,  //  9/22/17  //  Daily Update

Reports emerge about controversial document requests by Special Counsel Robert Mueller. The President is reportedly reviewing a security report that may serve as the basis of a new or revised Muslim travel ban. 

IMMIGRATION

The Travel Ban expires Sunday, but President Trump is reviewing a security report that could serve as the basis for a new version (L.A. Times). 

Trump’s informal agreement with Democrats that may permit many DREAMers to stay in the country is unlikely to splinter his base of supporters, according to Lynn Vavreck (NYT). 

CIVIL RIGHTS 

Chicago’s lawsuit challenging DOJ’s policy of withholding federal funds from sanctuary cities may have repercussions for protections imposed by regulations under Titles VI and IX (Take Care).  

Trump’s judicial nominations are laying the groundwork to overturn marriage equality and Obergefell v. Hodges, writes Mark Joseph Stern at Slate. 

DEMOCRACY 

The Senate Judiciary Committee should question Attorney General Jeff Sessions about the DOJ’s connection to President Trump’s voter fraud commission, argues the Lawyer’s Committee for Civil Rights (The Hill). 

Sean Spicer threatened legal action against a reporter who questioned him about notes Spicer took at the Republican National Convention (The Hill). 

JUSTICE & SAFETY  

The White House is preparing to loosen regulations on targets of drone strikes and commando raids outside of conventional battlefields (NYT).

Cutting the DOJ’s Collaborative Reform program, which works with police departments to reform use of deadly force, hurts cops and communities, argues Chiraag Bains at The Marshall Project.  

Senator Elizabeth Warren’s objections to Makan Delrahim’s nomination to lead the DOJ Antitrust Division have caused delays, leading to uncertainty for mergers (WSJ).  

The St. Louis protests are what happens when DOJ fails to do its job in reviewing police departments, argues the Editorial Board of the Washington Post (WaPo). 

CONFLICTS OF INTEREST 

Josh Blackman states that his amicus brief in the SDNY Emoluments Clause case correctly described a document as not produced by Alexander Hamilton (Josh Blackman’s Blog). 

• Judge Daniels, who is presiding over the SDNY litigation, has denied Blackman’s motion to file a “reply amicus” brief on that point, as well as his motion to participate in oral argument.  

The claim that President Trump does not hold an "office under the United States" for Emoluments Clause purposes is at least a highly permissible reading of the Clause, Asher Steinberg writes (The Narrowest Grounds).  

The White House approved Treasury Secretary Mnuchin’s request for a military aircraft to transport Mnuchin and his wife, Louise Linton, to an August event in Kentucky; the Inspector General of the Treasury Department is reviewing Treasury’s use of government aircraft (WSJ). 

REGULATION

Officials at the Financial Stability Oversight Council are considering removal of federal oversight from insurer American International Group, Inc., which was at the center of the global markets crisis in 2008 (WSJ). 

CHECKS & BALANCES 

The White House is obfuscating its position on FOIA and other transparency issues, Ryan Mulvey argues (The Hill). 

FEDERALISM

Fourteen “alliance states” are on track to meet their share of the Obama administration’s pledge under the Paris climate deal, despite President Trump’s decision to withdraw from the agreement (NYT). 

RUSSIAN INTERFERENCE  

Investigators on Robert Mueller’s team are seeking documents from the White House on topics including a June 2016 meeting at Trump Tower whose attendees included Donald Trump, Jr. and a Russian lawyer (L.A. Times, NYT). 

• Jonathan Turley argues that following the recent lunchtime disclosure that two documents material to the Russia investigation are in White House Counsel Don McGahn’s safe, President Trump and Mr. McGahn should disclose as much material as possible, rather than trying to assert privilege (The Hill).  

Paul Manafort reportedly offered to provide a Russian billionaire, likely Oleg Deripaska, “private briefings” on the state of the 2016 presidential campaign (NYT, WaPo). 

• Philip Bump lays out the relationships between the Trump campaign and Russian interests (WaPo). 
• The Justice Department recently requested documents from Skadden, Arps, Slate, Meagher & Flom for information related to its work for Paul Manafort and the Ukrainian government led by Viktor Yanukovych (NYT). 
• Paul Manafort is reportedly working for allies of the leaders of the Kurdish region of Iraq on a referendum the U.S. government opposes (NYT).  

Facebook announced it will turn over more than 3,000 Russia-linked ads to congressional committees investigating potential Russian interference in the 2016 U.S. presidential election (NYT, WaPo, WSJ). 

• Facebook also announced it will be strengthening its review process for ads in hopes of preventing foreign organizations from buying political ads during future elections (Ars Technica). 
• Twitter plans to meet with the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence next week in response to queries about the 2016 election (NYT). 

INTERNATIONAL LAW 

If President Trump ends the Iran deal, he may be unable to trigger the snapback provision to ensure the reimposition of U.N. Security Council sanctions against Iran, Jean Galbraith argues (Opinio Juris). 

• If President Trump decides Iran is not in compliance with the terms of the JCPOA, it begins a 60-day window in which Congress must decide whether to reimpose U.S. sanctions that were waived as part of the deal (WaPo). 
• There is significant pushback to Trump’s plan to decertify Iran’s compliance with the nuclear deal (Cato). 

President Trump announced a new executive order imposing additional sanctions against North Korea (L.A. Times, NYT, WSJ).

• The Hill provides a list of five things to know about the proposed sanctions, noting that President Trump is willing to work around Congress.