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Judge Colleen Kollar-Kotelly (D.D.C.) on Saturday granted Daniel Richman’s motion for a temporary restraining order to bar the federal government from accessing data taken from Richman’s computer and email accounts until a court rules on whether the data was lawfully retained. (Order.) The order, according to Politico, comes as a “setback . . . to the Justice Department’s effort to re-indict former FBI Director James Comey.” (Politico.) See a previous Roundup for background.
Judge Mustafa Kasubhai (D. Or.) granted intervention as of right to the nonprofit group Our Oregon and three individual registered voters in the Justice Department’s lawsuit against the state of Oregon over access to Oregon’s full voter registration database. (Opinion and order.)
The Supreme Court today heard oral argument in Trump v. Slaughter, a case involving the legality of President Trump’s removal of FTC Commissioner Rebecca Slaughter despite a statutory requirement that the president can remove commissioners only for “inefficiency, neglect of duty or malfeasance in office.” (NYT.) Kate Shaw wrote that dismantling Humphrey’s Executor in Slaughter would shift substantial power from Congress to the presidency. (NYT.) David Rudenstine argued that “a good faith application of originalism could lead to two directly opposite conclusions” in Slaughter. (Bloomberg Law.) Cass Sunstein discussed “how the Unitary Executive moved from the relative margins to the dead center of constitutional understandings.” (Cass’s Substack.)
The founder of ICEBlock, an app that allows users to report ICE activity, filed a suit in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia against Attorney General Pam Bondi and other top administration officials. The complaint alleges that the government unconstitutionally pressured Apple to remove the app from the App Store in violation of the First Amendment. (Complaint.) (NYT.)
President Trump said on Sunday that Netflix’s $72 billion bid to acquire Warner Bros. Discovery streaming and assets “could be a problem” because of market concentration and said he will “be involved in that decision.” (WSJ.) Paramount on Monday launched a hostile bid to buy Warner Bros. Discovery in its entirety while claiming that the Netflix proposal would lead to “a challenging regulatory approval process.” (NYT.) According to a regulatory filing, Jared Kushner’s Affinity Partners, along with sovereign wealth funds from Saudi Arabia, Abu Dhabi, and Qatar, are outside financing partners in Paramount’s bid. (Axios.)
The Transportation Department waived the final $11 million of a $140 million fine against Southwest Airlines over its 2022 holiday travel meltdown. (CNBC.)
The Trump administration deported a second charter flight of Iranian citizens on Sunday under a bilateral arrangement with Tehran. The first such deportation flight took place in September. (NYT.)
Following the shooting of two National Guard members by an Afghan asylum recipient on Nov. 26, lawmakers and Trump administration officials are pushing for more aggressive measures to restrict immigration, including changes to asylum interview procedures, expanded travel restrictions, and broader reviews of prior immigration decisions. (Politico.)
President Trump criticized Texas Rep. Henry Cuellar, whom he pardoned last week, for “a lack of LOYALTY” after the lawmaker announced that he would be running for Congress again as a Democrat. (Truth Social.) (WaPo.)
A Washington Post analysis found that President Trump “has pardoned or granted clemency to at least 10 people from drug-related crimes since the beginning of his second term.” (WaPo.) Jeffrey Toobin contended that Trump v. United States effectively bars prosecutors and Congress from probing the president’s motivations for pardons, making it unlikely that the factual circumstances surrounding Trump’s recent clemency decisions can be scrutinized. (NYT.)
Michael Schmitt, Tess Bridgeman, and Ryan Goodman discussed Operation Southern Spear and argued that “there is no legal basis for targeting the drugs, the boats carrying them, or the people on board.” (Just Security.)
Jonathan Adler argued that the president lacks the authority to narrow birthright citizenship by executive order because Congress has never amended 8 U.S.C. § 1401(a), which has traditionally been interpreted to provide for broad birthright citizenship. (Volokh Conspiracy.)
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. 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. President Trump, as well as Illinois and the City of Chicago, both filed supplemental letter briefs on November 10 and supplemental letter replies on November 17.
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. The Court set argument for January 21, 2026, and both sides filed supplemental briefs on November 19.