Rachel Chung  //  9/1/17  //  Daily Update

Thirteen state AGs have accused EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt of using informal guidance to sidestep required process and delay the Clean Power Plan. Advocacy organizations have sent a letter to the DOJ Criminal Division arguing that President Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio exceeds constitutional limits. Special counsel Robert Mueller has teamed up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in his investigation into Paul Manafort. NBC has reported that Manafort took notes on his phone during the Trump Jr. meeting and wrote the word "donation." The Trump Administration ordered Russia to close three diplomatic facilities.

PODCAST

The latest episode of Versus Trump features analysis of web-hosting company Dreamhost’s refusal to cooperate fully with the Trump Administration’s broad request for information about the visitors to DisruptJ20.org, a website allegedly used by those involved in an Inauguration Day riot.

IMMIGRATION

The reasoning in a federal judge’s opinion enjoining Texas’ sanctuary cities law highlights that we must recognize cities as constitutional actors in their own right, argues Richard C. Schragger at Take Care.

USCIS will require in-person interviews for green cards where online or mail applications previously sufficed, making it more difficult for immigrants to gain permanent residency (Sacramento Bee).

The legal challenge that helped free detained travelers detained in the first days of President Trump’s travel ban has settled (NYT).

• The settlement agreement, which requires the government to send a letter to every individual who was detained to inform them of free legal services organizations that can help them obtain visas or entry documents, is here.

DHS awarded several contracts for prototypes of President Trump’s proposed Mexican border wall (NYT).

JUSTICE & SAFETY

The Administration is sending mixed messages about the U.S.’s response to North Korea’s nuclear threats (CNN).

After President Trump tweeted that “talking is not the answer,” Secretary of Defense James Mattis said the U.S. is “never out of diplomatic solutions" (BBC).

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST

An amicus brief filed in support of President Trump in the CREW emoluments suit misrepresents historical sources, writes Jed Shugerman at Take Care.

REGULATION

The Trump Administration is close to breaking a longstanding presumption that government should not interfere with the content of scientific inquiry, contends Dox Fox at Take Care.

Thirteen Democratic state attorneys general have accused EPA Administrator Scott Pruitt of using informal guidance to sidestep the full regulatory and legal process and delay President Obama’s Clean Power Plan (The Hill).

• The AGs’ letter to the EPA is here.

RULE OF LAW

Advocacy organizations have sent a letter to officials in the Public Integrity Section of the DOJ Criminal Division arguing that President Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio exceeds constitutional limits (Free Speech For People).

• The letter is here.
• Here is analysis by Jennifer Rubin of the Washington Post.
• Separation of powers jurisprudence suggests President Trump’s pardon of Joe Arpaio may exceed the pardon power’s broad limits, writes Brad Miller at Justia.
• The language of the constitution suggests that courts can hear and adjudicate presidential pardons just as they can any other constitutional question, argues Neil H. Buchanan at Dorf on Law.

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE

Special counsel Robert Mueller has teamed up with New York Attorney General Eric Schneiderman in its investigation into Paul Manafort (Politico).

An NBC report that Paul Manafort took notes on his phone during the Trump Jr. meeting could mean Manafort was more involved than previously thought, suggests Aaron Blake at the Washington Post.

The Trump Administration ordered Russia to close three diplomatic facilities, including its San Francisco consulate, as retaliation against Russia’s order for the U.S. to shrink its Moscow embassy staff by more than 700 people (NYT, WaPo).