Please click here to opt in to receive the Executive Functions Roundup via email and to subscribe to Executive Functions.
Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson on Friday granted an administrative stay of two orders issued by a Rhode Island district court that would have required the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) to distribute funding for November food benefits by the end of the day. (Order.) (Application.) (Politico.) Steve Vladeck analyzed Justice Jackson’s order. (One First.) For background, see a previous Roundup.
Following Justice Jackson’s order, USDA issued a memorandum on Saturday ordering states to “immediately undo any steps taken” to distribute full Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) benefits for November. (Memorandum.) (WaPo.) The multistate coalition suing over the SNAP benefits then filed a further motion for a temporary restraining order in the District of Massachusetts, seeking to block the Nov. 8 USDA directive. (Motion.) (Chris Geidner, X.)
A Second Circuit panel vacated a district court’s denial of Donald Trump’s motion to file a second notice of removal in his New York hush-money prosecution and remanded for reconsideration in light of Trump v. United States. (Opinion.)
Judge Karin Immergut (D. Or.) on Friday ruled that President Trump’s federalization and deployment of National Guard troops to Portland exceeded his authority under 10 U.S.C. § 12406 and violated the Tenth Amendment. (Findings of Fact.) The court permanently enjoined Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s memoranda authorizing those deployments, while staying the portion of its order affecting the troops’ federalized status for 14 days. (Partial Final Judgment.) (WaPo.)
Judge Christopher Cooper (D.D.C.) held that the Department of Education violated the First Amendment by overriding furloughed employees’ automated out-of-office emails with a partisan message blaming Democrats for the shutdown and ordered permanent injunctive relief. (Memorandum Opinion.) (NYT.)
New York Attorney General Letitia James on Friday filed a motion in the Eastern District of Virginia to dismiss the indictment against her for vindictive and selective prosecution. (Motion to Dismiss.) (NYT.)
The Justice Department reportedly transferred an inquiry into former C.I.A. director John Brennan’s role in the 2017 intelligence assessment on Russian election interference to Jason Reding Quiñones, the U.S. attorney for the Southern District of Florida, who has issued subpoenas to former intelligence and FBI officials involved in the Russia probe. (NYT.)
President Trump suggested that the government will pay a “dividend of at least $2000 a person” to everyone but high-income earners in a Truth Social post that praised the revenue raised by tariffs. (WSJ.)
U.S. Pardon Attorney Ed Martin announced on Sunday that President Trump has “pardoned the 2020 Alternative Electors,” as well as others involved in efforts to subvert the 2020 presidential election. (Politico.) (X.)
Cornell University has reached an agreement with the Trump administration to restore federal funding, including a requirement that the university pay a $30 million fine to the government. (Agreement.) (NYT.)
According to the New York Times, Defense Secretary Hegseth has removed or sidelined more than two dozen senior military officers since taking office. (NYT.)
Bob Bauer discussed the president’s calls to “terminate the filibuster” in the immediate aftermath of this year’s elections, arguing that the move is meant to clear the way for federal election-law reforms by simple majority. (Executive Functions.)
Mark L. Wolf, formerly a senior district judge in Massachusetts, explained his recent resignation, writing that Trump’s “assault on the rule of law is so deeply disturbing to me that I feel compelled to speak out.” (The Atlantic.)
Quinta Jurecic and Shane Harris reported on Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s effort to shift counterintelligence authority from the FBI to her office, based on a memo circulated last week within the government. (The Atlantic.)
Anna Bower wrote that records indicate Daniel Richman may not have been “at the FBI” during the period cited in the indictment of former FBI Director James Comey, calling a core element of the case into question. (Lawfare.)
Dan McLaughlin argued that the Supreme Court is unlikely to defer to presidential foreign-affairs claims and will instead scrutinize whether Congress clearly delegated tariff authority to the president under IEEPA. (National Review.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Rollins v. Rhode Island State Council of Churches: The government filed an emergency application on November 7 requesting the Supreme Court to stay district court orders requiring the Agriculture Department to immediately transfer about $4 billion to fund November SNAP benefits during the shutdown. Justice Jackson issued an administrative stay pending the First Circuit’s resolution of the government’s stay motion and directed the parties to file supplemental briefs by November 11.
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.
Trump v. Illinois: The government filed an emergency application on October 17 requesting the Supreme Court stay a district court order barring the deployment of the National Guard to Illinois. Justice Barrett formally set a deadline of October 20 for a response to the application. Illinois and the City of Chicago submitted a response on October 20. President Trump filed a reply on October 21. On October 29, Justice Barrett requested supplemental briefs to be filed by November 10.




