is an attack on bipartisanship, argues former FEC chairman Brad Smith in The Columbus Dispatch.

CHECKS & BALANCES

A POTUS-SCOTUS dinner may be tense but not surprising, explains Robert Barnes for the Washington Post.

Congress, not the President, has the power to split up the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals, but it would be extremely difficult (WaPo).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST


Senators Elizabeth Warren (MA) and Tom Carper (DE) released a letter from the Office of Government Ethics detailing new guidelines for Ivanka Trump (Politico).

• The letter can be found here.

Concerns about President Trump’s business ties abroad, including to Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte, raise questions about the administration’s foreign policy goals (Politico).

REGULATION


Healthcare reform is complicated, but Trump owes the American people honesty about the alarming implications of his plan for people with pre-existing conditions, explains Rachel Sach on Take Care.

• President Trump seems unaware of the health care changes (NYT) and promises (Politico) he isn't on track to keep.

President Trump’s tax proposal is a more damaging return to Reaganomics, argues Steven Rattner (NYT).  

• Daniel Mitchell (CATO@Liberty) partially disagrees.

Over dissents by Judges Brown and Kavanaugh, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals denied en banc review of a decision upholding the Federal Trade Commission’s net neutrality rules.

• The decision comes only days after FCC chairman Ajit Pai announced plans to begin dismantling these rules (The Hill).

Senate Democrats claim an ongoing Department of Energy study is an unnecessary attack on renewable energy in favor of coal and nuclear power (The Hill).

• The letter is here.

A catalogue of ongoing local and national efforts to resist the Trump Administration’s “regulatory war” (Rewire).

REMOVAL FROM OFFICE

Evan Osnos offers an in-depth look at the likelihood and historical context of paths to firing President Trump (The New Yorker). 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

L’Affaire Russe - Lawfare will be providing an ongoing analysis and record of the President’s relationship with Russia.

And that's our update today!  Thanks for reading.  We cover a lot of ground, so our updates are inevitably a partial selection of relevant legal commentary.  If you have any feedback, please let us know here.