Professor @RandyEBarnett , one of the most influential Originalists of all time, has written an article in the @WSJ explaining that President Trump is right on Birthright Citizenship. He is one of the leading libertarian law professors. Originalists agree on this issue.
Professor Barnett highlights several of the weaknesses in the Executive Order's opponents arguments. They lack text, history, and tradition. Oh my! He compares this debate to Heller--common wisdom among law professors was proven wrong at the Supreme Court. And he would know!
*HUGE* Win for victims of terrorism today. 11 Years after entry of judgment, the $655m verdict against the Palestinian Liberation Organization may be enforced. The case is a procedural mess but serves as an example of Congressional action leading to results. Time to collect!
Come for the "W" against terrorists by the good guys. Stay for the extended discussion of whether the Second Circuit should recall its mandate from a 2016 appellate decision. Talk about in the Appellate weeds/nerdery
Can President Trump end *Temporary* Protected Status for Somalians on March 17? No says Judge Burroughs (Obama, D. Mass). Why? Ending TPS would be a big deal with big implications. No discussion of the preliminary injunction or stay factors. Just a presumption against regularity.
Equally irregular, in my opinion, is the lack of citation to either of the *Two* U.S. Supreme Court cases allowing TPS for other countries to end. One would think those Supreme Court stays allowing action would counsel against an administrative stay here.
Also, why is this styled as an administrative stay rather than a temporary restraining order or a preliminary injunction? Make it even less likely for the First Circuit to take an appeal? The Supreme Court has two pending requests from @TheJusticeDept on this. They should take it
Do State and Federal judges have an obligation to try to follow Supreme Court emergency orders in good faith? 175 judges say no, endorsing the ongoing resistance by district courts to orders the Supreme Court has *already said* are binding. Odd to join such a partisan brief!
These 175 judges apparently believe the only binding part of a judicial opinion is its reasoning, not its ultimate judgment. I do not think that is the best read of longstanding case law--much less the Supreme Court's recent admonition in Boyle.
The judges analogize the published emergency orders, which are *all* binding on *all* courts in the United States, to unpublished orders issued by Courts of Appeals. I am not sure that works.
*HUGE* Win for President Trump in the challenge to Chicago's law enforcement surge. This is a stunning rebuke of the district court, explaining that the order is necessary to stop futute courts from following. The district judge is chastened by the appeals judges for overstepping
Equally important is another court has joined in to explain the problems with district court judges entering so-called "putative" class actions. The Seventh Circuit recognizes the problems and orders courts to stop, under the Trump v. CASA decision.
"Recall that the plaintiffs asked the district court for an order voluntarily dismissing the case with prejudice pursuant to Rules 23(e) and 41(a). That ruling would bind the whole class, which is why the district court held a hearing and had
the parties notify the class...
*BIG* Immigration win for President Trump. Ninth Circuit holds that President Trump's executive order regarding refugees is lawful. Judge Bybee writes that it is and vacates most of the preliminary injunction. One year in, President Trump is able to run the executive branch
How big is this win? "We recognize the enormous practical implications of this decision. There are over one hundred thousand vetted and conditionally approved refugees...But such a result is one potential consequence of Congress’s sweeping grant of power to the President...”
Read the full opinion here. I plan on separately covering the *extremely important* Judge Lee dissent in part: cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opin…
Can Seattle ban apps like @Uber and @Instacart from deactivating gig workers' accounts? Judge Clifton says yes, the ordinance is neither unconstitutionally vague nor violates the First Amendment. Judge Bennett dissents and would instead remand on commercial speech
Judge Bennett is concerned that the district court erred in failing to consider the First Amendment/commercial speech issue at the outset. And that initial failure, Judge Bennett dissents, infected the rest of the analysis. He would ask the district court to reassess.
Interestingly, the majority opinion confines most of its countering to the dissent to a couple (extremely long) footnotes.
I wouldn't be shocked if this got some Supreme Court attention.