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The U.S. Postal Service and other federal agencies on Friday appealed a district court’s temporary restraining orderbarring the government from implementing provisions of a final rule restricting voting by mail. (Notice of Appeal.) (NYT.) Bill Shipley discussed the merits of the ultra vires claim. (Shipwreckedcrew.)
Judge Noël Wise (N.D. Cal.) held on Friday that two sections of the Immigration and Nationality Act that the Trump administration invoked as the legal basis to deport foreign students who criticized Israel violated the First and Fifth Amendments. (Memorandum of Decision.) (NYT.)
The Trump administration on Friday filed a petition for a writ of certiorari to the Supreme Court requesting relief from a D.C. Circuit decision that blocked the government from enforcing a military ban on transgender people. The appeals court held that the plaintiffs were likely to succeed on their claim that the Department of Defense policy violates the Equal Protection Clause. (Petition.) (NYT.) (SCOTUSBlog.)
A divided panel of the Third Circuit on Friday affirmed a lower court decision that the government’s detention of two noncitizens without a bond hearing violated the Immigration and Nationality Act and due process. (Opinion.)
Judge Michelle Williams Court (C.D. Cal.) on Friday issued a temporary restraining order prohibiting the government from facilitating the transfer of a Nigerian national to his native country who was deported from the U.S. in violation of the Convention Against Torture. Judge Court ordered the government to show cause in writing regarding its efforts to comply with the court’s order and to show why the court should not issue a preliminary injunction ordering the government to return the petitioner to the U.S. (Order.)
Wyoming Gov. Mark Gordon has asked the state’s attorney general to investigate “aggressive” and “irregular” conduct of election monitors who were sent by the Justice Department to observe the state’s primary election on Aug. 18. (WaPo.)
The Pentagon agreed to not move forward until Sept. 4 with the firing of three Stars and Stripes staff members who assert they were dismissed for reporting critically on the U.S. military. (Politico.) For background, see a prior Roundup.
Andrew C. McCarthy argued that the justices’ disagreement over applying the presumption of regularity to the current administration explains the Supreme Court’s 6-3 split in Trump v. California. (National Review.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
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. On August 21, the Chief Justice stayed the injunction “pending further order of The Chief Justice or of the Court.”