Thread by @KlasfeldReports

Good morning from New York.

The citizenship-question challengers to the #2020Census will urge a federal judge this afternoon to sanction the government for alleged perjury and cover-up. I'll live-tweet that hearing.

Background last week, @CourthouseNews: courthousenews.com/blockbuster-ev…

The hearing is scheduled for 3 p.m. EST.

This shot across the bow to Wilbur Ross falls shortly before the federal court hearing on the citizenship question. h/t @BBuchman_CNS

https://twitter.com/CourthouseNews/status/1136327789689344005

False alarm. Stand-by for the live-tweet of the hearing.

The courtroom is packed and bustling.

"All rise!"

Judge Furman is entering.

"You may be seated."

Furman says that he's not going to have oral arguments on the sanctions motion for an order to show cause, but to focus on "issues of process rather than substance."

Furman says he's "acutely aware" of pending SCOTUS appeal, but he does have jurisdiction to address collateral matters, such as the sanctions bid. He says more briefing needed.

"It would be inappropriate for me to take any action based on the briefings to date," the judge said.

Plaintiffs have not made formal motion for sanctions, only a motion for an order to show cause, he notes.

"There is no apparent urgency," Furman said, calling to proceed in deliberate fashion.

The sanctions issues are "collateral to the merits" of the issues pending before the SCOTUS, he adds.

"I don't want to do anything that would cross the line or seem to cross the line" between matters over which he has jurisdiction and those pending before the Supreme Court, he says.

He's setting a briefing schedule through July.

The New York Immigration Coalition's attorney John Freedman is up.

He wants discovery to learn how the memo was drafted and whether DOJ officials had access to late GOP gerrymandering guru Hofeller's analysis.

One of his key questions: "Did witnesses lie?"

Furman's briefing schedule due dates.

sanctions motion: July 12

Opposition: July 26

Reply: August 2

And with that, today's anticlimactic hearing draws to a close.

Upshot: Judge Furman believes the allegations are "serious" -- indeed, they include claims of false testimony and a cover-up central to the case -- but they are not fully briefed or alleged.

The judge charted a course to explore, brief and resolve the allegations.

Devil is in the details, and the plaintiffs appears to eke two small victories today:

In its motion, the government claimed "this Court has no jurisdiction" hearing the new evidence of a closed case and wrote that the motion "borders on frivolous."

Furman pushed back on that.

Furman appeared to agree with plaintiffs' view that he has jurisdiction over “collateral matters related to the case," here, the upcoming sanctions motion, and that the claims were "serious."

Compare plaintiffs' memo: documentcloud.org/documents/6077…

With govt's: documentcloud.org/documents/6128…

Furman is a cautious judge:

Remember, he was the only judge who did NOT find against the government on constitutional grounds, but skewered them for breaking the law (specifically, the APA).

The other judges hearing similar suits ruled against on both grounds.

No story on this today. Not much happened to move the needle, but ending this Twitter thread with that reflection on Judge Furman's restrained path ahead.