Please click here to opt in to receive the Executive Functions Roundup via email and to subscribe to Executive Functions.
Judge Jeannette A. Vargas (S.D.N.Y.) on Friday issued a temporary restraining order blocking the Trump administration from pausing federal funding for a $16 billion rail tunnel project connecting New York and New Jersey. (Opinion and Order.) For background on the legal proceedings, see a previous Roundup. According to the New York Times, Trump administration officials have told Sen. Chuck Schumer that the funds would be released if the Senate minority leader agreed to rename New York’s Penn Station and Washington Dulles International Airport after President Trump. (NYT.)
A divided panel of the Fifth Circuit on Friday upheld the Trump administration’s mandatory detention policy for non-citizens in removal proceedings as lawful under the Immigration and Nationality Act. The panel reversed two district courts’ orders to release petitioners or provide them with bond hearings and remanded for further proceedings. (Order.) Kyle Cheney reported that the ruling contradicts thousands of lower-court rulings and noted that the issue “could soon be headed” to the Supreme Court. (Politico.) Steve Vladeck argued that the Trump administration strategically appealed the case to the Fifth Circuit. (One First.)
Fulton County argued in an unsealed memorandum that the FBI’s seizure of 2020 election ballots constituted “callous disregard” of the Fourth Amendment, First Amendment, and state sovereignty. (Memorandum.) Judge J.P. Boulee (N.D. Ga.) on Saturday unsealed the county’s motion seeking the return of nearly 700 boxes of election ballots seized by the FBI and gave the federal government a Tuesday deadline to file its search warrant affidavit. (Order.) (Politico.) For background on the case, see a previous Roundup.
The New York Times reports that the Department of Justice has experienced an exodus of attorneys during the first year of President Trump’s second term. The department’s work force declined by 8 percent between November 2024 and November 2025 and U.S. attorneys’ offices lost 14 percent of their employees, according to Office of Personnel Management data. (NYT.)
The State Department confirmed to NPR that it is removing all posts on its various X accounts that were published before President Trump took office on Jan. 20, 2025. The posts will be internally archived but will no longer be publicly viewable. (NPR.)
James Rosen examined seven pages of former president Richard Nixon’s previously sealed federal grand jury testimony, which reveal that in 1971 the Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff authorized a Navy official to surreptitiously steal and copy documents from the Nixon White House to share with the Pentagon. (NYT.)
Andrew C. McCarthy published the first three installments of a five-part series on the financial entanglements between President Trump and the United Arab Emirates. (The National Review.)
Michael Mattler analyzed the governance structure of the Board of Peace. (Just Security.)
Ilya Somin explained how President Trump’s threats to nationalize elections led a leading election law scholar to abandon his support for such a policy. (The Volokh Conspiracy.)
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.