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Judge Indira Talwani (D. Mass.) on Sunday gave the government until 8:00 a.m. Tuesday to answer voting groups’ motion to enforce her August 11 injunction barring the Postal Service from completing its mail-ballot rulemaking before the midterms. The final rule, issued late Friday to be published Wednesday, would cut off mail-ballot delivery in states that withhold voter data. (Final Rule.) (NYT.) If the government wants until Thursday to respond, Judge Talwani wrote, she will enter a temporary restraining order staying publication. (Docket.) For background, see a previous Roundup.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas (S.D.N.Y.) on Friday vacated the State Department’s suspension of immigrant visas for nationals of 75 countries. Judge Vargas held that the policy, which directed consular officers to refuse the visas without any individualized assessment of the applicant, violates the Immigration and Nationality Act’s bar on discrimination by nationality. (Opinion and Order.)
The Chief Justice on Friday stayed the injunction barring further construction of the White House ballroom “pending further order of The Chief Justice or of the Court.” Judge Richard J. Leon’s (D.D.C.) injunction had been set to take effect that day. (Order.) (NYT.)
Judge F. Kay Behm (E.D. Mich.) on Friday dismissed the Justice Department’s suit to force Washtenaw County to cooperate with Immigration and Customs Enforcement. “Neither the federal government nor the President may conscript local officials to enforce their will,” Judge Behm wrote. (Opinion and Order.)
Judge Stephanie A. Gallagher (D. Md.) on Friday ordered the government to facilitate the return of a man it removed in July despite an immigration judge’s grant of protection under the Convention Against Torture. The government revoked that protection without notice or a hearing. (Memorandum Opinion.)
A Department of Education staff report made public on Friday recommends denying the American Bar Association’s legal education council continued recognition as the accreditor of the nation’s law schools. An advisory panel will take up the recommendation on September 23. (Report.) (WSJ.)
President Trump announced on Friday that Ed Martin will leave the Justice Department to work on election litigation ahead of the midterms. (Truth Social.) Martin has served as pardon attorney and led the department’s Weaponization Working Group. (The Hill.)
Andrew C. McCarthy argued that the White House Transparency Task Force had no lawful basis to publish a 2015 FBI interview of former Representative Eric Swalwell, whom the Justice Department has not charged. (National Review.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Trump v. California: The government filed an application on July 27 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a district court injunction that blocked federal agencies from implementing certain portions of the president’s March 31 executive order entitled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” The 23 states and the District of Columbia challenging the order filed a consolidated opposition on August 3, arguing that a stay “would allow the federal government to rush out an unprecedented, legally indefensible voter-verification and ballot-interception program.” The government filed a reply on August 4, arguing that the states rest their challenge on “speculation about what impact the Executive Order would have if it were ultimately implemented in violation of federal law.” The government filed a supplemental brief on August 12 to “inform the Court of a recent order in a parallel case” and the states responded the same day.
Alabama v. California: Twelve states filed an application on July 29 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a district court injunction that blocked federal agencies from implementing certain portions of the president’s March 31 executive order entitled “Ensuring Citizenship Verification and Integrity in Federal Elections.” The 23 states and the District of Columbia challenging the order filed a consolidated opposition on August 3. The twelve states filed a reply on August 4, arguing that the executive order “imposes zero obligations on the States or public.”
National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation: The government filed an application on August 13 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a district court injunction blocking further construction of the White House ballroom. The National Trust for Historic Preservation filed its response on August 18. The government filed its reply on August 19. On August 21, the Chief Justice stayed the injunction “pending further order of The Chief Justice or of the Court.”