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Ian Eppler, Jacqueline Sahlberg  //  10/11/17  //  Daily Update

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A challenge to the administration's second travel ban has been dismissed by the Supreme Court as moot. Hawaii has filed a legal challenge to the third travel ban. On Twitter, Trump threatened to revoke the NFL’s tax exemption and attacked an ESPN journalist who had criticized his response to national anthem protests. The EPA seeks to undo Clean Air regulations. And the GAO finds that the Trump transition team violated ethics rules. And a comprehensive new report concludes that President Trump likely committed criminal obstruction of justice through his efforts to impede the Russia investigation, including by firing former FBI Director James Comey.

 

IMMIGRATION

In the wake of the expiration of the second entry ban, the Supreme Court vacated the judgment of the Fourth Circuit in Trump v. IRAP and remanded the case for dismissal as moot.

• The order is available here.

 While the challenge to the entry ban is moot, there are lessons for future cases, writes Leah Litman at Take Care.

 Hawaii filed challenges to Trump’s latest immigration ban (Bloomberg)

• Read Hawaii’s brief on the merits and amended complaint here.

Deferred Action for Childhood Arrival ("DACA") legislation faces a “game of political chicken” (Vox).

 

CIVIL RIGHTS

Trump’s contraceptive mandate is based on dubious science, writes Aaron Carroll at NYT.

• Verdict analyzes the justifications.

Congressional Democrats have asked for evidence that Trump consulted the Pentagon before issuing the transgender troops ban (Hill).

 

DEMOCRACY

On Twitter, Trump threatened to revoke the NFL’s tax exemption and attacked an ESPN journalist who had criticized his response to national anthem protests (NYTimes, WSJ)

• Retaliating against the NFL based on athletes’ expression would violate the first amendment, writes Eugene Volokh at The Washington Post.
• Following Trump’s criticism of NFL protests, team owners discuss whether to require that players stand during the anthem (WSJ)
• The White House supports the NFL policy change (Hill).

 

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The Department of Justice intends to aggressively pursue access to encrypted information (WSJ).  

• DOJ calls for “responsible encryption” (Ars Technica)

Congress should exercise its constitutional power to withdraw U.S. armed forces from unauthorized hostilities in Yemen, write Representatives Ro Khanna, Walter Jones, and Mark Pocan.

If Trump does not certify the Iran nuclear deal, Congress should “avoid taking the bait,” writes Tess Bridgeman at Just Security.

 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

The Government Accountability Office reported that the Trump transition team violated established practices related to ethics (The Hill).

A new advocacy group plans to bring legal challenges to President Trump’s conflicts of interest (Politico).

In a letter to federal agency directors, the acting director of the Office of Government Ethics reiterated ethical requirements in the wake of scandals over the misuse of private aircraft by Cabinet members (Washington Post).

 

REGULATION

The Environmental Protection Agency proposed a new regulation that would repeal the Obama-era Clean Power Plan, which governs carbon emissions from power plants under the Clean Air Act (NYTimes, Politico, The Hill).

• The EPA’s decision disregards the agency’s own analysis of the costs and benefits of doing so, notes Eli Savit at Take Care.
• The repeal and likely replacement reflect a narrow construction of the Clean Air Act, argues John Timmer at Ars Technica.
• The proposed rule does not go as far as many climate change skeptics wanted, and is vulnerable to legal challenge, writes Dan Farber at Legal Planet.

The impending Trump administration executive order on health care will likely expand access to “association health plans,” which lack many of the protections required by the Affordable Care Act, and may effectively gut the law’s protections. (LATimes, Politico, Vox).

• President Trump’s tax plan is similar to one adopted in Kansas which did not boost the state’s economy, writes Jim Tankersley in the New York Times.

 

RULE OF LAW

A comprehensive new report concludes that President Trump likely committed criminal obstruction of justice through his efforts to impede the Russia investigation, including by firing former FBI Director James Comey (Brookings).

• The report “should scare the daylights out of . . . Trump supporters, family members and aides,” argues Jennifer Rubin in the Washington Post.
• While the report makes a meaningful contribution by analogizing between President Trump’s conduct and the obstruction case law, obstruction charges still may not be plausible, argue Benjamin Wittes and Emma Kohse at Lawfare.

President Trump’s decisions to rescind the Clean Power Plan and DACA are motivated by a spiteful desire to repudiate his predecessor, rather than any coherent policy goal, argues the Los Angeles Times editorial board.

A judge has ordered that a web hosting company turn over data on an anti-Trump website to federal prosecutors as part of an investigation into Election Day violence, but that the identities of visitors must be redacted (The Hill).

Kellyanne Conway’s response to criticism of President Trump by Sen. Bob Corker (R-TN) reflects a dangerously authoritarian attitude, writes Aaron Blake in the Washington Post.

The government of Indiana is refusing to release thousands of emails that Vice President Pence sent using a private email account while he served as the state's governor (LATimes).

 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Despite allegedly recusing himself from the Russia investigation, House Intelligence Committee Chairman Devin Nunes (R-CA) has signed off on new subpoenas (The Hill)

Trump campaign foreign policy advisor Carter Page has refused to testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee (The Hill).

The Russian government targeted U.S. military personnel and veterans on social media as part of its effort to influence the 2016 election (The Hill).

The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI are working with state and local officials to improve election security in advance of the 2018 election (NBC).

Tags:

Topic Immigration Conflicts Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference

 

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