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President Trump on Tuesday filed a motion in the Southern District of Florida seeking leave to participate as amicus curiae to oppose efforts to lift an order by Judge Aileen Cannon (S.D. Fla.) keeping Volume II of Special Counsel Jack Smith’s final report under seal. (Motion.) (Politico.)
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said Tuesday that he witnessed the first strike on an alleged drug trafficking boat in the Caribbean on Sept. 2 but left the room before the second strike that killed two remaining survivors, learning of it only after the fact. He stated that Adm. Frank M. Bradley, whom Hegseth had authorized to execute the operation, “made the correct decision to ultimately sink the boat and eliminate the threat.” (WSJ.) Bradley will meet Thursday with the top Democrat and Republican leaders of the Senate Armed Services Committee as part of their inquiry into the Sept. 2 strikes. (Bloomberg.) Michael Waldman argued that Congress should create a select committee to investigate potential abuses of the president’s war powers. (NYT.)
Plaintiffs have withdrawn a lawsuit challenging Border Patrol’s use of force in the Chicago area after the agency reduced its presence there, ending a case that had alleged “extreme brutality” against protesters during Operation Midway Blitz. (NYT.) See a previous Roundup for background on the case.
The Trump administration has paused green card and citizenship processing for immigrants from the 19 countries on its travel-ban list following the shooting of two National Guard members in D.C. last week, which was allegedly carried out by an Afghan national. (NYT.) The administration is now pushing to prioritize the deportation of more than 1,860 Afghans who were previously ordered to leave the country. (NYT.) Federal authorities have additionally begun an ICE operation in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area targeting undocumented Somali immigrants using federally deployed “strike teams” — a move the Times reports comes as President Trump has escalated rhetoric against Somalis living in the United States over the past week. (NYT.)
Department of Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins said on Tuesday that the department will halt funding to administer food stamps to states that refuse to turn over beneficiary data. The Post notes that it is “unclear if Rollins has the authority to demand that data, and the request could violate recipients’ privacy rights.” (WaPo.)
President Trump claimed on Truth Social that all pardons, commutations, “or any other Legal Document so signed” by autopen within the Biden administration have been “fully and completely terminated.” (Truth Social.) Ed Whelan wrote that the president’s statement “will never have any actual legal effect on Biden pardons.” (X.)
The Wall Street Journal editorial board criticized President Trump’s pardon of former Honduran President Juan Orlando Hernández. (WSJ.)
John Lewis argued that the Supreme Court “might wish to consider whether its aggressive use of the unexplained shadow docket orders to guide lower courts has instead had the opposite effect, leaving them rudderless and increasingly at odds with the court itself.” (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. 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.