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A coalition of attorneys general from 22 Democratic-led states sued President Trump in the U.S. Court of International Trade over his imposition of tariffs under Section 122 of the Trade Act of 1974. The complaint alleges that “the President lacks inherent authority to impose tariffs, and the President has usurped Congress’s authority by imposing tariffs that violate Section 122.” (Complaint.) (WaPo.)
President Trump on Thursday ousted Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security and announced that Oklahoma Sen. Markwayne Mullin will serve as her successor starting on March 31. (Truth Social.) (WSJ.)
Democrats stated that Noem’s ousting is not enough to end the Department of Homeland Security shutdown and called for changes in policy. (WaPo.) The Washington Post Editorial Board wrote that Noem’s replacement “would be wise to focus on targeting the most dangerous people who are in the country illegally, rather than rounding up otherwise law-abiding workers just to meet ambitious quotas.” (WaPo.)
The Florida Bar is investigating Lindsey Halligan, the former U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, for her role in pursuing criminal charges against former FBI director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James. (WaPo.) See yesterday’s Roundup for background on the Justice Department’s proposal for a new rule that would enable the department to create a process for reviewing bar complaints against its attorneys.
In a 212-219 vote on Thursday, House lawmakers rejected a bipartisan war powers resolution that would have restricted Trump from using further military force in Iran absent congressional authorization. (Politico.)
The Department of Defense on Thursday reportedly notified Anthropic’s leadership that the company had been formally designated a supply-chain risk. (WSJ.)
The Justice Department released FBI documents on Thursday recounting multiple 2019 interviews with a woman who accused President Trump of sexual assault. The department stated that the pages had been mistakenly withheld from the release of files related to Jeffrey Epstein because they were erroneously coded as duplicates. (NYT.)
During a visit to Caracas, Venezuela on Wednesday and Thursday, U.S. Interior Secretary Doug Burgum pushed for expanded U.S. access to Venezuela’s reserves of rare earths, gold, and other critical minerals. Venezuela’s interim leader, Delcy Rodriguez, promised to introduce a new mining measure that would allow foreign companies to extract Venezuelan minerals. (NYT.)
A public records request revealed that a Department of Homeland Security agent assigned to immigration enforcement shot and killed a 23-year-old U.S. citizen in Texas on March 15, 2025. (WaPo.)
Federal prosecutors are attempting to frame a July 4 protest outside a Texas ICE detention facility as a left-wing domestic terrorism conspiracy linked to antifa. One of the defendants allegedly shot and wounded a police officer called to the scene of the demonstration. (WaPo.)
The U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission moved to dismiss its civil fraud lawsuit against crypto billionaire Justin Sun, whose company agreed to pay a $10 million fine to resolve market-manipulation allegations tied to a crypto asset after Sun invested heavily in crypto ventures linked to President Trump. (WSJ.)
A March 4 filing shows that Attorney General Pam Bondi ratified and affirmed Kash Patel’s decision to fire FBI agents for kneeling during a 2020 protest. The government on Wednesday moved to dismiss the lawsuit challenging the agents’ firing. (Memo.) (Docket.) For background on the litigation, see a previous Roundup.
Jeffrey Toobin discussed the Justice Department’s rapid reversal of its decision to drop an appeal of rulings against executive orders targeting law firms, noting that “universities like Harvard and companies like Anthropic are facing the same kinds of choices as the law firms did.” (NYT.)
Dan Maurer argued that the Office of Legal Counsel’s opinion on Operation Absolute Resolve in Venezuela “contains ‘bullshit’: in the technical sense of the term first described by philosopher Harry Frankfurt in his classic book, On Bullshit.” (Lawfare.)
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.
Noem v. Doe: The government filed an application on February 26 requesting the Supreme Court stay pending appeal of a preliminary injunction issued by a district court preliminarily enjoining Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from terminating temporary protected status designation for Syria. The government asked the Court to construe the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment and grant the petition.