The Supreme Court on Thursday granted the U.S. government’s petition for a writ of certiorari in Rhoney v. Barbosa da Cunha, which concerns whether the Immigration and Nationality Act “mandates the detention pending removal proceedings” of noncitizens who are “present in the United States without having been admitted.” (Order.) (Petition.) (SCOTUSblog.) (NYT.)

Judge Stanley A. Bastian (W.D. Wash.) on Thursday preliminarily enjoined the Executive Office of the President, Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche, and the Department of Justice from removing Roger Rogoff from his position as U.S. attorney for the Western District of Washington pending Senate confirmation of his successor. (Order.) (NYT.) (WaPo.) For background on Rogoff’s firing, see a prior Roundup.

Judge Jia M. Cobb (D.D.C.) on Wednesday suspended the Sept. 30 deadline for the Department of Housing and Urban Development to obligate or award the Comprehensive Housing Counseling (CHC) program funds that the administration attempted to cancel unilaterally (or “pocket rescind”). The judge suspended the deadline in order to prevent a lapse in appropriations pending the court’s resolution of the plaintiff organizations’ motion for a temporary restraining order and preliminary injunction barring the administration from withholding the CHC funds. (Order.) For background on the legal challenge, see a prior Roundup.

Judge Todd E. Edelman (D.C. Super. Ct.) on Thursday dismissed with prejudice the Justice Department’s indictment of former Olympian David Hearn for allegedly damaging the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool. The government had sought dismissal without prejudice, but Judge Edelman cited “the pressure that the President of the United States has placed on his subordinates” to recharge Hearn. (Order.) (NPR.)

A coalition of seven states filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California challenging the Trump administration’s unilateral effort to cancel—or “pocket rescind”—$810 million in funds Congress appropriated. (Complaint.) (Reuters.)

Renee Good’s brother and partner on Thursday filed two lawsuits in the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota related to her killing on Jan. 7, 2026. The first suit, brought under the Federal Tort Claims Act (FTCA), seeks recovery against the United States for wrongful death, intentional infliction of emotional distress, and negligent infliction of emotional distress. (FTCA Complaint.) The second suit asserts that the ICE agent who killed Good used excessive force in violation of her constitutional rights and alleges that the federal agents and current and former administration officials behind Operation Metro Surge conspired to deprive targeted Somali and Hispanic persons of the equal protection of the laws in violation of the Klan Act. (Complaint.) (WaPo.) (NYT.)

Eric Lee argued that the outcome of In re Haji Zada, the first case before the Alien Terrorist Removal Court (ATRC), “undermines the argument advanced by some ATRC-watchers that the Trump administration’s invocation of the ATRC could be ‘good for the U.S. immigration system’ and that ‘the ATRC may be less concerning than we think.’” (Just Security.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Trump v. Kingdom: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 28 seeking a stay of the district court’s August 26 order barring enforcement of the Bureau of Prisons’ 2026 policy ending hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The Chief Justice requested a response to the application by 4 p.m. on October 8.

Judge Paul A. Engelmayer (S.D.N.Y.) on Wednesday denied the government’s motion for summary judgment on its claim that the attorney-client and deliberative process privileges shield a Department of Justice Office of Legal Counsel memorandum on the legality of lethal strikes of boats carrying suspected narco-terrorists from disclosure under the Freedom of Information Act. (Opinion.) (NYT.)

Judge Victoria Marie Calvert (N.D. Ga.) on Wednesday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit seeking access to Georgia’s unredacted voter registration list. (Order.) The federal government has lost all 26 of its decided suits seeking state voter lists, and four remain pending. (CBS.)

Sen. Marsha Blackburn (R-Tenn.) filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Tennessee alleging that former special counsel Jack Smith and the Justice Department violated her privileges under the Constitution’s Speech or Debate Clause and her First and Fourth Amendment rights by subpoenaing her cell phone logs in connection with the department’s investigation into President Trump’s effort to subvert the 2020 election. (Complaint.) (NYT.) (Politico.)

The Justice Department on Wednesday accused two judges of the U.S. District Court for the District of Minnesota of judicial misconduct for speaking to The New York Times about the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge in Minnesota. The department asked the Judicial Council of the Eighth Circuit to investigate the judges and to order them recused from all cases involving the Department of Homeland Security. (Complaint.) (NYT.) (WaPo.)

An evaluation released on Wednesday by the Office of Inspector General for the Federal Reserve into the Board’s oversight of a nearly $2.4 billion construction project determined that the project was badly managed but found no administrative misconduct or criminal wrongdoing. (Report.) (NYT.) (WaPo.) President Trump said on Wednesday that former Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell should be forced to resign from the Fed’s board or “be sued, at the highest level, by the United States Government.” (Truth Social.) For background on the Justice Department’s since-abandoned criminal investigation into Powell, see previous Roundups.

A report released on Tuesday by the State Department’s Office of Inspector General found that the reduction in operations at the U.S. Agency for Global Media, which was implemented pursuant to a March 2025 executive order, undermined the agency’s “capacity to fulfill its core statutory mission of informing, engaging, and connecting people worldwide in support of freedom and democracy.” (Report.) (NYT.)

Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer discussed the legality of taxpayer-funded advertisements praising President Trump. (Executive Functions.)

Loren Voss and Natalie K. Orpett argued that the Insurrection Act does not provide an exception to a longtime federal law banning troops from polling locations. (Lawfare.)

Neil Siegel argued in a new paper that the Supreme Court in the early months of the second Trump administration moved from a “self-protective” to a “self-assertive” posture as it developed confidence that the administration would comply with its orders. (SSRN.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Trump v. Kingdom: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 28 seeking a stay of the district court’s August 26 order barring enforcement of the Bureau of Prisons’ 2026 policy ending hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The Chief Justice requested a response to the application by 4 p.m. on October 8.

