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The Supreme Court on Wednesday granted the government’s application for a stay of a district court injunction against President Trump’s firing of three members of the Consumer Product Safety Commission. Justice Kavanaugh wrote a concurrence, and Justice Kagan, joined by Justices Sotomayor and Jackson, dissented. (Order.)
A panel of the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals on Wednesday affirmed a district court preliminary injunction declaring invalid Trump’s birthright citizenship executive order. The panel agreed with the district court that “a universal preliminary injunction is necessary to give the States complete relief on their claims,” and affirmed that relief from the order for the four state plaintiffs. The panel declined to exercise jurisdiction over the claims of individual plaintiffs challenging the order because, the court wrote, those plaintiffs “are covered by a certified class action in another federal court.” Judge Patrick Bumatay concurred in part and dissented in part. (Order and opinion.)
Three federal judges issued rulings on Wednesday on the custodial status of Kilmar Armando Abrego Garcia. Judge Waverly Crenshaw (M.D. Tenn.) denied the government’s motion to revoke a magistrate judge’s order directing Abrego’s release and directed his release upon the issuance of a release order by the magistrate judge. However, the magistrate—Judge Barbara Holmes—later on Wednesday granted a motion from Abrego’s lawyers to stay his release for 30 days, which they filed in response to the government’s statement that if the court denied the government’s motion for revocation, DHS would begin proceedings to remove Abrego from the country. After Judge Crenshaw’s ruling, Judge Paula Xinis (D. Md.) ordered government defendants to return Abrego to Maryland upon his release from custody in Tennessee and to provide him with 72 business hours’ notice before initiating his deportation to a country besides El Salvador. (Judge Crenshaw’s order.) (Judge Crenshaw’s opinion.) (Judge Xinis’s order.) (Judge Xinis’s opinion.) (Judge Holmes’s order.) (Politico.)
Judge Robin Rosenberg (S.D. Fla.) on Wednesday denied the Justice Department’s request to unseal transcripts from grand jury investigations into Jeffrey Epstein in the Southern District of Florida. Judge Rosenberg also denied the government’s conditional request to transfer the petition to the Southern District of New York. As Judge Rosenberg noted, the government conceded in its petition to unseal that circuit precedent ran against its request. (Order.)
Judge Alan Albright (W.D. Tex.) on Wednesday dismissed for lack of standing a lawsuit brought by eight federal agencies seeking a declaratory judgment that would permit them to terminate collective bargaining agreements pursuant to an executive order that seeks to exempt certain federal agencies—on national security grounds—from requirements imposed by the Federal Service Labor-Management Relations Statute. (Order and opinion.)
Anne Joseph O’Connell considered potential litigation related to the New Jersey U.S. attorney matter. (Anne Joseph O’Connell, Bluesky.) And Steve Vladeck outlined the relevant law and argued that the administration likely cannot reinstall Alina Habba to the position. (One First.)
David Pozen argued that the Trump administration’s agreement with Columbia University represents a dangerous development in the administration’s strategy of “regulation by deal.” (Balkinization.)
Michael Schiffer discussed Congress’s abdication of its constitutional role in Trump 2.0. (Just Security.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
No pending applications.