“Trump Fires Democrats on Federal Trade Commission; The decision to fire the two members of the traditionally independent regulatory body is likely to face a legal challenge”: David McCabe and Cecilia Kang of The New York Times have this report.
Julian Mark, Cat Zakrzewski and Will Oremus of The Washington Post report that “Two Democratic commissioners fired from FTC; President Trump’s dismissals of Alvaro Bedoya and Rebecca Slaughter leave Republicans alone at the top of an agency meant to be independent of the White House.”
And Dana Mattioli and Dave Michaels of The Wall Street Journal report that “Trump Fires Two Democratic FTC Commissioners; Terminations are part of the president’s effort to expand his legal control over independent agencies.”
“Louisiana conducts its first nitrogen gas execution, ending 15-year death penalty hiatus”: Greg LaRose of Louisiana Illuminator has this report.
And Rick Rojas and Nicholas Bogel-Burroughs of The New York Times report that “Louisiana Resumes Capital Punishment With First Nitrogen Execution; Jessie Hoffman was put to death on Tuesday after the Supreme Court declined to intervene; It was the state’s first execution since 2010.”
You can access today’s order of the U.S. Supreme Court denying a stay of execution by a vote of 5-to-4 at this link.
“Judge Blocks Policy That Would Expel Transgender Troops; The order allows soldiers to keep serving in the military under rules established by the Biden administration”: Dave Philipps of The New York Times has this report.
Casey Parks of The Washington Post reports that “Judge blocks Trump’s order banning transgender troops from military service; A federal judge on Tuesday blocked the Trump administration from banning transgender people from serving in the military, ruling that the plan violated the Constitution’s equal protection clause.”
Mariah Timms of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Federal Judge Blocks Trump Ban on Transgender People Serving in Military; Indefinite halt is another setback for the president on one of his key policy priorities.”
And Stephen Dinan of The Washington Times reports that “Judge orders Pentagon to allow transgender troops, calls Trump ban ‘unabashedly demeaning.’”
You can access today’s ruling of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia at this link.
“Trump Bills of Attainder Target Law Firms; His executive orders test a constitutional limit on government’s power of punishment”: Law professor James Huffman will have this op-ed in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
And today’s episode of “The Daily” podcast from The New York Times is titled “How Trump Is Scaring Big Law Firms Into Submission: The president’s campaign of retribution is having an impact on the entire legal profession.”
“Shackles on a Free Society: The left is outraged over the Trump administration’s withholding of federal funds from Columbia University; But where did that power come from?” George Liebmann has this post at the “Law & Liberty” blog.
“Chief Justice Roberts Speaks Up for the Judiciary; The Chief rejects Republican calls to impeach judges, including from President Trump”: This editorial will appear in Wednesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal.
“Musk’s Role in Dismantling Aid Agency Likely Violated Constitution, Judge Finds; It appears to be the first time a federal judge has acted to constrain Elon Musk, a top adviser to President Trump; The judge also ordered agency functions be partially restored, though that relief could be temporary”: Zach Montague of The New York Times has this report on a ruling that the U.S. District Court for the District of Maryland issued today.
“Judge in Deportation Case Draws Ire of Republicans as White House Pushes Back; The attacks on the judge, James E. Boasberg, elicited a rare public rebuke by Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr., who essentially told critics to knock it off”: Alan Feuer, Zolan Kanno-Youngs, and Adam Liptak of The New York Times have this report.
“Judiciary Official Warns Federal Layoffs Could Impact Courts; Court official addresses layoffs at agency managing federal buildings; Memo previews possible effects on court operations”: Suzanne Monyak of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Roberts Leaves His Comfort Zone to Rebuke Trump Impeachment Call; Roberts previously rebuked Trump during his first term; Chief justice prefers to speak through judicial rulings”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law has this report.
And Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law reports that “Judge Boasberg’s Deportation Ruling Makes Him Top Trump Target; Ruling sparked Trump, Roberts impeachment statements; Former prosecutor led surveillance court.”
“Texas Illegal Abortion Investigation Results in Third Arrest; Nurse practitioner charged with practicing without license; Arrests are first under Texas’ post-Roe anti-abortion laws”: Ryan Autullo of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“In Defense of Amy Coney Barrett: Why She Was Nominated to the Supreme Court; Republicans couldn’t have filled the seat without Justice Barrett; Mitch McConnell knew this, and for that reason insisted that she needed to be the nominee.” Michael A. Fragoso has this post at Public Discourse.
And in response, at “The Volokh Conspiracy,” Josh Blackman has a post titled “The Best Defense of Justice Amy Coney Barrett: No One Else Could Have Been Confirmed To Replace RBG Before The Election.”