The Supreme Court on Tuesday granted the solicitor general’s application to stay a district court’s order and judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance. The Court treated the government’s stay application as a petition for writ of certiorari, granted cert, and announced that it would hear oral argument in the case in December. (Order.) The order allows the administration to deport noncitizens to third countries until the Supreme Court issues its decision, which is expected next year. (NYT.) (WaPo.)

A unanimous panel of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eleventh Circuit on Tuesday denied a motion by President Trump, his sons, the Trump Organization, and two of their attorneys to stay the district court’s sanctions order in the president’s case against the Internal Revenue Service. In July, the district court found the parties to the case were not adverse, sanctioned two of the plaintiffs’ attorneys, and barred both the plaintiffs and the government from citing their purported settlement agreement in any official proceeding. (Order.) (Politico.)

The en banc U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit heard oral argument on Tuesday in a case on whether Chief Judge James Boasberg (D.D.C.) may proceed with a contempt investigation concerning his March 15, 2025 order to halt certain deportation flights to El Salvador. Several news outlets reported that the circuit appeared likely to allow the judge’s investigation to move forward. (Politico.) (WaPo.) (Wash. Examiner.)

Judge Vernon D. Oliver (D. Conn.) on Tuesday preliminarily enjoined the Bureau of Prisons’ termination of its collective bargaining agreement with the union representing about 30,000 of its employees after concluding that the union and one of its locals were likely to succeed on the merits of their argument that the termination violated the Administrative Procedure Act. (Order.)

Judge Melissa R. DuBose on Tuesday set aside the decision by the Justice Department’s Office on Violence Against Women and Office of Justice Programs to impose certain conditions on grant programs established by the Violence Against Women Act. The judge found the department’s decision violated the Administrative Procedure Act, but “decline[d] to permanently enjoin [the department] from imposing the Conditions under any circumstances in the future.” (Order.) (NYT.)

A group of nonprofits on Tuesday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging the administration’s unilateral effort to cancel—or “pocket rescind”—certain housing program funding by submitting a proposed rescission to Congress so late in the fiscal year that the funds at issue expire before Congress can act. (Complaint.) In a letter on Thursday, the Government Accountability Office concluded that the administration could not withhold the funds proposed to be rescinded through their date of expiration, as this “subverts both the constitutional process for enacting federal law and Congress’s constitutional power of the purse.” (Letter.) (The Hill.) For background, see a previous Roundup.

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Trump v. Kingdom: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 28 seeking a stay of the district court’s August 26 order barring enforcement of the Bureau of Prisons’ 2026 policy ending hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The Chief Justice requested a response to the application by 4 p.m. on October 8.

The solicitor general on Monday asked the Supreme Court to stay Judge Royce C. Lamberth’s (D.D.C.) Aug. 26 order barring the Bureau of Prisons from enforcing a 2026 policy that ends hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The application argues that the district court “substitute[d] its own policy judgment for that of the agency” and that its order violates the Prison Litigation Reform Act. (Docket.) (Stay Application.) (SCOTUSblog.)

Judge Amir H. Ali (D.D.C.) on Monday vacated five conditions that the Federal Emergency Management Agency attached to its 2026 counterterrorism grants, including requirements that states run their full voter rolls through the SAVE citizenship database. FEMA would have withheld 20 percent of a state’s funds until it complied. Judge Ali held that FEMA exceeded its statutory authority in imposing the conditions: election integrity “may be a laudable goal, but it is not a counterterrorism goal.” (Memorandum Opinion.) (Order.)

Judge Ali on Friday allowed foreign aid organizations to proceed with most of their claims challenging the Trump administration’s refusal to spend appropriated foreign aid and its dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development. Judge Ali held that the Impoundment Control Act does not bar suits to enforce the appropriations laws. The plaintiffs’ constitutional challenge to USAID’s alleged abolition also survived. (Memorandum Opinion and Order.)

Judge Allison D. Burroughs (D. Mass.) on Monday sanctioned the Department of Homeland Security for its delayed compliance with her March order vacating the April 2025 mass-email terminations of parole for migrants who had scheduled their entry through the U.S. Customs and Border Patrol One (“CBP One”) app. The order requires the department to treat those terminations “as if they had never occurred” and to notify affected parolees. (Memorandum and Order.)

The American Civil Liberties Union on Monday filed a class action in the District of Columbia challenging President Trump’s August executive order restricting birthright citizenship. The complaint alleges that the order—which denies citizenship to certain U.S.-born children of noncitizens—is part of an “ongoing, unlawful effort to carve out new exceptions to the Citizenship Clause” that began with the 2025 order the Supreme Court struck down in June. (Complaint.)

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, in a memorandum dated Sept. 22 and released Monday, directed the Defense Intelligence Enterprise to “execute collection and production on foreign threats to our elections” and U.S. Cyber Command to counter potential foreign cyber threats in coordination with the Department of Homeland Security. (Memorandum.) (Press Release.) Per Axios, the mobilization will rely on “the most advanced artificial intelligence capabilities to date.” (Axios.)

Bob Bauer argued that the administration’s recent taxpayer-funded ads featuring President Trump violate the federal ban on spending appropriated funds for “propaganda,” but that consequences will likely depend on Congress—which “faces a major legal and policy challenge in giving any teeth to the ban.” (Executive Functions.)

Mary B. McCord surveyed the laws governing domestic use of the military—which she characterized as “outdated, vague,” and “subject to abuse”—and proposed reforms including judicial review of a president’s deployment determinations and time limits on deployments not authorized by Congress. (Just Security.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D.: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 24 seeking a stay of a district court judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance. The respondents filed a response on September 28, arguing that the government seeks “to relitigate the now-dissolved preliminary injunction” that the Court stayed in 2025 “rather than confront the fundamentally different posture of the case today.”

Trump v. Kingdom: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 28 seeking a stay of the district court’s August 26 order barring enforcement of the Bureau of Prisons’ 2026 policy ending hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The Chief Justice requested a response to the application by 4 p.m. on October 8.

