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The Trump administration on Tuesday asked the Supreme Court to stay pending appeal a district court order vacating a Department of Homeland Security program. The program used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. (Application.) (NYT.) (SCOTUSBlog.) For background, see a previous Roundup.
A unanimous panel of the D.C. Circuit on Tuesday affirmed a preliminary injunction barring the Internal Revenue Service from disclosing tax return information to Immigration and Customs Enforcement for immigration enforcement. The panel held that the data-sharing arrangement likely violated a taxpayer privacy statute. (Opinion.) (WSJ.)
The accreditation council of the American Bar Association voted on Tuesday to eliminate a requirement that law schools demonstrate a commitment to diversity and inclusion. The move comes after President Trump issued an executive orderthat asserted the ABA’s diversity requirement violated Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard. (NYT.)
Bob Bauer argued that the Supreme Court’s interim order in the mail voting case “introduces serious uncertainties into the remaining weeks before the election if the executive branch launches another eleventh-hour intervention by executive order.” (Executive Functions.)
Marty Lederman argued that “the simplest, most straightforward way” for the Supreme Court to decide the government’s U.S. Postal Service mail-in ballots stay application is to deny the stay on the grounds that the balance of equities “overwhelmingly” favors the plaintiffs. (Just Security.)
Ilya Somin argued that the U.S. Postal Service’s final rule restricting mail voting runs afoul of the Constitution’s Elections Clause and the major questions doctrine. (Volokh Conspiracy.)
Andy Wright and Tara Ganapathy discussed the implications of the Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel executive privilege opinion on congressional oversight of the private sector. (Just Security.)
Andrew C. McCarthy published a three-part series on President Trump’s seizure of Venezuela’s oil reserves. (National Review.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
United States Postal Service v. California: The government filed an application with the Supreme Court on September 6 seeking an immediate administrative stay and a stay pending appeal of Judge Indira Talwani’s (D. Mass.) preliminary injunction barring the U.S. Postal Service from implementing the mandatory sections of its mail-in ballot rule. The First Circuit has not yet ruled on the government’s parallel stay application. Justice Jackson set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 9.
Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 8 seeking a stay pending appeal of a June 22 order issued by Judge Sparkle L. Sooknanan (D.D.C.) that vacated a Department of Homeland Security program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. Chief Justice Roberts set a response deadline of 4 p.m. on September 15.