Daily Update | March 20, 2019

3/20/19  //  Daily Update

White House lawyers want an opportunity to claim executive privilege and review Robert Mueller's report before it reaches lawmakers and the public. Search warrants obtained in the New York case against President Donald Trump’s former personal attorney Michael Cohen were unsealed. The Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals heard argument in an anti-corruption case against President Trump regarding his violations of the Constitution's emoluments clauses. The Supreme Court’s latest opinion adds to a string of decisions with sweeping views of ICE’s power to confine migrants. Federal judges have ruled against the Trump administration 63 times over the past two years.

Abigail DeHart

Michigan Law School

Daily Update | March 19, 2019

3/19/19  //  Daily Update

If the federal appeals court allows the Emoluments Clauses challenge against President Trump to move forward, he may be forced to disclose financial information related to his businesses. In addition to reviewing the statutory issues concerning the 2020 census citizenship question, the Supreme Court will also review the constitutional issue. DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen declared that the United States is not prepared to handle foreign cyber attacks but is taking steps to identify and combat these threats. The Department of Defense produced a fact sheet listing all military projects from which funding could potentially be diverted to build the southern border wall. Democratic congressional leaders requested the FBI open an investigation into Chinese American executive, Li Yang, for misusing her personal ties to President Trump.

Mackenzie Walz

University of Michigan Law School

Daily Update | March 18, 2019

3/18/19  //  Daily Update

President Trump issued his first veto, rejecting legislation to overturn his declaration of a national emergency to fund a border wall. President Trump encouraged House Republicans to vote in favor of a resolution calling on the Justice Department to make Robert Mueller’s final report public. Paul Manafort has been indicted by a Manhattan grand jury in connection with a multimillion-dollar mortgage fraud scheme. The Trump Administration has issued orders to put into effect next month new limitations on service in the military by transgender individuals. The Trump administration is considering sending a volunteer emergency response team to assist with security and humanitarian efforts at the U.S.-Mexico border.

Hilary Robin Rosenthal

Columbia Law School

Daily Update | March 15, 2019

3/15/19  //  Daily Update

Anticipation for the Mueller report continues to build, as the House calls unanimously for its release and a key member of the Special Counsel’s team prepares to leave his post. Treasury Secretary Steven Mnuchin said that he won’t share the President Trump’s tax returns with Congress. A New York appeals court ruled that the President could be sued by a former Apprentice contestant for defamation. The Senate voted to deny the President his national emergency at the southern border — but the President’s own veto is all but assured. The Connecticut Supreme Court held that Remington and other manufacturers of the AR-15 rifle could be sued by the families of victims of the Sandy Hook mass shooting.

Adam Smith

Harvard Law School

Daily Update | March 14, 2019

3/14/19  //  Daily Update

Minutes after Paul Manafort received his second federal sentence in less than two weeks, Manhattan D.A. Cy Vance added a sixteen-count state indictment into the mix. DOD announced that it would begin implementing President Trump’s transgender service ban, despite a number of pending challenges in the federal courts. The Sixth Circuit upheld Ohio’s decision to defund Planned Parenthood. California imposed a death-penalty moratorium. President Trump grounded the Boeing jet blamed for deadly crashes in Indonesia and Ethiopia.

Adam Smith

Harvard Law School

Daily Update | March 13, 2019

3/13/19  //  Daily Update

The Trump Administration intends to close the international division of the USCIS by the end of the year and redirect those resources toward handling the immigration backlog in the United States. The New York Attorney General’s office issued subpoenas to Deutsche Bank and Investors Bank for records relating to four Trump Organization projects. President Trump’s budget for the upcoming fiscal year proposes significant cuts to Medicaid, which would negatively affect people with disabilities. President Trump’s decision to eliminate the requirement to publicly disclose civilian casualties from US counterterrorism strikes reduces transparency, but Congress can fill this gap. Speaker Pelosi does not support impeaching President Trump unless there is compelling and bipartisan support because impeachment is divisive and Trump is “just not worth it.”

Mackenzie Walz

University of Michigan Law School

Daily Update | March 12, 2019

3/12/19  //  Daily Update

Trump has sent a record-breaking $4.75 trillion budget to Congress, which includes $8.6 billion for border wall construction. The DOJ will ask SCOTUS to bypass the 9th Circuit and hear argument on the second census question. The new Georgia Secretary of State intends to continue with a plan to use electronic voting machines that many think are susceptible to hacking. A campaign finance group urges Democrats to disavow and shut down Super PACs in advance of the 2020 election. The transgender military service ban will soon be implemented.

Kyle Skinner

Harvard Law School

Daily Update | March 11, 2019

3/11/19  //  Daily Update

President Donald Trump has asked Congress for another $8.6 billion to complete a 722-mile wall along the U.S.-Mexico border. U.S. District Judge Dana Sabraw ruled Friday that potentially thousands of migrant families who were separated at the southern border under the Trump administration could be added to an existing class-action lawsuit. The Trump administration announced that it will soon implement a ban on most transgender people in the military, despite lingering injunctions. 20 states’ attorneys general have announced a challenge to the Trump administration’s new rule in Title X, the federal family planning grant program, slated to cut funding to clinics that provide or refer patients to abortion services. President Trump claimed that “Democrats oppose Israel and Jews,” reacting to the party’s controversy over recent remarks by a Muslim congresswoman.