“Chief Justice rejects calls by Trump and allies to impeach judges; Chief Justice John G. Roberts Jr. took issue with calls from President Donald Trump and his allies to impeach judges who block the administration’s initiatives”: Ann E. Marimow, Patrick Svitek, Justin Jouvenal, and Natalie Allison of The Washington Post have this report.
Joey Garrison and Maureen Groppe of USA Today report that “Chief Justice John Roberts rebukes Trump after president calls for US judge’s impeachment.”
Alex Swoyer of The Washington Times reports that “Chief Justice Roberts shames judicial impeachment talk, rebukes Trump stance.”
And Karoun Demirjian of The New York Times reports that “Judge Draws Trump’s Ire Over Ruling to Stop Deportation Flights; President Trump has called for Judge Boasberg to be impeached after he ruled against the administration over the president’s efforts to use a law from 1798 to speed deportations.”
“Courts Defer to Executive Branch Factual Claims. Trump Complicates That. The litigation unleashed by President Trump’s second term, combined with his distortions and lies, is testing the judicial system’s practice of deferring to the executive branch’s determinations about what is true.” Charlie Savage of The New York Times has this news analysis.
“The alarmingly high stakes in an easy Supreme Court voting rights case; The Court decided an identical case two years ago; But every voting rights case that reaches this Court is dangerous”: Ian Millhiser has this essay online at Vox.
“The Alien Enemies Act Is a Weak Argument for Deportation; The US isn’t at war with Venezuela, a gang isn’t a government and it’s not threatening invasion or incursion”: Law professor Noah Feldman has this essay online at Bloomberg Opinion.
“Trump Administration Questions Law Firms Over D.E.I. Employment Practices; The move by the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission comes as the administration is taking aggressive steps to intimidate law firms”: Madeleine Ngo of The New York Times has this report.
“The Alien Enemies Act and Trump’s Power Struggle With Courts; Hazardous new moves in and out of court”: Jack Goldsmith has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.
“Chief Justice Roberts Criticizes Trump’s Call to Impeach Judges; Rare public statement comes hours after president called for removal of judge who sought to temporarily block some deportations”: Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal has this report.
Alan Feuer of The New York Times reports that “Trump Administration Pushes Back Against Judge’s Orders on Deportations; In asking the judge to dissolve a temporary restraining order on deportation flights, the Justice Department opened another front in its aggressive pushback to his decisions.”
Spencer S. Hsu of The Washington Post has an article headlined “Who is the judge Trump wants impeached over Venezuelan deportations? Judge James E. Boasberg halted the administration from using an 18th-century law to deport migrants. Does a constitutional crisis loom between Trump and the courts?”
And Megan Messerly and Kyle Cheney of Politico report that “Trump calls for impeachment of judge who tried to halt deportations; It represents a significant escalation of the president’s attempts to push the boundaries of the separation of powers with the courts.”
“A Judge Ordered Deportation Planes to Turn Around. The White House Didn’t Listen. A New York Times review of flight data showed that at the time of a federal judge’s order, two flights were in the air, and one had not yet taken off.” Luke Broadwater, Albert Sun, and Annie Correal of The New York Times have this report.
Justin Jouvenal, Natalie Allison, Ann E. Marimow, and Marianne LeVine of The Washington Post report that “Trump escalates fight with federal courts over deportation authority; Several legal experts said the deportation episode marks a dramatic — and troubling — escalation in the Trump administration’s pushback against the courts.”
Jess Bravin of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Trump Escalates Push Against Legal Norms; President declares Biden pardons void while White House defends deportations despite court order.”
Jan Wolfe of The Wall Street Journal reports that “Judge Questions Administration’s Defense of Deportation Flights; Case is emerging as one of the biggest tests yet of the administration’s use of legal authorities in deportations.”
In commentary, Tuesday’s edition of The Wall Street Journal will contain an editorial titled “Trump, Deportations and the Law: He campaigned on deporting gang members, but he can’t defy court orders.”
And online at Slate, Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern have a Jurisprudence essay titled “We’ve Officially Entered the Next Phase of Trump’s Dictatorship Era.”
“Texas Arrests Midwife and Associate on Charges of Providing Abortions; The two arrests in greater Houston appear to be the first time health care providers have been charged with violating abortion bans in their state since Roe v. Wade was overturned in 2022”: J. David Goodman of The New York Times has this report.
Molly Hennessy-Fiske and Kyle Melnick of The Washington Post reports that “Texas charges midwife in first arrest under state’s abortion ban; Attorney General Ken Paxton alleged Monday that Maria Margarita Rojas performed abortions and practiced medicine without a license.”
