Daily Update | September 18, 2018
Karen Kadish, Ian Eppler // 9/18/18 //
In a court filing, the Special Counsel announced that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn would be ready for sentencing in late November, suggesting that his cooperation with the Special Counsel investigation is nearing its end. The federal government asked the Supreme Court to limit its disclosure obligations in a lawsuit challenging the ban against transgender Americans openly serving in the military, citing Presidential privilege. Newly released e-mails written by Brett Kavanaugh suggest that he will oppose modern interpretations of the Constitution that protect civil rights such as gay marriage and access to abortion. Closer attention should be paid to the vendors of election equipment given the dominance of three companies in the election-technology market and their insistence on keeping their technology secret while they curry politicians’ favor. President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to declassify and release the text messages of several former FBI officials whom he has criticized.
TRUMP: INVESTIGATIONS AND LITIGATION
In a court filing, the Special Counsel announced that former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn would be ready for sentencing in late November, suggesting that his cooperation with the Special Counsel investigation is nearing its end (Politico, WSJ).
Despite President’s Trumps repeated claims that Attorney General Jeff Sessions should not have recused himself from the Russia investigation and that appointing special counsel was unfair, Mr. Sessions was legally required to recuse himself and Acting Attorney General Rosenstein was required by DOJ regulations to appoint a special counsel, write Fred Wertheimer and Donald Simon at Just Security.
President Trump’s broad power to classify a potential Special Counsel report poses a greater threat to public disclosure than an invocation of executive privilege, contends Kel McClanahan at Just Security.
IMMIGRATION
Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that the United States will accept a maximum of 30,000 refugees in Fiscal Year 2019 (WaPo; Politico).
This American Life has produced an episode giving a broad look at immigration adjudication, discussing many different types of immigration remedies and applications. The episode focuses on the bureaucratic policies that target immigration (This American Life).
CIVIL RIGHTS
The federal government asked the Supreme Court to limit its disclosure obligations in a lawsuit challenging the ban against transgender Americans openly serving in the military, citing Presidential privilege, writes Amy Howe at SCOTUS Blog.
While formally it is straightforward to get off of the Office of Foreign Asset Control’s list of persons who may be individually sanctioned, in practice it is difficult because individuals do not always know why they have been sanctioned and because of administrative barriers between the government offices that manage the list and the financial institutions that enact the sanctions (Global Anticorruption Blog).
Newly released e-mails written by Brett Kavanaugh suggest that he will oppose modern interpretations of the Constitution that protect civil rights such as gay marriage and access to abortion, argues Joel Dodge at the Americal Constitution Society.
DEMOCRACY
Closer attention should be paid to the vendors of election equipment given the dominance of three companies in the election-technology market and their insistence on keeping their technology secret while they curry politicians’ favor, writes Jamila Benkato at Take Care Blog.
A new NPR/Marist poll reveals that 40% of Americans, particularly nonwhite voters, women, and Democrats, do not think that elections are fair, reports Miles Parks at NPR.
JUSTICE & SAFETY
National Security Advisor John Bolton’s speech against the International Criminal Court might have been an offense against the ICC’s administration of justice under the Rome Statute, because of the portions which threatened U.S. response to ICC actions against the United States or its allies, writes Sergey Vasiliev at Just Security.
CONFLICTS OF INTEREST
President Trump’s ethics promises he made in a January 11, 2017 speech in which he announced he would not divest from his businesses during his presidency have not been kept, writes Walker Davis of Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
REGULATION
The National Labor Relations Board issued a proposed rule revising an Obama-era decision on the joint employer standard, reducing protections for certain franchise and contract employees (On Labor).
- The proposed rule fails the NLRB’s own test for “predictability and consistency,” argues Andrew Strom at On Labor.
RULE OF LAW
President Trump ordered the Department of Justice to declassify and release the text messages of several former FBI officials whom he has criticized (Politico, WaPo, WSJ).
The Inspector General for the Department of Homeland Security has referred Federal Emergency Management Agency administrator Brock Long to federal prosecutors for alleged misuse of government resources for personal purposes (WSJ).
CHECKS & BALANCES
The American Bar Association rated Jonathan Kobes, President Trump’s nominee to the United States Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit, “not qualified” (Bloomberg).
RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE
Russian interference operations work through using social media to reduce faith in the rule of law and the criminal justice system, argue Suzanne Spaulding and Harvey Rishikof at Lawfare.
Tags:
Immigration Rule of Law Conflicts Checks & Balances Regulation Democracy Civil Rights Justice & Safety Russian Interference