, Ari Hoffman  //  11/29/17  //  Daily Update

Changing his earlier position, President Trump announced that he did not see a deal with Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi on protecting the “Dreamers." Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked DOJ to investigate whether Kris Kobach is improperly benefiting from his role as vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. A federal judge denied Leandra English's request for a temporary restraining order in litigation over who is the acting director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

IMMIGRATION

Changing his earlier position, President Trump announced that he did not see a deal with Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi on protecting the “Dreamers” (L.A. Times).

• In response, Senator Schumer and Rep. Pelosi declined to meet with President Trump.
• President Trump responded that he is unsurprised at the refusal to meet.

Rep. Luis Gutierrez (D-IL), a longtime advocate for immigration reform, will not seek reelection (WaPo).

CIVIL RIGHTS

Next week, the Supreme Court will hear oral argument in Masterpiece Cakeshop, a case invoking the conflict between religious beliefs and non-discrimination ordinances (SCOTUSBlog).

• There is no constitutional right to refuse service to a person based on sexual orientation, writes Erwin Chemerinsky at The Sacramento Bee.
• A ruling in favor of Masterpiece Cakeshop would destroy discrimination law, write David Glasgow and Kenji Yoshino.
• Eric Segall examines how a ‘committed originalist’ should decide the case.
• Sarah Posner explores the Alliance Defending Freedom, who is representing Masterpiece Cakeshop.

An Ohio appellate court has suggested that a ban on firearms in a restraining order may violate the Second Amendment (Volokh Conspiracy).

President Trump seems to target just black athletes for criticism, writes Kurtis Lee at the L.A. Times.

DEMOCRACY

Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked DOJ to investigate whether Kris Kobach is improperly benefiting from his role as vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity (Washington Examiner).

• Kobach has not been successful in his home state of Kansas, writes Ari Berman at Mother Jones.

The D.C. Circuit unanimously rejected a challenge to separate federal campaign contribution limits in primary and general elections (D.C. Circuit).

Internet libel takedown orders that purport to bar search engines from posting the orders on an archive of takedown requests violate the search engines’ First Amendment rights, writes Eugene Volokh (Volokh Conspiracy).

JUSTICE & SAFETY     

The Senate confirmed Dabney Friedrich, a former White House lawyer under President George W. Bush, to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia (Courthouse News).

The Supreme Court will hear oral argument today in United States v. Carpenter, a case that questions the need for a warrant to access cell phone records (AP, WaPo; Detroit News).

• Requiring affirmative action to claim Fourth Amendment protection would dramatically narrow its scope, write Lior Strahilevitz and Matthew Tokson.

The Supreme Court will not review a Maryland law banning assault weapons (WaPo).

The Calabresi-Hirji court-packing proposal is constitutional, but destructive, writes Richard Primus at Balkinization.

• Jed Shugerman argues that there is no crisis about the caseload of federal judges.
• Gerard N. Magliocca examines the corresponding idea of ‘court-shrinking.’

The discussion around the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act’s “backdoor search loophole,” which allows the government to access communications by U.S. citizens gathered on foreign intelligence grounds without a warrant, misses the risk posed by information shared between the U.S. government and foreign powers (Just Security).

The Trump Administration’s approach to encryption is unclear, writes Hannah Ryan at Just Security.

The government should be investing in technology to counteract autonomous weapons, writes Nicholas Weaver at Lawfare.

Mental health professionals should engage with judges or politicians experiencing dementia within the bounds of the Goldwater Rule, which prevents psychiatrists from offering professional opinions without an exam and authorization to comment, writes Gail Katznelson.

The bipartisan letter sent to Secretary of State Rex Tillerson urging immediate action to prevent Iran’s incursion into Syria through Hezbollah may reflect Democratic regrets surrounding the Iran nuclear deal, writes Andrew Lappin at The Hill.

President Trump’s judicial nominations could put a lot of white men on the federal courts, write Rorie Spill Solberg and Eric N. Waltenburg at WaPo.

A military contractor exposed highly classified data and software associated with an intelligence distribution platform (Ars Technica).

Talks aimed at ending the war in Syria resumed on Tuesday (Yahoo).

Secretary of State Rex Tillerson accused Russia of using “malicious tactics” against the United States and European allies (WaPo, L.A. Times).

A federal jury convicted Ahmed Abu Khatallah, the accused mastermind of the attacks in Benghazi, of terrorism, but not murder (L.A. Times, WSJ, NYT).

Vice President Pence commented that President Trump is ‘actively considering’ relocating the U.S. embassy in Israel to Jerusalem (WaPo).

A prominent Iraqi general was part of a scheme to cheat the State Department out of millions of dollars (WaPo).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The Foreign Corrupt Practices Act is not a general bar against profiting from foreign illegal activity, writes Matthew Stephenson at The Global Anticorruption Blog.

Politico takes a deep dive into the possible benefits to the tech industry from President Trump’s policies.

Rick Hasen follows some questions being asked about the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity.

Reports emerging about former NSA Michael Flynn’s ties a projected power plant, even after his ouster.

Jonathan Taplin argues for the inconsistency of the Trump Administration’s stance towards competition.  

REGULATION

A federal judge denied Leandra English's request for a temporary restraining order in litigation over who is the acting director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau (NYT, Politico)

•  In the New Yorker, John Cassidy explains the stakes of the case

The New York Times assesses the changes currently well underway at the State Department.

• Jennifer Rubin is following the latest personnel shake up at State with growing concern.
• Politico tracks Tillerson’s responses here. The New York Times has more here.

Right here at Take Care, Tejas Narechania walks you through the current threat to net neutrality.

Thomas Kean advised President Trump to find a new EPA head here.

ScotusBlog explains why the United States government finds itself filing an amicus brief supporting the Islamic Republic of Iran on a terrorism and sovereign immunity case.

CHECKS & BALANCES

Matthew Kahn at Lawfare wonders about the legal implications of an understaffed federal bureaucracy.

At Just Security, Hannah Ryan queries the position of the Trump Administration towards encryption and privacy concerns.

ScotusBlog keeps tabs on the latest travel ban developments.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

In The New York Times, Michelle Goldberg steps back to analyze some of the unanswered questions regarding Russian interference in the 2016 election.