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Judge Jia M. Cobb (D.D.C.) on Thursday dismissed for lack of standing former CIA Director John Brennan’s lawsuit seeking an injunction requiring the government to preserve records related to the Justice Department’s criminal investigations into him. Cobb held that Brennan’s alleged injury that the government will fail to preserve records he would need to challenge his prosecution “depends on a lengthy causal chain.” (Memorandum Opinion.) (WaPo.)
Judge Jinsook Ohta (S.D. Cal.) on Wednesday granted a preliminary injunction requiring Secretary of State Marco Rubio and the State Department to administer the 2027 Diversity Visa Program, an annual lottery program that sets aside up to 55,000 immigrant visas for people from countries with low rates of immigration to the United States. (Order.) (Courthouse News.) An immigration law firm sued Rubio in August after the State Department failed to open the program’s registration period.
Attorney General Todd Blanche filed a lawsuit on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California seeking to enjoin the State of California from counting mail ballots of voters identified by the federal government as “likely to be noncitizens” until those voters’ citizenship status can be verified. (Complaint.) (NYT.)
Nine former FBI employees assigned to investigate Donald Trump’s mishandling of classified documents sued the FBI, the Justice Department, and the agencies’ leadership on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia. The plaintiffs contend that FBI Director Kash Patel fired them in violation of the separation of powers and plaintiffs’ First and Fifth Amendment rights and seek a court order reinstating them to their prior positions and awarding them backpay. (Complaint.) (NYT.)
Fourteen news organizations filed an application on Thursday in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia to unseal the warrant and other records related to federal investigators’ search of the home of Rep. Ilhan Omar (D-Minn.). (Application.) The New York Times filed a separate application. (Application.) For background on the investigation, see a prior Roundup.
Republican and Democratic senators sent a letter on Thursday to the Inspector General of the Department of Defense calling for an investigation into “disruptions to critical U.S.-supported communications and intelligence-sharing capabilities in Ukraine” that they argued undermine U.S. personnel’s safety and Ukraine’s ability to defend itself against Russia. (Letter.) (NYT.)
Scott R. Anderson argued that there is “more smoke than fire” to President Trump’s diesel deal with Russia, “except when it comes to Ukraine.” (Lawfare.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Trump v. Kingdom: The government filed an application to the Supreme Court on September 28 seeking a stay of the district court’s August 26 order barring enforcement of the Bureau of Prisons’ 2026 policy ending hormone therapy, “sex-trait-modification surgery,” and social accommodations for inmates with gender dysphoria. The respondents filed their opposition on October 8, and the government submitted its reply on October 9.