And Eleanor Klibanoff of The Texas Tribune reports that “Two Houston-area clinic employees arrested for allegedly providing illegal abortions; This represents the first criminal charges under Texas’ near-total abortion ban.”
“A Conservative Giant Just Gave the Supreme Court Reason to Uphold Youth Gun Bans”: Mark Joseph Stern has this Jurisprudence essay online at Slate.
My earlier coverage of last Wednesday’s en banc Eleventh Circuit ruling can be accessed here.
“Trump’s Deportation Push Tests Courts’ Ability to Check His Power”: Greg Stohr and David Voreacos of Bloomberg News have this report.
“A Birthright Citizenship Loss Might Still Give Trump a Victory; Justice Department appeals birthright citizenship to high court; Asks justices to finally rein in nationwide injunctions”: Kimberly Strawbridge Robinson of Bloomberg Law has this report.
“Trump Says Biden’s Pardons are ‘Void’ and ‘Vacant’ Because of Autopen; The use of the autopen, a device that reproduces signatures and is ubiquitous in government and business, is ordinarily uncontroversial; There is no power to undo a pardon in the Constitution or case law”: Shawn McCreesh of The New York Times has this report.
Patrick Smith and Dareh Gregorian of NBC News report that “Trump claims Biden’s pardons for Jan. 6 committee are ‘void’ because he used an autopen; Trump has argued that the committee members are guilty of unspecified ‘major crimes.’”
And Gregory Korte and Jennifer A Dlouhy of Bloomberg News report that “Trump Calls Biden Pardons ‘Void’ Because of Autopen Usage.”
“Judge James Ho Targets ‘Bias’ at Law Firms Amid Trump Attacks; Fifth Circuit won’t review ruling on Mississippi mail ballots; Ho raises ‘ideological or political discrimination’ by attorneys”: Jacqueline Thomsen of Bloomberg Law has this report.
You can access last Friday’s order of the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit denying rehearing en banc, and the opinions concurring therein and dissenting therefrom, at this link.
“Ninth Circuit’s Ikuta to Step Back, Give Trump Vacancy; Judge Sandra Segal Ikuta will take senior status; Trump added 10 judges in last term”: Tiana Headley of Bloomberg Law has this report.
And Nate Raymond of Reuters reports that “Trump gains first new appellate court vacancy with 9th Circuit seat.”
“Goldstein Shouldn’t Compel Grand Jury Testimony, DOJ Says; Two sides disagree on motive for cryptocurrency offer; Goldstein hasn’t raised concern about accuracy of info”: Tristan Navera of Bloomberg Law has this report.
You can access the federal government’s filing at this link.
And in related coverage, Connor Richards of PokerNews reports that “Tom Goldstein Lost Big in Poker Matches at Actor Kevin Hart’s Birthday Bash.”
“132. Five Questions About Trump’s Alien Enemy Act Proclamation: A quick take on some of the questions raised by President Trump’s . . . dubious invocation of a 1798 statute as a basis for arresting, detaining, and removing non-citizens with ties to Tren de Aragua.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.
“The Case of Mahmoud Khalil: If the Trump Administration comes out on the wrong side of this fight, it will be because defending free speech remains a politically lucid and powerful principle.” Benjamin Wallace-Wells has this Comment in the Talk of the Town section of the March 24, 2025 issue of The New Yorker.
“Is There a Right to a Jury Trial for Death on the High Seas Act Claims Not Designated as Admiralty Claims? Retired Judge Gertner and I have filed an amicus brief in support of certiorari to answer the question, which has important important implications for admiralty jurisdiction.” Paul Cassell has this post at “The Volokh Conspiracy.”
You can access the amicus brief via this link.
“Donald Trump’s All-Out Attack on Law Firms; Yes, it’s about retaliation — but also more”: Bob Bauer has this post at the “Executive Functions” Substack site.
“Contempt, Equity, and the Boundaries of the United States; Equity does not stop at the water’s edge”: Samuel Bray has this post at the “Divided Argument” Substack site.
“133. Birthright Citizenship (Sort of) Reaches the Court: The Trump administration’s emergency applications in three birthright citizenship cases are a cynical effort to mitigate the effects of an inevitable loss on the merits; The justices shouldn’t bite.” Steve Vladeck has this post at his “One First” Substack site.
“Big Law Stands Up: After an initial shock, signs of big firms fighting back against Trump; Will it be enough?” You can access yesterday’s new episode of Slate’s “Amicus” podcast via this link.