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan’s June order vacating a Department of Homeland Security program that checks voters’ citizenship against Social Security data, allowing the Trump administration to use the program while the appeal proceeds. A dissent by Justice Jackson, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Kagan, criticized the decision as rendering “questionable interim rulings about two statutory provisions it has never before interpreted” and questioned the balancing of harms between the government and lawful voters. (Opinion.) (SCOTUSblog.) (WSJ.)

The Supreme Court on Friday stayed the Eighth Circuit’s order and the district court’s injunctions requiring Missouri to use its newly redrawn congressional map. In leaving Missouri’s 2022 map rather than the 2025 map in place for the 2026 congressional election, the Court reasoned that switching maps so close to the election date would incur “electoral chaos.” For background, see a previous Roundup. (Opinion.) (Missouri Independent.)

Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher (D. Md.) on Friday held DHS in contempt for its removal of an asylum-seeker protected by the class settlement in J.O.P v. DHS to El Salvador in violation of three prior court orders. Judge Gallagher ordered DHS to return the asylum-seeker to the United States. (Order.)

The Trump Administration on Friday informed Congress of a $810 million rescission of funding predominantly for refugee resettlement and immigration assistance programs. The notification builds on a legal theory that the Administration first floated in the foreign aid context last year, and is timed to make it difficult for lawmakers to reject it before the end of the fiscal year. (Proposed Rescission.) (NYT.)

An advertisement that President Trump used to campaign for the presidency in 2024 has returned to national airwaves, though it is now being paid for by the US government. Some have argued that this is a violation of federal laws banning the expenditure of public funds for propaganda. The White House responded that the ads were not political and claimed that they were not dissimilar from ads run by prior administrations. (Press Release.) (NYT.)

Major news networks have agreed to resume their pool coverage of President Trump, even though the White House blocked CNN from participating in the press pool on Air Force One during President Trump’s trip to Tennessee on Saturday. (NYT.) (WSJ.) Eugene Volokh argues that keeping CNN off Air Force One is “very likely” constitutional, given that “restricted presidential spaces…are not First Amendment fora opened for private speech and discussion.” (Volokh Conspiracy.)

Andrew C. McCarthy argues in the National Review that Trump Media’s sale of early access to Trump’s Truth Social posts is “probably illegal” under the STOCK Act. However, he also argues that it is less clear whether any legal action against the President would be successful, and he concludes that Congress, rather than the legal system, is most capable of addressing executive misconduct. (National Review.) (See earlier coverage by Executive Functions.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D.: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 24 seeking a stay of a district court judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance. Justice Jackson requested a response to the application by 4pm ET on September 28.

The solicitor general on Thursday filed an emergency application with the Supreme Court for a stay of a district court judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s (DHS) third-country removal guidance. The First Circuit, which largely affirmed the judgment last week, dissolved its stay pending appeal on Wednesday night. (Application.) (NYT.) For background on the First Circuit ruling, see a previous Roundup.

Judge Timothy J. Kelly (D.D.C.) on Thursday granted a 14-day temporary restraining order requiring the White House to restore the “hard pass” press credentials of CNN, MS NOW, and POLITICO reporters, which it had revoked. (TRO.) (WaPo.)

The National Iranian American Council Action on Thursday filed a lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a declaratory judgment that the U.S. war against Iran is unconstitutional. (Complaint.)

Current and former FBI agents and analysts who worked on the classified documents investigation and prosecution of President Trump filed a motion in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of Florida on Thursday seeking “clarification” as to whether they “can freely discuss non-public information related to their work on the investigation with individuals outside of the DOJ, including but not limited to a federal grand jury and [their] own counsel.” (Motion.)

A Nevada deputy attorney general sent an email to DHS on Wednesday stating that the 185 individuals on the state’s voter roll whom DHS had alleged are noncitizens in fact are citizens. The email states that DHS had provided Nevada officials with “nothing of substance to suggest otherwise.” (Email.) (NYT.)

The Government Accountability Office on Thursday issued a report on ICE’s expansion of immigrant detention and removal operations, which concluded that “ICE has wasted funds on unsuccessful detention initiatives and lacks important information about the long-term affordability of its investments.” (Report.) (NYT.)

Zachary Price argued that while reforming the comptroller general’s office could help Congress reclaim its power of the purse, any reforms “would raise a number of fraught constitutional questions that require careful attention.” (Notice & Comment.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. D.V.D.: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 24 seeking a stay of a district court judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance. Justice Jackson requested a response to the application by 4pm ET on September 28.

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

Opponents of Missouri’s 2025 Republican-drawn congressional map asked the Supreme Court on Tuesday to clarify that its Sept. 10 order bars enforcement of a subsequent district court injunction requiring the Missouri Secretary of State to use the map in the November elections. Alternatively, they asked the Court to stay the district court’s new injunction and the Eighth Circuit’s order requiring the district court to enter it. (Application.) (Opposition.) (Opposition.) (SCOTUSblog.) (WaPo.) For background on the litigation, see a previous Roundup.

Judge P. Kevin Castel (S.D.N.Y.) on Wednesday permanently enjoined New York’s Climate Change Superfund Act, which imposed strict liability on businesses that extracted fossil fuels or refined crude oil. Judge Castel granted summary judgment to the U.S. government on its claims that the Act was preempted by the Clean Air Act and the federal government’s exclusive authority to regulate foreign affairs. (Opinion and Order.)

The D.C. Circuit on Wednesday unsealed an opinion dated April 2023 in which a divided panel held that President Trump’s attempt to block a witness from testifying before a grand jury about his efforts to subvert the 2020 election lacked “grounding in the Constitution, the founders’ constitutional design or settled precedent.” (Unsealed Records.) The New York Times identified the witness as former Vice President Mike Pence.

A coalition of Democrats filed a lawsuit on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking to block the Trump administration from deploying armed federal officers to polling sites, which are supposed to be “island[s] of calm in which voters can peacefully contemplate their choices.” (Complaint.) (Bloomberg.) (Democracy Docket.) For background on litigation challenging the potential use of federal troops in the midterm elections, see a previous Roundup.