Hilary Robin Rosenthal

Columbia Law School

Daily Update | March 8, 2019

3/8/19  //  Daily Update

Former Trump campaign chairman Paul Manafort was sentenced to nearly four years in prison. Former Trump attorney Michael Cohen sued the Trump Organization for millions of dollars in unpaid legal fees. A federal judge in California dismissed a hush-money settlement lawsuit against President Trump from adult-film actress Stormy Daniels. President Trump said he didn’t violate campaign finance laws by reimbursing Michael Cohen for a payment to Stormy Daniels. The Trump administration created a list of immigration activists and journalists that were subject to greater scrutiny during border crossings. In response to the DNC’s announcement that Fox News will not host a Democratic primary debate, President Trump suggested he might block other networks from hosting general election debates. DHS is considering a rule requiring health-care providers to disclose the secretly negotiated prices they charge insurers for services.

Nicandro Iannacci

Columbia Law School

Daily Update | March 7, 2019

3/7/19  //  Daily Update

DHS Secretary Kirstjen Nielsen testified before the House Homeland Security Committee regarding border security. Former Trump lawyer Michael Cohen provided documents to the House Intelligence Committee that he said illustrate changes requested by the President’s lawyers to a knowingly false statement he made to Congress in 2017. A federal judge in California ruled that the inclusion of a citizenship question of the 2020 Census violated the APA and the Enumeration Clause. DOJ announced that it will increase its focus on illegal foreign influence operations, including violations of the Foreign Agents Registration Act. Federal regulators are easing up on the use of various bank “stress tests” enacted in the wake of the 2008 financial crisis. Senate Republicans are preparing to pass a rules change to shorten debate on lower court judges.

Nicandro Iannacci

Columbia Law School

Daily Update | March 6, 2019

3/6/19  //  Daily Update

Lawyers for Michael Cohen approached the Trump team about a possible pardon. Roger Stone will be required by a federal judge to explain how he can follow a gag order while also delivering on a book deal. More migrants are crossing the border this year than last. Trump promised conservative activists at CPAC in Washington, D.C. that he would soon issue an executive order “requiring colleges and universities to support free speech if they want federal research dollars.” A judge has ruled that the Office of Management and Budget must reinstate a rule requiring some employers to disclose salary data with race and gender information.

Kyle Skinner

Harvard Law School

Daily Update | March 5, 2019

3/5/19  //  Daily Update

The House Judiciary Committee issued its list of more than 80 document requests to support an investigation into obstruction of justice, public corruption, and abuses of power. Following earlier recriminations of Cohen’s accusations of racism, HUD Secretary Ben Carson announced he would resign at the end of the President’s first term. Former acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s last day at the Department of Justice was this past Saturday, with the circumstances of his departure still unclear. Citing a lack of robust case law, the Supreme Court in a statement by Justice Kavanaugh has refused to hear a dispute regarding the disbursement of publicly-funded grants to a religious institution in New Jersey. Tenuous bipartisan support for a formal repudiation of the President’s declaration of a national emergency to fund a border wall appears to be coalescing before a vote. A new report indicates that the President ranks Fox News reporters according to perceptions of loyalty.

Daily Update | March 4, 2019

3/4/19  //  Daily Update

The Mexican government has undertaken more active efforts to support President Trump’s border intervention, stopping groups of migrants and refusing asylum applications in some cases. Revisiting an earlier request for Russia to hack Hillary Clinton’s private email server, the President recast those remarks as sarcastic during his longest speech as President. Comments made by Michael Cohen during testimony last week are bringing fresh scrutiny to the role that WikiLeaks played in Russia’s election interference. The President’s use of Non-Disclosure Agreements with highly-subjective gag orders during the campaign might be more common in the private sector but are testing the limits of public information. Weeks of noncompliance with the provisions of the Global Magnitsky Act demonstrate that the President is ignoring his obligations to produce a report on the killing of journalist Jamal Khashoggi.

Daily Update | March 1, 2019

3/1/19  //  Daily Update

President Trump had some reactions to Michael Cohen's testimony, acknowledging that Cohen didn't lie about everything. Following Cohen’s testimony, the House intelligence now intends to call the Trump Organization’s chief financial officer, Allen Weisselberg, to testify. President Trump And North Korean leader Kim Jong Un’s Second Nuclear Summit Ends With No Deal. The attorney general of Washington, D.C., issued a subpoena for documents regarding President Donald Trump's inaugural committee. The Department of Homeland Security extended temporary protected status (TPS) for U.S. residents from Sudan, El Salvador, Haiti and Nicaragua until Jan. 2, 2020. The Supreme Court appeared ready to let stand a 40-foot cross on public land in Maryland, but the justices struggled to come up with a test to clarify the separation of church and state.

Hilary Robin Rosenthal

Columbia Law School

Daily Update | February 28, 2019

2/28/19  //  Daily Update

Michael Cohen, President Trump's former lawyer, testified in detail before the House Oversight Committee about financial coverups during the 2016 election cycle, along with multiple other allegations of unethical and potentially criminal conduct. The Trump administration’s approach to Moda Muthana, a natural-born U.S. citizen who later joined ISIS, suggests that the administration’s immigration campaign will not stop with naturalized citizens, but rather poses a danger to American-born citizens as well. The federal government received over 4,500 complaints in four years about sexual abuse of immigrant children at government-funded detention centers. The United States military blocked internet access to a Russian “troll farm” on the day of the midterm elections, as a warning against Russian meddling in U.S. elections.

Karen Kadish

Columbia Law School