12/13/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration filed an appeal in the transgender recruits case, requesting a delay of the lower court orders blocking enforcement of the administration’s ban on enlistment or service of transgender persons. President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018. Democratic lawmakers are pushing the FCC to cancel Thursday’s vote on net neutrality regulations. Donald Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday as part of its probe into Russian interference with the 2016 election.

12/13/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration filed an appeal in the transgender recruits case, requesting a delay of the lower court orders blocking enforcement of the administration’s ban on enlistment or service of transgender persons. President Trump signed the National Defense Authorization Act for fiscal year 2018. Democratic lawmakers are pushing the FCC to cancel Thursday’s vote on net neutrality regulations. Donald Trump Jr. will meet with the Senate Intelligence Committee on Wednesday as part of its probe into Russian interference with the 2016 election.

12/12/17  //  Daily Update

The Southern Poverty Law Center is suing the federal government, alleging that ICE agents entered the homes of immigrant families without warrants, consent, or probable cause. The Supreme Court will not hear an appeal of an Eleventh Circuit Court of Appeals decision that held that Title VII of the Civil Rights Act of 1964 does not encompass discrimination based on sexual orientation. A federal court “denied the Trump administration’s request to delay an order requiring the military to begin accepting transgender recruits starting Jan. 1, saying the argument for more time seemed based on ‘vague claims.'" The Supreme Court will hear a case challenging Maryland’s congressional map as unconstitutional, indicating the Court may be ready to establish a standard for partisan gerrymandering. Three women who accused President Trump of sexual misconduct called on Congress to investigate their allegations.

12/8/17  //  Daily Update

Commentary continues following Wednesday’s oral argument in Hawaii v. Trump at the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals. The Trump Administration sided against public employee unions in a brief filed at the Supreme Court late Wednesday night. Congress approved a two-week stopgap measure to keep the government funded and sent the bill to President Trump to sign. CFPB Deputy Director English filed an injunction in D.C. District Court to block OMB Director Mulvaney from leading the agency. During a congressional hearing, EPA Administrator Pruitt said the EPA is committed to replacing the Clean Power Plan.

12/7/17  //  Daily Update

A Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals panel heard argument on the Trump administration’s third travel ban. The House passed a bill permitting concealed weapons to cross state lines. President Trump announced that the United States officially recognizes Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and that the U.S. embassy will relocate there. The Pentagon is preparing to accept transgender recruits, despite President Trump’s call for a ban on their enlistment. Articles of impeachment introduced by Representative Al Green (D-Tex.) were tabled by House vote.

12/6/17  //  Daily Update

Yesterday, a seemingly divided Supreme Court heard oral arguments in Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission leaving commentators focused on predicting Justice Kennedy’s take. Shifting course in American policy, President Trump announces that the U.S. plans to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel. The Special Counsel withdrew support for a negotiated bail agreement with former Trump campaign manager Paul Manafort after discovering that Manafort was secretly ghost-writing an op-ed about his criminal case with an individual with ties to Russian intelligence. New DHS report shows that arrests at the border have dropped under President Trump, but immigration arrests inside the country have increased.

12/5/17  //  Daily Update

The Supreme Court allowed the third travel ban to take effect while legal challenges against it are pending. Commentators on both sides of Masterpiece Cakeshop v. Colorado Civil Rights Commission weigh in before the Supreme Court hears oral arguments today. President Trump seriously shrunk two Utah national monuments, Bears Ears and Grand Staircase-Escalante, marking the largest reduction of public lands in U.S. history. President Trump’s outside lawyer, John Dowd, said in an interview that the President, by definition, cannot obstruct justice “because he is the chief law enforcement officer." New information and commentary on possible Russian interference in the 2016 election continues in the wake of former national security adviser Michael Flynn’s guilty plea.

12/4/17  //  Daily Update

Michael Flynn pled guilty on Friday to making false statements to the FBI and has agreed to cooperate with the ongoing Russia inquiry. The Trump administration asked the Supreme Court to block a federal court’s order requiring it to review and turn over documents related to its decision to end DACA. The acquittal of an undocumented man in a case that President Trump cited during the campaign to rally supporters invoked an angry reaction from the President. President Trump plans to recognize Jerusalem as Israel’s capital, but to leave the embassy in Tel Aviv for now.

12/1/17  //  Daily Update

The new episode of Versus Trump features an interview with Lina Khan, Director of Legal Policy of the Open Markets Institute, on the Trump Administration’s lawsuit to top the AT&T/Time Warner merger. A jury acquitted an undocumented immigrant of murder in a case that President Trump often used as a rallying cry in support of his immigration agenda. Reports from the White House indicate that President Trump will soon replace Secretary of State Rex Tillerson with the C.I.A. Director Mike Pompeo. FBI Director Christopher Wray assured the House Homeland Security Committee that the agency was working to prevent Russian interference in future elections.

11/30/17  //  Daily Update

Tax reform continues to gain steam in the Senate. President Trump has pledged a new wave of major sanctions against North Korea in response to the country’s latest intercontinental missile test. He also shared videos from a fringe British ultranationalist party purportedly showing Muslims committing acts of violence.

11/29/17  //  Daily Update

Changing his earlier position, President Trump announced that he did not see a deal with Senator Chuck Schumer and Rep. Nancy Pelosi on protecting the “Dreamers." Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington asked DOJ to investigate whether Kris Kobach is improperly benefiting from his role as vice chair of the Presidential Advisory Commission on Election Integrity. A federal judge denied Leandra English's request for a temporary restraining order in litigation over who is the acting director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau.

11/28/17  //  Daily Update

A legal battle continues over who is head of the CFPB. The Trump Administration has indicated that it may go to higher courts to postpone the enlistment of transgender individuals in the U.S. military. Special Counsel Robert Muller is looking into Michael Flynn’s role in a film financed by Turkish interests, and this investigation could implicate many other Trump Administration confidants and officials.

11/27/17  //  Daily Update

A legal battle has erupted over who is now the acting director of the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. President Trump has reaffirmed his support for Alabama Senate candidate Roy Moore. A leading conservative commentator has proposed that Congress dramatically expand the federal courts, allowing President Trump to appoint more judges.

11/22/17  //  Daily Update

According to the DHS Inspector General, federal agents violated court orders because of the confusion surrounding the rollout of the first travel ban. The Trump administration petitioned the Supreme Court to allow the revised “travel ban” to go into effect while the government appeals a nationwide injunction issued by a federal district judge in Hawaii. A federal court ruled that President Trump’s executive order targeting sanctuary cities is unconstitutional. A federal judge cleared the way for transgender individuals serving in the military, declaring President Trump’s transgender ban “capricious, arbitrary, and unqualified." About a dozen State Department officials have formally accused Secretary of State Rex Tillerson of violating rules regarding child soldiers. The FCC released its plan to eliminate core net neutrality rules.

11/21/17  //  Daily Update

The Trump administration announced that 59,000 Haitians living in the United States under a temporary status must leave within the next year-and-a-half. The Trump administration returned North Korea to the list of state sponsors of terrorism. The Trump administration filed suit to block the AT&T/Time Warner merger. Special Counsel Robert Mueller sent a broad request to the Department of Justice for documents covering Attorney General Jeff Sessions’ recusal decision and about the firing of then-FBI Director James Comey.