The White House has reportedly withdrawn its plan to issue an executive order that would have established a commission with the authority to block National Institutes of Health research grants that did not align with the president’s agenda. (Semafor.) (NYT.)

Bob Bauer connected President Trump’s bans on the press to Attorney General Todd Blanche’s midterm political campaign activity, arguing that “both episodes reflect, in different ways, Trump’s exercise of presidential power to achieve maximum control of the information environment.” (Executive Functions.)

Joy Gordon examined how the Trump administration’s sanctions against Cuba have contributed to the island country’s current economic and humanitarian crises. (Lawfare.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

The solicitor general on Monday filed a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment in Genalo v. D.C. The petition presents two questions: first, whether noncitizens subject to mandatory detention are entitled to a bond hearing if their detention becomes “unreasonably prolonged”; and second, whether the government must justify a noncitizen’s continued detention by clear and convincing evidence in any bond hearing. (Petition.) (SCOTUSBlog.)

The solicitor general on Monday also filed a cert petition in Trump v. Suri, which concerns whether a noncitizen detained pending removal proceedings may file a habeas challenge to his detention in federal district court “based on claims that also go to the validity of his being removed.” The government argues that noncitizens may not do so because the Immigration and Nationality Act channels review of claims arising from “any action taken or proceeding brought to remove an alien from the United States” to “an appropriate court of appeals.” (Petition.) (Reuters.)

Judge Kymberly K. Evanson (W.D. Wash.) on Tuesday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit to compel the state of Washington to produce an unredacted copy of its statewide voter registration list. The decision marks the department’s 25th loss on this issue. (Order.) (Bloomberg Law.)

The San Francisco City Attorney David Chiu sued Trump Media & Technology Group Corp. on Monday in California Superior Court, challenging the legality of “Truth API,” which reportedly charges users $100,000 per month for early access to Truth Social posts by President Trump and other senior executive branch officials. (Complaint.) (NYT.) The complaint alleges that Trump Media is “aiding and abetting Trump’s violation of federal ethics and anti-corruption law” and is violating “other federal laws that protect against insider trading.” For background, see Jack Goldsmith’s conversation on the matter with Harvard Law School professor John Coates.

A coalition of states filed a pair of lawsuits in federal district court challenging the administration’s settlement agreements with private offshore wind developers. The agreements cancel the developers’ offshore wind leases and pay them to undertake “conventional energy projects.” (E.D.N.Y. Complaint.) (D. Me. Complaint.) (PBS.)

The president on Tuesday signed a new security agreement with Greenland and Denmark, which allows the United States to expand its military footprint on Greenland. (Agreement.) (WaPo.)

Steve Vladeck argued that the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Eighth Circuit’s decision Monday requiring Missouri to use its 2025 congressional map is “procedurally bonkers,” “substantively dangerous,” and “a far more serious instance of a lower court acting in direct tension with the Supreme Court’s directive than any of Justice Gorsuch’s three examples of ‘defiance’ in his NIH concurrence last August.” (One First.)

Kate Brannen and Tess Bridgeman outlined questions Congress should ask the Trump administration about the billions of dollars in Venezuelan assets the administration has asserted the United States controls. (Just Security.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

CNN, MS NOW, Politico, and three of their White House reporters on Monday sued President Trump and three administration officials, alleging that the president’s ban on the outlets violates the First and Fifth Amendments. The plaintiffs also moved for a temporary restraining order restoring their reporters’ press passes. (Complaint.) (Motion for TRO.) (NYT.) President Trump wrote on Truth Social that the outlets had drawn “a great Judge, for them,” referring to Judge Timothy J. Kelly (D.D.C.), and that “as usual, we’ll go for appeal.” (Truth Social.)

A divided Eighth Circuit panel on Monday held that Missouri must use its 2025 congressional map in November, finding that switching maps between the August primary and the general election would violate Article I, Section 2. The ruling conflicts with a Missouri Supreme Court decision requiring the 2022 map and affirms a district court order that the Supreme Court had stayed on Sept. 10 pending appellate review. The Eighth Circuit’s injunction is stayed until Sept. 28 to allow for Supreme Court review. (Opinion.) (Politico.) For background, see a previous Roundup.

Chief Judge Jeffrey U. Beaverstock (S.D. Ala.) on Monday temporarily stayed three Department of Homeland Security immigration enforcement policies governing warrantless immigration raids on construction sites, finding the policies likely violate the Fourth Amendment and DHS regulations. (Order.) (Reason.)

The Freedom Economy Business Association, whose members include community development financial institutions, on Monday sued the Treasury Department in the District of Columbia to compel it to obligate $289 million in fiscal 2025 funds for the Community Development Financial Institutions Fund before the appropriation expires Sept. 30. The complaint alleges the money will lapse “not because Congress failed to act, but because the Executive Branch refused to.” (Complaint.) (Reuters.)

The Washington Post reports, citing internal records, that the Trump administration had committed at least $410 million as of June to facilitate third-country deportation agreements with 31 countries. (WaPo.)

David Noll argued that because Congress has authorized state officials to enforce statutes ranging from the Clean Air Act to the Dodd-Frank Act, state attorneys general can ensure “that the law retains its force even when the executive branch declines to enforce it.” (Just Security.)

Jack Goldsmith and John Coates discussed the legality of Truth Social’s “Truth API” service, which provides subscribers early access to the president’s posts for a fee of up to $100,000 per month. (Executive Functions.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

A unanimous First Circuit panel on Friday affirmed in substantial part Judge Brian E. Murphy’s (D. Mass.) judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance on the ground that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it authorizes removals without “effective notice and a meaningful opportunity” to raise fear-of-persecution and fear-of-torture claims. The panel vacated, for lack of standing, declarations requiring DHS to first seek removal to a noncitizen’s home country, or to a country the non-citizen designated, before removing them to a third country. (Opinion.) (WaPo.) (Politico.)

Judge Allison D. Burroughs (D. Mass.) on Thursday granted partial summary judgment to education groups and vacated, as contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, Office of Management and Budget apportionment footnotes conditioning Department of Education research funds on compliance with two of President Trump’s executive orders, including the January 2025 order ending federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (Memorandum and Order.)

