8/14/17  //  Daily Update

President Trump’s rebuke of the violence in Charlottesville on Saturday, where a white supremacist killed a counter-protester and injured 19 others, contained no specific condemnation of white supremacy, the alt-right, or neo-Nazism. The ACLU has filed a class-action lawsuit claiming that the Trump Administration has unconstitutionally detained immigrant teens based on false allegations of gang affiliations. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt is implementing an anti-regulatory agenda with extraordinary secrecy. Special Counsel Robert Mueller is seeking to interview current and former White House staff as part of his investigation into Russian interference in the 2016 election.

8/2/17  //  Daily Update

The Department of Justice is seeking lawyers to work on a project on “investigations and possible litigation related to intentional race-based discrimination in college and university admissions” that will likely target affirmative action programs. Retired Generals and Admirals have spoken out against President Trump’s ban on transgender individuals in the military. The United States sanctioned Venezuelan President Nicolás Maduro by freezing his American assets and banning Americans from doing business with him. The Senate confirmed Christopher Wray, President Trump’s nominee for FBI Director.

7/19/17  //  Daily Update

Hawaii has urged the Supreme Court to disregard the federal government’s request for clarification on a bona fide relationship. The NAACP Legal Defense Fund has filed a lawsuit alleging that the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity intends to discriminate against voters of color. An effort to repeal aspects of the Affordable Care Act without replacing them in the Senate has failed. More details have emerged about the June 9, 2016 meeting held by Donald Trump Jr., which has spurred legal analyses about the implications of these new details.

7/18/17  //  Daily Update

Senators Jerry Moran and Mike Lee announced their opposition to the Republican healthcare reconciliation bill, all but guaranteeing its failure. The White House Voter Fraud commission is hoping to propose federal legislation that would put new restrictions on voting. Attorney General Jeff Sessions announced that he will issue a directive on civil asset-forfeiture encouraging police departments to seize more property from criminal defendants. And Special Counsel Robert Mueller is likely to investigate the President’s senior advisor (and son-in-law) Jared Kushner’s repeated failure to disclose meetings with Russians on his security-clearance forms.

7/17/17  //  Daily Update

The government has asked the Supreme Court to clarify its June 26th ruling partially blocking the revised entry ban after a Hawaii district court issued a revised injunction in the case. The Presidential Commission on Election Integrity has published comments critical of its work, as well as the names and contact information of their authors, and Commission Vice Chair Kris Kobach was revealed to have proposed revisions to the National Voter Registration Act requiring proof of citizenship from all registrants. Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein has published an op-ed defending the DOJ policy requiring prosecutors to seek the most serious charges possible. Attorney General Jeff Sessions has asked the Senate to roll back rules to allow the DOJ to impose a federal ban on medical marijuana.

7/10/17  //  Daily Update

The Ninth Circuit weighed in on Hawaii’s most recent challenge to President Trump’s revised travel ban. Hawaii then filed a new motion before Judge Watson. Criticism continues of the Pence-Kobach “Election Integrity” commission. EPA has asked the D.C. Circuit to stay its ruling requiring the agency to enforce an Obama-era rule on methane emissions. It has been reported that, during the campaign, Donald Trump, Jr., Jared Kushner, and Paul Manafort met with a lawyer linked to the Russian government who promised to provide negative information on Hillary Clinton.

6/23/17  //  Daily Update

The Senate released its draft health care bill, which includes significant Medicaid cuts. The Environmental Protection Agency has declined to renew the terms of 38 members of its Board of Scientific Counselors (Science). In a series of tweets, President Trump stated that he never recorded his conversations with former FBI director James Comey.

6/16/17  //  Daily Update

The latest episode of Versus Trump discusses a suit challenging Trump's financial disclosure form. President Trump modified the "effective date" provisions of the revised travel ban. Analysis continues of the Emoluments Clause suits filed against Trump this week. Special counsel Robert Mueller has requested interviews with high-ranking intelligence officials, suggesting that he will investigate whether President Trump obstructed justice. DHS Secretary John Kelly rescinded President Obama's DAPA program.

6/15/17  //  Daily Update

Four people were shot at a baseball practice for Congressional Republicans. Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s list of interview subjects indicates that he is investigating the President for obstruction of justice. The Senate Intelligence Committee will investigate the circumstances of former FBI Director Jim Comey’s firing. Members of President Trump’s transition team joined firms lobbying for the privatization of the US air-traffic-control system weeks before Trump announced his support for privatization. And the Federal Reserve Bank raised the benchmark interest rate.

6/1/17  //  Daily Update

White House sources say that President Trump is planning to withdraw the United States from the Paris Climate Accord. Attorney General Jeff Sessions’s proposed budget for the Department of Justice says nothing about prosecuting illegal use of force by police officers. Jared Kushner’s company used a federal loan program intended to subsidize low-income housing to build a luxury residential building. Congress is investigating whether Jeff Sessions, who falsely testified before the Senate that he “did not have communications with the Russians,” may have had an additional private meeting with Russian Ambassador Sergey Kislyak. And Jim Comey, former Director of the FBI, will testify before the Senate Intelligence Committee as early as next week.

5/31/17  //  Daily Update

During the presidential campaign, Russian officials discussed whether they had “leverage” over President Trump’s inner circle. President Trump’s communications director resigned after three months on the job. The German government has declined the United States’ offer of assistance in preventing Russian interference in Germany’s upcoming election. President Trump’s proposed budget indicates that the administration intends to significantly weaken the Department of Justice’s Civil Rights Division. And analysis of the Fourth Circuit’s decision to affirm a district court order blocking President Trump’s revised travel ban continues.

5/24/17  //  Daily Update

Former CIA Director John Brennan testified to the House Intelligence Committee that he was concerned about contacts between the Trump campaign and Russian officials, and that he informed the FBI about his concerns. The Senate Intelligence Committee has issued subpoenas to businesses affiliated with former National Security Advisor Michael Flynn. President Trump’s proposed budget, which includes significant cuts to many government programs, has been released.

5/22/17  //  Daily Update

There has been extensive analysis of impeachment, obstruction of justice, the propriety of actions at DOJ and the FBI, the special prosecutor, and connections between the Trump Campaign and Russia. It has been reported that President Trump's lawyers sought to avoid the requirement that Trump personally certify the truth of his financial disclosures. DOJ and ICE have invoked new and controversial arguments to target immigrants and refugees (and their lawyers). A constitutional challenge to the CFPB will be reheard en banc before the D.C. Circuit this Wednesday.

4/28/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

While President Trump has little direct control over how states administer the death penalty, his administration might seek to facilitate the acquisition of legal injection drugs and limit federal habeas review in capital cases. But these policies would raise major legal questions.

4/27/17  //  In-Depth Analysis

President Trump and Attorney General Sessions hold exceptionally pro-death penalty views. Here's how they might seek to increase use of capital punishment at the federal level, and why any such effort likely would fail.