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A panel of the D.C. Circuit on Friday denied the Trump administration’s motion for an immediate administrative stay of a lower court’s May 29 ruling requiring Kennedy Center officials to remove all references to the institution as the “Trump Kennedy Center,” including removing signage that purports to rename the center. (Order.) Justice Department lawyers filed a notice of compliance with the permanent injunction order on Saturday. (Notice.) (CBS.)
Judge Leonie M. Brinkema (E.D. Va.) on Friday ordered senior administration officials, including Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent, to file by June 19 “a declaration under the penalty of perjury that they will not take any action to create or operate the Anti-Weaponization Fund, and that the [fund] will not proceed in any manner, under any name.” Judge Brinkena entered a preliminary injunction barring the administration from taking any action related to the creation or operation of the $1.8 billion fund. (Order.) (NYT.)
Attorneys for President Trump on Friday filed an opposition to the motion of 35 former federal judges to reopen the president’s case against the Internal Revenue Service in the Southern District of Florida. The filing contends that the court lacks authority to review the parties’ settlement, that the movants lack standing, and that the movants “fail to satisfy the clear and convincing evidence standard required to establish fraud on the court.” (Motion.) (Politico.) For background, see previous Roundups.
Anthropic suspended all customer access to its newest AI models, Fable 5 and Mythos 5, after receiving notice from the Commerce Department that the models had been placed under export controls requiring licenses for access by foreign nationals. (Anthropic Statement.) (WSJ.) Alan Rozenshtein discussed the government’s move and argued that “there is at least a facially plausible legal framework in this case.” (Lawfare.)
The New York Times published a confidential White House memo shedding light on internal discussions about the president suspending habeas corpus for undocumented immigrants in 2025 as a way to accelerate deportations and limit judicial review. The report also details internal debates over invoking the Insurrection Act in response to immigration-related protests, with White House Staff Secretary Will Scharf warning that both proposals could trigger significant legal and constitutional challenges. (NYT.)
Politico reports that, despite a Fifth Circuit opinion endorsing ICE’s expanded mandatory detention policy, district judges in Texas and Louisiana have ordered bond hearings or release for detainees more than 1,200 times on due process grounds since the appellate ruling. (Politico.)
President Trump spoke with the New York Times about the cease-fire agreement he reached with Iran on Sunday. (NYT.)
President Trump announced Friday that U.S. Southern Command “delivered a swift and lethal kinetic strike to successfully execute Niño Guerrero, the infamous leader of Tren De Aragua” in coordination with “our friends in Venezuela.” (Truth Social.) (Politico.)
President Trump announced on Saturday that he would appoint a former personal lawyer, James McDonald, to serve as the next U.S. attorney for the Southern District of New York. (Truth Social.) (WSJ.)
Section 702 of the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act, which enables the government to collect foreign intelligence without a warrant, expired at 12 a.m. on Saturday after Congress failed to pass an extension. (NBC.)
Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discussed the stakes of President Trump’s nomination of Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche to serve as attorney general. (Executive Functions.)
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. 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. Both sides filed supplemental briefs on November 19 and the Court heard oral argument on Jan. 21, 2026.
Mullin v. Doe: The government filed an application on February 26 requesting the Supreme Court stay pending appeal of a preliminary injunction issued by a district court preliminarily enjoining then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem from terminating temporary protected status designation for Syria. The government asked the Court to construe the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment and grant the petition. On March 16, the Court consolidated the case with a challenge to the Department of Homeland Security’s termination of Temporary Protected Status designations for Haiti and granted certiorari before judgment of the consolidated cases while deferring action on the government’s request for a stay. The Court heard oral argument on April 29, 2026.
Trump v. Miot: The government filed an application on March 11 requesting the Supreme Court to stay a lower court order postponing then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem’s decision to terminate temporary protected status designation for Haiti. The government also asked the Court to treat the application as a petition for a writ of certiorari before judgment and grant the petition. On March 16, the Court consolidated the case with Mullin v. Doe. The Court heard oral argument on April 29, 2026.