President Trump on Friday said he would bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, calling the outlets “fake news,” and the White House deactivated their reporters’ press credentials on Saturday. (WaPo.) The three outlets jointly stated Monday that they were filing suit. (X.) The five television networks that share pool coverage (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC) then suspended pooled coverage of the president on Monday after the White House refused to let CNN take its turn as pool representative. (NYT.) Eugene Volokh argued that excluding outlets from spaces generally open to the press, like the briefing room, would likely be unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. (Volokh Conspiracy.)

The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion dated Sept. 17 concluding that the federal law barring licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to adults under 21 is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment as applied to 18-to-20-year-olds and “may not be enforced” against dealers who sell to them. (Opinion.)

The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order that would give an outside committee review authority over National Institutes of Health research grants. The order was discussed at a Friday Oval Office meeting where OMB Director Russell Vought accused the agency of funding “woke” initiatives and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya defended its grant-making. (NYT.) (WaPo.)

President Trump wrote on Sunday that his planned triumphal arch in Washington would be “a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas.” (Truth Social.) (NYT.)

Andrew C. McCarthy argued that President Trump’s threat to withhold the Kennedy Center’s congressionally appropriated renovation unless courts allow his name on the building is “yet another abuse of presidential power that only Congress can address.” (National Review.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

Judge Christopher Cooper (D.D.C.) on Thursday denied Rep. Joyce Beatty’s motion for an emergency hearing on the Kennedy Center’s temporary closure, but ordered the government to file a detailed status report on the closure and to provide at least 30 days’ notice before implementing any changes to the administration’s plans for the Center, “including but not limited to any ‘demolition’ of the Center’s main building.” (Order.) (The Hill.)

Judge Emmet Sullivan (D.D.C.) on Wednesday ordered the Justice Department to submit to the court for in camera review the interview notes underlying certain FBI interview reports in the Epstein files, and to begin reviewing and producing foreign-language materials in the files. (Memorandum Opinion and Order.) (The Hill.)

Judge Mary Kay Lanthier (D. Vt.) on Thursday dismissed the Justice Department’s lawsuit against Vermont’s secretary of state, which sought a copy of Vermont’s statewide voter registration list. (Order.)

President Trump on Wednesday issued a memorandum directing the Office of Management and Budget and the U.S. Trade Representative to remove Canadian-origin items from the federal civil procurement system to the extent practicable and permitted by law. (Memorandum.)

Hannah Bloch-Wehba argued that “the Privacy Act is ill-equipped to address contemporary privacy risks, much less to constrain an executive branch determined to use the data in its possession for new purposes,” and recommended reforms. (Just Security.)

David Chen argued that the anti-coercion principle articulated in NFIB v. Sebelius should be understood as a federalism constraint, not a Spending Clause constraint, given that the federal government “offers a variety of inducements to states beyond conditional spending,” such as “criminally investigating state and local officials who refuse to cooperate with its immigration enforcement agenda, refusing to deliver ballots in states that will not hand over voter data, and even surging armed agents into cities with disfavored policies.” (SSRN.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

Judge Rudolph Contreras (D.D.C.) ruled Tuesday that the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) “likely violate[d]” the First Amendment when it sent two federal agents with a warning notice to the home of David Streever, a Rochester, N.Y. man who had e-mailed disparaging remarks to the acting director of Immigration and Customs Enforcement. Judge Contreras issued a preliminary injunction barring DHS from “relying on the Warning Notice, issuing similar threats, or making good on the threats in the Warning Notice.” (Memorandum Opinion.) (WaPo.)

Rep. Joyce Beatty on Wednesday filed a motion for an emergency hearing, arguing that Kennedy Center officials appeared to be moving to close and renovate the building despite Judge Christopher R. Cooper’s (D.D.C.) recent preliminary injunction in an attempt to “evade the Court’s order by fait accompli.” (Motion.) Judge Cooper ordered a response by 10:00 AM Thursday. (Order.) Chris Geidner wrote that it will be difficult for Rep. Beatty and the court to force the administration to keep the Kennedy Center open, but that “sometimes the aim of a litigation is harm reduction.” (Law Dork.) See previous Roundup for background.

A unanimous First Circuit panel on Wednesday stayed a district court’s finding that the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) failed to engage in notice-and-comment procedures before moving to set aside $1.3 billion of a $4 billion homelessness program as part of a policy shift from permanent housing support towards temporary measures. 22 states and the District of Columbia had challenged the move. The panel found HUD was likely to succeed on the merits and that upcoming award deadlines created a risk of irreparable harm. (Order.) (Reuters.)

The Government Accountability Office reported Tuesday that the Department of Government Efficiency’s deferred resignation program cost the government $6.7 billion in administrative leave spending in 2025. (Report.) (NYT.)

Martin Flaherty argued that “today’s degree of unchecked presidential authority in foreign affairs” should offer a cautionary tale for judicial expansion of presidential power in the domestic sphere. (SCOTUSblog.)

Andrew McCarthy reviewed the Trump administration’s recent first-ever use of the Alien Terrorist Removal Court, arguing that the resulting agreement between the government and the defendant finding her a removable alien terrorist had “benefits for each side.” (National Review.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.

Judge Christopher R. Cooper (D.D.C.) on Tuesday enjoined the Kennedy Center’s Board of Trustees from affixing to the center’s facade an inscription reading “renovated and restored by Donald J. Trump” and from naming the center’s grounds after President Trump. (Opinion and Order.) (NYT.) In response, Trump threatened to cancel a planned $257 million renovation unless his name was restored to the building, even as the center’s board voted on Tuesday to close the center to begin repairs. (WSJ.) (WaPo.)

Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) on Monday preliminarily enjoined a Department of Homeland Security final rule that imposed a fixed four-year limit on certain student and work visas. Judge Saylor held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the rule was arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. (Memorandum and Order.)

