Please click here to opt in to receive the Executive Functions Roundup via email and to subscribe to Executive Functions.
Judge Paul Friedman (D.D.C.) on Thursday preliminarily enjoined the government from removing collective bargaining rights from employees of the Department of Defense Education Activity (DoDEA), deeming unlawful Section 2 of the Executive Order, Exclusions from Federal Labor-Management Relations Programs, and related OPM guidance as applied to the plaintiffs and all DoDEA employees represented by the plaintiffs. (Order.) (Opinion.) (EO.)
Judge Dale Ho (S.D.N.Y.) on Wednesday granted Carlos Javier Lopez Benitez’s petition for a writ of habeas corpus and ordered the government to release him from custody. Benitez had alleged that he was “violently detained” by masked ICE agents as he left his immigration court hearing. (Opinion & Order.)
Judge Stephanie Gallagher (D. Md.) on Thursday held unlawful and vacated pursuant to the APA the Dear Colleague Letter and accompanying Certification Requirement that would have required states and school districts to affirmatively certify their compliance with the Department of Education’s interpretations of Title VI and the Supreme Court’s decision in Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard (SFFA). (Opinion.) (Order.) (NYT.)
Attorney General Pam Bondi on Thursday night rescinded D.C. sanctuary city policies and declared that the head of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) was now the “emergency police commissioner” with “all the powers and duties” invested in the city’s police chief. (A.G.’s Order.) In a legal opinion, D.C. Attorney General Brian Schwalb advised the D.C. mayor that she is not “legally obligated to follow” the A.G. Bondi’s directive removing power from the police chief, which he deemed “unlawful.” (Legal Opinion.) 800 National Guard troops ordered to D.C. have now mobilized for duty. (NYT.) The District of Columbia on Friday morning filed suit against the administration to block its takeover of the DC police. (Complaint.) (@DCAttorneyGen.) See past Roundups for background on the deployment of the National Guard to D.C. (NYT.)
The Wall Street Journal reported on how law firms have been approaching their deals with President Trump. (WSJ.)
Quinta Jurecic argued that President Trump’s “plan to leverage the DOJ for his campaign of revenge is not generating the results he might have hoped for,” in part because the DOJ has been moving slowly, “hemmed in by the constraints of the legal system.” (The Atlantic.)
Jason Willick criticized Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent’s assertion that, because income from President Trump’s tariffs is so large, the Supreme Court won’t dare strike them down. (WaPo.)
David Daley argued that “the true architect of th[e] mess” over gerrymandering is “Chief Justice Roberts and his conservative Supreme Court.” (NYT.)
Osita Nwanevu argued that the country needs a constitutional revolution that includes adding new states and packing the Supreme Court. (NYT.)
Pending Interim Order Applications Involving the U.S. Government in the Supreme Court
Noem v. Perdomo: The government filed an application on August 7 to stay a federal district court order preventing federal immigration officials in Los Angeles and six other California counties from conducting detentive stops based on the following factors, according to the application: “[1] apparent race or ethnicity; [2] speaking in Spanish or accented English; [3] presence at a location where illegal aliens are known to gather; and [4] working or appearing to work in a particular type of job.” Pedro Vasquez Perdomo filed a response in opposition to the government’s application for a stay on August 12. The government filed a reply in support of its application for a stay on August 13.
National Institutes of Health, et al. v. American Public Health Association, et al.: The government filed an application on July 24 to stay a federal district court order that prevented the National Institutes of Health from canceling grants that, according to the administration, are related to DEI and “gender ideology.” The American Public Health Association filed a response in opposition to the government's application for a stay on August 1. The government filed a reply in support of the application for a stay on August 4.