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The Ninth Circuit on Tuesday denied a petition for full court rehearing en banc of the 11-judge en banc panel’s same-day order reinstating a stay of a district court’s temporary restraining order. The district court order had barred federal authorities from requesting that local election officials segregate ballots submitted by suspected noncitizens. (Order.) For background, see yesterday’s Roundup.
Chief Judge John J. McConnell, Jr. (D.R.I.) on Wednesday granted partial summary judgment to a coalition of states, ruling from the bench that the Justice Department cannot condition millions of dollars in federal public safety grants on states’ cooperation with federal immigration enforcement. (Docket.) (Reuters.)
Judge Leo T. Sorokin (D. Mass.) on Wednesday granted the Justice Department’s motion to dismiss with prejudice the indictment against a Harvard-affiliated scientist and J-1 visa holder accused of smuggling frog embryos into the United States. The government sought to drop the case after the court held that the defendant had offered sufficient evidence in her vindictive and selective prosecution claims to entitle her to discovery. (Order.) (AP.) (NBC.)
CNN, MS NOW, and Politico filed a motion on Wednesday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia seeking a further preliminary injunction barring the White House from excluding their reporters from press-pool events on Air Force One and in the Oval Office. (Motion.) (Memorandum.) For background on an earlier preliminary injunction issued in the case by Judge Timothy J. Kelly (D.D.C.), see a previous Roundup.
Ranking member of the House Oversight Committee Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.) on Tuesday issued a two-word statement after Democrats won a majority in the House: “Lawyer up.” Garcia has “vowed to take on the Trump Crime Family, corporate corruption, DHS and ICE abuses, and the cover-up of the Epstein files.” (Statement.)
Ranking member of the House Committee on Homeland Security Rep. Bennie G. Thompson (D-Miss.) demanded in a Wednesday letter to Homeland Security Secretary Markwayne Mullin that the department comply with all of the committee’s outstanding requests for information and provide written assurances that its records have not been and will not be destroyed. (Letter.)
Bob Bauer argued that, despite the Trump administration’s efforts to interfere in the midterm elections, Tuesday’s elections were free and fair due to the administration’s flawed legal strategy, a Supreme Court that was “unfriendly” to the government’s “election denialist program,” and a system of dedicated state and local election officials. (Executive Functions.)
Steve Vladeck argued that the midterm election results provoke three key questions about the Supreme Court, the answers to which have the potential to “shape its future.” (One First.)
Jonathan Nash argued that Congress should have standing to challenge the executive branch in court to vindicate its core functions to investigate and to push back against executive action that circumscribes Congress’s role in lawmaking. (Just Security.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Mullin v. Friends of the Ruidosa Church: The government on October 21 asked the Supreme Court to issue a stay pending appeal of a district court preliminary injunction halting government construction of barriers along a portion of the U.S.-Mexico border. The government asked the Court to construe its application as a petition for a writ of certiorari and grant the petition. (Application.) The respondents filed their opposition on October 29, and the government filed its reply on October 30.