The Justice Department on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to review a Second Circuit decision invalidating the appointment of an acting U.S. attorney for the Northern District of New York and quashing subpoenas he issued to the state attorney general’s office. The government asked the court to resolve whether a first assistant designated after a vacancy arises may serve as acting officer under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act, and whether someone who is not an acting officer may be delegated the office’s non-exclusive duties. (Petition.) For background on the Second Circuit decision, see a previous Roundup.

FBI Director Kash Patel suggested on Tuesday during testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee that he was open to sending federal agents to polling sites. (NYT.)

The Senate on Tuesday voted to block consideration of a bill regulating crypto currency that was supported by crypto companies but disfavored by Democrats who wanted stronger language preventing federal officials from profiting off of crypto ventures. (WSJ.) (NYT.)

Rep. Thomas Massie (R-KY) on Tuesday introduced a resolution to impeach Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for high crimes and misdemeanors over the war in Iran. (Resolution.) (NPR.)

Bob Bauer offered his initial takeaways from the Supreme Court’s emergency order on Monday declining to stay an injunction of the Postal Service’s mail-in-ballot rule. (Executive Functions.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15.

The Supreme Court on Monday denied the government’s application to stay Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule, finding the government “unlikely to succeed on the merits.” Justice Kavanaugh concurred on the narrower ground that applying the rule this year would violate the Administrative Procedure Act because election officials “do not have sufficient time to reasonably implement the rule before the elections.” Justice Alito, joined by Justice Thomas, dissented. (Order.) (SCOTUSblog.) For background on the rule’s litigation, see yesterday’s Roundup.

Federal prosecutors have subpoenaed former CIA Director John O. Brennan to testify before a Fort Pierce, Florida, grand jury on Oct. 15, according to a declaration his counsel filed Monday in Brennan’s records-preservation suit against the administration. The declaration states that Brennan is a target of an investigation into statements he made to Congress and a subject of a broader investigation into an alleged conspiracy to violate President Trump’s civil rights. (Declaration.) (Politico.) For background on the alleged conspiracy, see previous Roundups.

Senate Democratic Leader Chuck Schumer and Sen. Alex Padilla on Monday released a whistleblower disclosure alleging that U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services officers were directed to impersonate individual voters to access voter records on state election websites in the Department of Homeland Security’s search for noncitizen voters. The disclosure states that the searches may violate state laws restricting those lookup tools to the voters themselves. (Letter.) (Disclosure.) (NYT.)

Twenty-two states and the District of Columbia, along with a coalition of cities led by New York City, on Monday filed separate challenges in the Southern District of New York to a new DHS rule expanding the public benefits immigration officers may consider in deciding whether a visa or green-card applicant is likely to become a “public charge.” The rule takes effect Friday. (Complaint.) (Complaint.) (Final Rule.) (NYT.) (WSJ.)

Judge Emil Bove III (3d Cir.) on Monday denied a motion seeking his disqualification from an immigration appeal, rejecting as “unserious” the argument that a January 2025 memorandum he issued as Acting Deputy Attorney General requires recusal. (Order.)

Sens. Cynthia Lummis, John Boozman, and Tim Scott on Monday released the final text of the Digital Asset Market Clarity Act, which would require the president, other elected federal officials, and their spouses to divest any significant financial interest in a business that issues or sponsors digital assets, or to place it in a qualified blind trust. A cloture vote is scheduled for Tuesday. (Bill Text.) (WaPo.) For analysis of an earlier version of the provision, see Bob Bauer’s July essay.

Paul Rasmussen and Annette Kwan argued that military officers have no constitutional warrant to block a president’s decisions; rather, the check on a president belongs to Congress, the courts, and the public. (Just Security.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.

Judge Carl J. Nichols (D.D.C.) on Sunday preliminarily enjoined the U.S. Postal Service from implementing its mail-in ballot rule in its entirety, holding that challengers are likely to succeed on their claim that the rule is ultra vires because “[n]othing in the Postal Reorganization Act authorizes the Postal Service to impose new election procedures on state election officials.” The government’s application to stay Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) parallel injunction remains pending in the Supreme Court. (Opinion.) (Order.) (AP.) Marty Lederman argued that the government’s reply brief in support of that application fails to address the harms the rule would impose on voters and states. (Just Security.)

The Supreme Court on Friday dismissed Genalo v. Black, a case on bond hearings for noncitizens in prolonged mandatory detention, after New York Gov. Kathy Hochul pardoned the conviction underlying the remaining respondent’s detention. The Solicitor General said the government stipulated to the dismissal “with the aim of identifying alternative vehicles” to return the questions to the Court later this term. (Letter.) (SCOTUSblog.)

A D.C. Circuit panel on Friday vacated the Department of Energy’s emergency order under section 202(c) of the Federal Power Act that required a Michigan coal plant slated for closure to remain in operation. The panel held that “[t]he mere possibility of an electricity supply shortfall—with no specifics about its potential severity, timing, location, or likelihood—does not warrant an emergency federal response.” (Opinion.)

Judge Susan Illston (N.D. Cal.) on Friday granted partial summary judgment against the Department of Homeland Security’s plan to cut FEMA’s staff by roughly half, holding that the plan is arbitrary and capricious under the Administrative Procedure Act. (Order.) (NYT.) (WaPo.) In a separate order, Judge Illston found that DHS officials intentionally used Signal’s auto-delete feature to destroy messages about the cuts, and imposed spoliation sanctions. (Order.)

The Justice Department on Friday announced that it had deported Nazira Haji Zada, a lawful permanent resident, to Afghanistan under the first removal order issued by the Alien Terrorist Removal Court. Haji Zada, who the government alleged supported her son and son-in-law’s plan for an Islamic State-inspired attack, was not charged with a crime and agreed to her removal on Aug. 20. (Press Release.) (WaPo.) For background, see a previous Roundup.

The Washington Post reports that the National Security Agency is planning its “most extensive internal restructuring in at least a decade.” A plan by NSA Director Gen. Joshua M. Rudd would create five new organizations—for artificial intelligence, China, cybersecurity, combat support, and global intelligence—each led by a new “mission director.” (WaPo.)

