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A divided Second Circuit panel held on Friday that John A. Sarcone III never lawfully served as Acting U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of New York. The court affirmed the quashing of two grand jury subpoenas he issued to the New York attorney general’s office over its investigations of the National Rifle Association and President Trump. (Opinion.)
A Ninth Circuit panel on Thursday refused to pause a preliminary injunction governing conditions at the Adelanto ICE Processing Center while the government appeals. Even where a contractor runs the facility day to day, the panel ruled as part of its “likelihood of success” analysis that the government “is ultimately responsible for ensuring that the conditions of confinement are constitutionally acceptable.” (Order.)
Judge Michael McShane (D. Or.) on Thursday preliminarily enjoined the Department of Homeland Security and the Federal Emergency Management Agency from attaching anti-DEI and gender-ideology conditions to the City of Salem’s disaster relief grants. “There is simply no nexus between the Challenged Conditions and the grant programs here,” Judge McShane wrote. (Opinion and Order.)
Religious groups suing over immigration enforcement at houses of worship asked Judge F. Dennis Saylor IV (D. Mass.) on Thursday to order the Department of Homeland Security to show why it should not be held in contempt. Their motion says an undercover ICE agent wearing a hidden microphone sat through a two-hour class at a Minneapolis church in May. (Motion.) (Politico.)
The New York Times reported that the Department of Homeland Security has identified 185 potential noncitizens on Nevada’s voter rolls, against the 15,903 it announced last month. A department official said the larger number “hasn’t had a full manual review of each one.” (NYT.)
The Atlantic reported that the National Park Service now runs a separate queue of “White House priorities” which get resources ahead of other projects, while spending on parks outside Washington has fallen by $854 million this fiscal year. (The Atlantic.)
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith argued that an Office of Legal Counsel opinion dated Aug. 10 exaggerates the law in concluding that the presidential communications privilege protects the president’s communications with private advisers. No judicial decision “recognizes” or establishes a “precedent” for extending the privilege that far, they wrote. (Executive Functions.)
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.