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Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai (D. Or.) on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit filed by the Trump administration seeking access to Oregon’s unredacted voter registration list. (NBC.) (Opinion and order.) For background on the case, see a prior Roundup.
Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) on Thursday issued a preliminary injunction barring the Department of Homeland Security from using confidential taxpayer information shared by the IRS to locate, arrest, or deport people. (Memorandum and order.) (Politico.)
Judge Mustafa T. Kasubhai (D. Or.) on Wednesday issued a preliminary injunction enjoining DHS and its agents from making warrantless immigration arrests without probable cause that the suspect is likely to escape before a warrant can be obtained. (Order.) (CBS.)
The Justice Department filed a motion on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia requesting the court grant a stay pending appeal of its order enjoining the Department of Homeland Security from terminating Haiti’s Temporary Protected Status. (Motion.) For background on the case, see a prior Roundup.
The Justice Department unit responsible for investigating and prosecuting law enforcement misconduct has lost two-thirds of its prosecutors within the last year and is under orders by the Trump administration to curtail its investigations into excessive force, according to seven former lawyers in the section. (Reuters.)
The Department of Justice issued an interim final rule on Thursday that would make it harder for immigrants to appeal deportation orders issued by the Board of Immigration Appeals. (Rule.) (WSJ.)
President Trump said Thursday that Attorney General Pam Bondi directed National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard to personally supervise the FBI’s search of an election facility in Georgia’s Fulton County, where agents seized roughly 700 boxes of ballots and materials from the 2020 election. (NYT.) Gabbard reportedly told lawmakers in a Monday letter that President Trump asked her to attend the search. (PBS.) For background on the seizure, see previous Roundups.
Legal ethics experts told the New York Times that the Justice Department may have violated a professional conduct rule, which requires informing the court about adverse law, when a government attorney failed to cite a federal statute that limits search warrants for journalists’ work product in an application for a warrant to search a Washington Post reporter’s home. (NYT.) For background, see previous Roundups.
President Trump said he wants to negotiate a new nuclear pact between the United States and Russia after a pre-existing strategic-arms treaty brokered in 2011 between the two countries expired on Thursday. Trump rejected Russia’s proposal to extend core aspects of the pact for a year, calling it “a badly negotiated deal.” (WSJ.)
Jack Goldsmith discussed recent remarks made by former FBI Director James Comey on the rule of law in the United States and argued that the federal judiciary is “providing a real check on Trump lawlessness.” (Executive Functions.)
Goldsmith also spoke with Richard Ekins, professor of law and constitutional government at Oxford University, about the United Kingdom’s plan to transfer sovereignty over the Chagos Islands to Mauritius while leasing back the Diego Garcia naval base for continued U.S.–U.K. military use. (Executive Functions.)
Katherine Yon Ebright offered five takeaways from Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s testimony last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee on the administration’s military action in and around Venezuela. (Just Security.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Blanche v. Perlmutter: The government filed an emergency application on October 27 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a district court interlocutory injunction that temporarily reinstated Shira Perlmutter to her role as Register of Copyrights while litigation over her removal continues. Chief Justice Roberts formally set a deadline of November 10 for a response to the application. Perlmutter submitted a response on November 10. Blanche submitted a reply on November 12. The Court deferred the application for stay on November 28 pending the Court’s decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook.
Trump v. Cook: The government filed an emergency application on September 18 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a preliminary injunction issued by a district court that blocked President Trump from removing Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook. Cook filed an opposition to the request on the same day. The Chief Justice formally set a deadline of September 25 for a response to the application. Cook filed a response on September 25. On October 1, the Court deferred action on the stay application pending oral argument in January 2026 and established a supplemental briefing schedule. Additional amicus briefs were filed on October 29. Both sides filed supplemental briefs on November 19 and the Court heard oral argument on Jan. 21, 2026.