Jack Goldsmith argued, on the 25th anniversary of the 2001 Authorization for Use of Military Force (AUMF), that the statute’s importance “has dimmed,” and that now “[t]he real challenge is whether Congress can claw back or constrain the super-broad claims of Article II use-of-force power that the executive branch has made over the decades.” (Executive Functions.)

Bob Bauer argued that Secretary of State Denny Hoskins’s maneuvering for Missouri’s gerrymandered map illustrates the structural risk of the “entrusting of election administration to political party-affiliated officials,” and that the courts’ response suggests judicial alertness “could prove crucial” this fall. (Executive Functions.)

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discussed Republican pushback against the administration’s election interventions. (Executive Functions.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. California and the League of Women Voters each filed responses on September 9, and the government filed a reply in support of the application on September 10. A First Circuit panel on September 10 denied the government’s parallel stay application.

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.

The Supreme Court on Thursday stayed Judge Stephen R. Clark’s (E.D. Mo.) temporary restraining order enjoining Missouri Secretary of State Denny Hoskins from using any congressional map other than the Republican-drawn plan the legislature enacted in 2025, leaving in place the Missouri Supreme Court’s ruling that the plan cannot be used unless voters approve it in a referendum. The state court held Hoskins in contempt the same day for directing election officials to use the map, though it said a notice he issued that afternoon had “corrected his contemptuous conduct.” (Order.) (WSJ.) (Law Dork.) Steve Vladeck argued that the conflicting orders are “a mess partly of the justices’ making.” (One First.)

A First Circuit panel on Thursday denied the government’s motion for a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. (Order.) Adam Unikowsky argued that the rule exceeds the Postal Service’s authority over mail operations because it regulates voting activity rather than the mail. (Adam’s Legal Newsletter.)

The Justice Department on Tuesday petitioned the Supreme Court to review a Ninth Circuit decision holding that Sigal Chattah cannot serve as acting U.S. attorney for Nevada because she was named the office’s first assistant only after it fell vacant. (Petition.) (SCOTUSblog.) For background, see a previous Roundup.

The city of Denver and three civic organizations sued the Department of Homeland Security on Thursday in the District of Columbia over its policy of authorizing armed immigration officers to go to polling places for immigration enforcement. The complaint alleges that the policy violates a Civil War-era statute barring armed federal officers from election sites except “to repel armed enemies of the United States,” and that “[t]he specter of armed officers at polling places threatens the freedom of this upcoming election.” (Complaint.) (NYT.)

Joseph diGenova, the Reagan-era U.S. attorney appointed in April to lead the Justice Department’s “grand conspiracy” investigation into federal officials who investigated President Trump, abruptly resigned on Thursday. The resignation reportedly followed pressure from department leaders who had lost confidence in diGenova’s handling of the investigation, which had not produced an indictment. (Politico.) (NYT.)

Jack Goldsmith appeared on the New York Times podcast “Interesting Times” to discuss President Trump’s “unprecedented” self-enrichment in office. (NYT.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. California and the League of Women Voters each filed responses on September 9, and the government filed a reply in support of the application on September 10. A First Circuit panel on September 10 denied the government’s parallel stay application.

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.

A coalition of 23 states and the District of Columbia, and a group of civic organizations led by the League of Women Voters (LWV), responded on Wednesday to the government’s application to the Supreme Court to stay a district court order preliminarily enjoining implementation of parts of the United States Postal Service’s mail-in ballot rule. (States’ Response.) (LWV Response.) (SCOTUSblog.)

President Trump issued a series of proclamations on Tuesday barring importation of certain Canadian alcoholic beverages, dairy products, and motor vehicles. (Alcoholic Beverages Proclamation.) (Dairy Proclamation.) (Motor Vehicle Proclamation.) (AP.)

The Census Bureau on Wednesday issued a proposed rule that would exclude from the census count “illegal aliens and aliens whose legal status is less durable and indefinite in length than lawful permanent resident status.” The proposed rule also would “prohibit the inclusion of questions about race and ethnicity or sexual orientation on the decennial census short-form questionnaire or any questionnaire used for purposes of the enumeration.” (Proposed Rule.) (NYT.) (WaPo.)

The Justice Department has reportedly sent letters to election officials in 30 states, asking them to preserve records related to the 2024 election and warning the officials they are “currently under investigation.” (NYT.)

Elie Honig argued that President Trump’s tariffs on Canada are legally vulnerable. (Stay Tuned.)

Caleb Nelson argued in a new article that the “current Supreme Court has enthusiastically embraced… aggressively pro-President readings of the Constitution. But the text of the Constitution is at best ambiguous about the issues that the Court takes it to resolve. As for history, the Court has flitted imprecisely between the idea that history reveals a determinate original meaning on these points and the idea that historical practices have “liquidate[d] & settle[d]” ambiguities in the original meaning—but in any event, the Court is wrong about both its historical evidence and the theory of liquidation.” (SSRN.)

Miriam Seifter argued in a new article that in the face of “presidential aggrandizement, governors possess important and underappreciated powers to resist, counteract, and reshape national action.” (SSRN.) (Just Security.)

Ernest Young argued in a new article that “Congress retains—and has long exercised—the power to delegate authority to administer and enforce federal law outside the executive branch altogether to states and private persons….. These arrangements do not violate the unitary executive principle because states and private actors do not exercise the executive power “of the United States.” And they offer a degree of independence far beyond that of traditional independent federal agencies.” (SSRN.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. California and the League of Women Voters each filed responses on September 9. The First Circuit has not yet ruled on the government’s parallel stay application.

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.

The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stay pending appeal a district court order vacating a Department of Homeland Security program. The program used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. (Application.) (NYT.) (SCOTUSBlog.) For background, see a previous Roundup.

A unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a preliminary injunction barring the Internal Revenue Service from disclosing tax return information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immigration enforcement. The panel held that the data-sharing arrangement likely violated a taxpayer privacy statute. (Opinion.) (WSJ.)

