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Judge Katherine Menendez (D. Minn.) on Saturday denied Minnesota’s request to block the Trump administration’s immigration enforcement surge. She ruled that the state and Twin Cities failed to meet their burden of showing a likelihood of success on their Tenth Amendment claim. (Order.) (Politico.) Prior to Judge Menendez’s ruling, Ilya Somin analyzed the state’s Tenth Amendment theory that the ICE surge amounts to unconstitutional commandeering. (Lawfare.)
Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (D.D.C.) on Friday partially blocked President Trump’s election executive order. She ruled that provisions requiring documentary proof of citizenship for voter registration and absentee ballots exceed the president’s authority and violate the Constitution’s separation of powers. (Order.)
Immigrant advocacy groups on Friday sued the Department of Homeland Security and ICE in the District of Massachusetts. The suit challenges an ICE policy that authorizes agents to enter homes without a judicial warrant on the ground that the practice violates the Fourth Amendment and the Administrative Procedure Act. (Complaint.)
In a decision made public on Saturday, Chief Judge Jeffrey S. Sutton of the Sixth Circuit dismissed a judicial-misconduct complaint brought by the Department of Justice against Chief Judge James Boasberg (D.D.C.) (Memorandum and order.) (WaPo.) Steve Vladeck described the dismissal as a stinging rebuke to DOJ’s handling of the complaint. (One First.)
According to Courthouse News Service, Judge Cynthia Rufe (E.D. Pa.) “appeared deeply skeptical” of the Interior Department’s justification for removing a slavery exhibit at the President’s House in Philadelphia. (Courthouse News Service.)
Judge William G. Young (D. Mass.) on Friday ruled that the Energy Department violated the Federal Advisory Committee Act by convening a secret climate panel to inform policymaking. (Judgment.) (NYT.)
Judge Fred Biery (W.D. Tex.) on Saturday ordered the release of an asylum seeker and his five-year-old son and criticized the government’s immigration enforcement practices. (Opinion and Order.) (NYT.) Kyle Cheney reported that federal judges’ handling of cases related to Trump’s mass deportation agenda has, in recent weeks, amounted to “a full-blown clarion call by judges across the country, who are now openly castigating what they say are systematic legal and constitutional abuses by the administration.” (Politico.)
Federal prosecutors on Friday unsealed an indictment charging former CNN anchor Don Lemon and eight others with conspiring to interfere with the right to worship. The indictment alleges that the defendants planned and executed a “takeover-style attack” inside a Minnesota church on Jan. 18. (Indictment.) Lemon maintained that he attended the immigration-enforcement protest in a journalistic capacity and that his actions are protected by the First Amendment. (WSJ.) Quinta Jurecic argued that the case against Lemon “is best understood not as law enforcement but as propaganda.” (The Atlantic.)
The Justice Department on Friday released roughly three million additional pages from its Jeffrey Epstein investigations. Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche said the release is expected to be the department’s final major disclosure of Epstein materials. (WaPo.)
Blanche on Friday defended Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s presence during the FBI’s recent seizure of ballots from the 2020 election in Georgia, which were taken as part of an investigation into “election integrity.” (Politico.) David French warned that the FBI’s raid in Fulton County, Georgia is part of a broader pattern that places the November elections “already in peril.” (NYT.) Lawfare posed questions about the Fulton County search. (Lawfare.)
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discussed the Georgia voting records search warrant and President Trump’s $10 billion lawsuit against the IRS. (Executive Functions.)
Kate Welty and Max Sarinsky argued that the Trump administration’s deregulatory agenda relies on aggressive invocations of recent Supreme Court decisions and expansive readings of Administrative Procedure Act exceptions. (Just Security.)
In an opinion piece for the Wall Street Journal, President Trump contended that his tariffs have driven economic growth, lowered inflation, and strengthened U.S. national security. (WSJ.)
George F. Will called upon the Supreme Court to reign in President Trump’s removal power in its ruling on Trump v. Slaughter. (WaPo.)
Ben Rhodes argued that the abuses associated with ICE reflect deeper structural failures at the Department of Homeland Security, writing that post-9/11 securitization has untethered immigration enforcement from the rule of law. (NYT.)
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.