In the Courts

A closely-divided Supreme Court seemed inclined to uphold President Donald Trump’s bid to terminate the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program during arguments Tuesday morning. The high court’s conservative majority appeared to think the administration has provided an adequate basis for ending the policy, and in spaces even wondered if the courts had the power to review the dispute. ...

The government of Mexico filed an amicus (or “friend of the court”) brief urging the Supreme Court to stop President Donald Trump’s attemp to rescind the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals (DACA) program.  Mexican consular officials have helped many of its nationals obtain protected status under DACA, according to the brief. The justices will hear arguments in the dispute Tuesday. ...

New York Judge Saliann Scarpulla ordered President Donald Trump to pay $2 million to various charities for misusing his own charity organization, according to court documents. Scarpulla accused the president of breaching his obligation to the Donald J. Trump Foundation nonprofit by allowing his campaign staff to plan a fundraiser for veterans ahead of the 2016 Iowa caucuses, thus giving ...

A federal judge has ruled that the U.S. government must provide mental health services to the thousands of migrant parents and children who were separated at the southern border. In a ruling late Tuesday, Judge John Kronstadt of the United States District Court in Los Angeles found the Trump administration responsible for the mental trauma caused by separating illegal alien ...

Michale Simon, an Oregon federal judge, issued a temporary restraining order against the Trump administration’s health care requirement for immigrant applicants.  Trump in October issued a presidential proclamation, calling on green card applicants to prove that they can obtain health insurance or prove that can pay for their own health care in order to be approved.  Simon’s decision marks the ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit temporarily halted the release of grand jury materials from former special counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation Tuesday, just hours ahead of their scheduled distribution. A three judge panel issued a short directive saying the grand jury documents will be temporarily withheld while it considers an emergency appeal from the Department of Justice ...

The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to toss a California law barring state authorities from cooperating with federal immigration officials.  The California Values Act, or SB 54, bans law enforcement from transferring criminal aliens to immigration authorities or sharing personal information about migrants. The parties in the case are playing somewhat against type: Trump is relying on a ...

A federal judge on Friday ordered the Justice Department to provide grand jury materials from the special counsel’s investigation to the House Judiciary Committee, in what will be hailed as a major legal win for congressional Democrats. Judge Beryl Howell set Oct. 30 as the deadline for DOJ to provide grand jury information cited in the special counsel’s report, which ...

The United States today filed a civil complaint against the state of California, several of its officers, the California Air Resources Board, and the Western Climate Initiative Inc., for unlawfully entering a cap and trade agreement with the Canadian Province of Quebec. “The state of California has veered outside of its proper constitutional lane to enter into an international emissions ...

The Supreme Court effectively ended a gerrymandering challenge to Michigan’s Republican-drawn legislative districts Monday, after a three-judge panel ordered the state to produce new maps ahead of the 2020 elections. Monday’s decision was widely expected. Both parties in the case agreed that the high court’s June decision finding federal courts cannot hear partisan gerrymandering challenges foreclosed further litigating. “While appellees ...

The Supreme Court announced Friday that it will hear a constitutional challenge to the structure of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB), a watchdog agency whose existence is largely credited to Massachusetts Democratic. Sen. Elizabeth Warren. The bureau is arranged to insulate its employees from political pressure and ensure its independence from big banks and financial institutions. At issue in ...

A Texas federal judge ruled that President Donald Trump’s emergency funding for a southern border wall to be unlawful, the latest roadblock in the administration’s attempt to build hundreds of miles of new border wall. Judge David Briones, who was appointed by President Bill Clinton to serve on the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Texas, ruled on Friday ...

The U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit upheld a subpoena for President Donald Trump’s accounting records Friday, potentially teeing up a landmark fight between the president and Congress in the Supreme Court. The House Oversight and Government Reform Committee issued a subpoena to Mazars USA LLP after erstwhile Trump associate Michael Cohen accused the president of inflating assets ...

A challenge to New York City’s gun transportation regulations will move forward at the Supreme Court, despite a concerted effort to convince the justices to dismiss the case. After the justices agreed to hear a challenge to New York’s ordinance, the city relaxed its regulations and asked the high court to dismiss the case as moot. “Mootness” means that the ...

The Supreme Court will decide whether a federal law that criminalizes encouraging or inducing illegal immigration violates the First Amendment’s free speech guarantee.  A three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals said the law is overbroad, meaning it encompasses too much protected speech compared to its legitimate applications. The dispute involves an immigration consultant called Evelyn Sineneng-Smith ...