The accreditation council of the American Bar Association voted on Tuesday to eliminate a requirement that law schools demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The move comes after President Trump issued an executive orderthat asserted the ABA’s diversity requirement violated Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. (NYT.)

Bob Bauer argued that the Supreme Court’s interim order in the mail voting case “introduces serious uncertainties into the remaining weeks before the election if the executive branch launches another eleventh-hour intervention by executive order.” (Executive Functions.)

Marty Lederman argued that “the simplest, most straightforward way” for the Supreme Court to decide the government’s U.S. Postal Service mail-in ballots stay application is to deny the stay on the grounds that the balance of equities “overwhelmingly” favors the plaintiffs. (Just Security.)

Ilya Somin argued that the U.S. Postal Service’s final rule restricting mail voting runs afoul of the Constitution’s Elections Clause and the major questions doctrine. (Volokh Conspiracy.)

Andy Wright and Tara Ganapathy discussed the implications of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel executive privilege opinion on congressional oversight of the private sector. (Just Security.)

Andrew C. McCarthy published a three-part series on President Trump’s seizure of Venezuela’s oil reserves. (National Review.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. The First Circuit has not yet ruled on the government’s parallel stay application. Justice Jackson set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 9.

Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.

The solicitor general on Sunday asked the Supreme Court for a stay pending appeal and an immediate administrative stay of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. (Application.) (NYT.) The preliminary injunction follows Judge Talwani’s earlier temporary restraining order. For background, see a previous Roundup.

A divided panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals on Friday denied the government’s emergency motion for a stay pending appeal of a district court order setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s modifications to its SAVE immigration- and citizenship-verification system, which would have repurposed SAVE as a voter-identification tool in the midterm elections. (Order.) The court indicated it would issue a full decision on the appeal within 10 days. (NYT.)

Judge Tanya Chutkan (D.D.C.) on Friday ordered the Trump administration to provide 48 hours’ notice before performing any work on the site of the president’s proposed arch other than “information gathering.” (Minute Order.) (NYT.)

Judge Trevor McFadden (D.D.C.) on Friday declined to issue a preliminary injunction halting the Defense Department’s firing of several Stars and Stripes journalists, finding the journalists were unlikely to succeed on the merits of their First Amendment claim. (Memorandum Order.) (NYT.)

Jonathan Hafetz argued that “[d]enying habeas review of detention for protected speech risks accomplishing in practice what the Constitution forbids without actual suspension” of the writ. (Lawfare.)

Jill Habig argued that cities can resist federal overreach by “us[ing] local policy and spending power to diverge from federal priorities, withhold[ing] local cooperation from the federal government, and increas[ing] rights beyond federal guarantees,” among other measures. (Just Security.)

Ilya Somin reviewed the federal government’s record in recent sanctuary city cases, arguing that state and local governments have rightly prevailed on anti-commandeering challenges while noting a “rare” federal win on a Contracts Clause challenge to a Virginia law requiring termination of law-enforcement agreements with the federal government. (Volokh.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. The First Circuit has not yet ruled on the government’s parallel stay application. Justice Jackson set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 9.

The Justice Department on Thursday asked the Supreme Court to stay Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) temporary restraining order barring mandatory enforcement of the Postal Service’s ballot mail rule for elections through November 3, before the First Circuit had ruled on the government’s parallel stay motion. (Application.) Earlier on Thursday, Judge Talwani took under advisement the preliminary injunction motions filed by the League of Women Voters of Massachusetts and by 23 states and the District of Columbia. In a post-hearing declaration, the Postal Service stated that it anticipates making its ballot portal available for voluntary use “sometime next week.” (Clerk’s Notes.) (Declaration.)

The Treasury Department and the Internal Revenue Service on Thursday proposed regulations that would deny tax-exempt status to any school the IRS determines to have a racially discriminatory policy or program. The proposal would extend the fundamental-public-policy standard of Bob Jones University v. United States and withdraw prior guidance permitting schools to favor minority students. (Proposed Rule.) (Press Release.) (NYT.)

Former Pardon Attorney Elizabeth Oyer on Thursday sued the Justice Department in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, challenging her March 2025 removal. The complaint argues that even if Oyer were removable at will, her removal was “invalid and void ab initio” because it was effected by then-Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche rather than by the Attorney General. (Complaint.)

Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher (D. Md.) on Wednesday ordered the government to answer eight questions concerning Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s September 1 removal to El Salvador of a J.O.P. class member—an unaccompanied-child asylum applicant—including whether ICE systems contain an alert identifying him as a potential class member. The Justice Department conceded “communication errors” and stated that it intends to update the court by September 10. (Order.) (Status Report.)

Interior Secretary Doug Burgum announced on Thursday that excavation for President Trump’s 250-foot triumphal arch will begin within two weeks, before the National Capital Planning Commission has granted final approval and before completion of review under the National Historic Preservation Act. (X.) In Lemmon v. Trump, the suit challenging the arch, the government argued in a notice of supplemental authority filed the same day that the Supreme Court’s decision on standing in the White House ballroom case “mandates” dismissal. (Notice.) (NYT.)

Federal prosecutors have reportedly charged Immigration and Customs Enforcement officer Christian Castro with making false statements concerning the January shooting of a Venezuelan man in Minneapolis; the indictment is sealed pending his transfer into custody. (Minnesota Reformer.) (WaPo.) (CNN.)

Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court

United States Postal Service v. California: The Solicitor General filed an application on September 3 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a temporary restraining order issued by the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts limiting implementation of the Postal Service’s final rule on ballot mail for federal elections. Justice Jackson requested a response by 10 a.m. on September 8.

National Republican Congressional Committee v. Brown: The National Republican Congressional Committee and the National Republican Senatorial Committee filed an application on August 28 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a Fourth Circuit decision setting aside a Federal Communications Commission public notice on preferential broadcast rates for political advertising. On August 31, the Chief Justice requested a response by noon on September 3. The United States and the Federal Communications Commission filed a response supporting the application on August 31.