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A unanimous First Circuit panel on Friday affirmed in substantial part Judge Brian E. Murphy’s (D. Mass.) judgment setting aside the Department of Homeland Security’s third-country removal guidance on the ground that it violates the Administrative Procedure Act because it authorizes removals without “effective notice and a meaningful opportunity” to raise fear-of-persecution and fear-of-torture claims. The panel vacated, for lack of standing, declarations requiring DHS to first seek removal to a noncitizen’s home country, or to a country the non-citizen designated, before removing them to a third country. (Opinion.) (WaPo.) (Politico.)
Judge Allison D. Burroughs (D. Mass.) on Thursday granted partial summary judgment to education groups and vacated, as contrary to law and arbitrary and capricious, Office of Management and Budget apportionment footnotes conditioning Department of Education research funds on compliance with two of President Trump’s executive orders, including the January 2025 order ending federal diversity, equity, and inclusion programs. (Memorandum and Order.)
President Trump on Friday said he would bar CNN, MS NOW, and Politico from the White House, calling the outlets “fake news,” and the White House deactivated their reporters’ press credentials on Saturday. (WaPo.) The three outlets jointly stated Monday that they were filing suit. (X.) The five television networks that share pool coverage (ABC, CBS, CNN, Fox News, and NBC) then suspended pooled coverage of the president on Monday after the White House refused to let CNN take its turn as pool representative. (NYT.) Eugene Volokh argued that excluding outlets from spaces generally open to the press, like the briefing room, would likely be unconstitutional viewpoint discrimination. (Volokh Conspiracy.)
The Justice Department’s Office of Legal Counsel published an opinion dated Sept. 17 concluding that the federal law barring licensed firearms dealers from selling handguns to adults under 21 is unconstitutional under the Second Amendment as applied to 18-to-20-year-olds and “may not be enforced” against dealers who sell to them. (Opinion.)
The White House is reportedly drafting an executive order that would give an outside committee review authority over National Institutes of Health research grants. The order was discussed at a Friday Oval Office meeting where OMB Director Russell Vought accused the agency of funding “woke” initiatives and NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya defended its grant-making. (NYT.) (WaPo.)
President Trump wrote on Sunday that his planned triumphal arch in Washington would be “a top grade Military Complex/Triumphal Arch, to house, store, and have the rapid ability to use large numbers of drones, plus Snipers, on both the roof and plaza areas.” (Truth Social.) (NYT.)
Andrew C. McCarthy argued that President Trump’s threat to withhold the Kennedy Center’s congressionally appropriated renovation unless courts allow his name on the building is “yet another abuse of presidential power that only Congress can address.” (National Review.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
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 (DHS) program that used Social Security data to verify voters’ citizenship status. The League of Women Voters filed a response on September 15, and DHS filed its reply on September 16.