Weekend Report - Aug 12
Weekend Report
You may find of interest the following items:
- August 9, 2025 DC order of federal Court of Appeals to the Office of Management and Budget to restore on or before Friday August 15, 2025 the public database about federal spending that researchers say is crucial to ensure the administration is not flouting Congress’ power of the purse.
- August 7, 2025 memorandum opinion of Judge Deborah Boardman of the federal district court of Maryland blocking the administration’s birthright citizen restrictions nationwide relying on a class certification.
- August 7, 2025 application to Supreme Court by the Trump administration for an emergency stay to block a ruling by U.S. District Judge Maame Ewusi-Mensah Frimpong to block what critics called “roving” immigration raids in parts of California that the Ninth Circuit upheld on August 1, 2025 On August 8, 2025 Justice Kagan requested a response to the application by 5:00 pm Tuesday August 12, 2025 .
You may also wish to consider the following non-litigation items
- August 10, 2025 Philadelphia Inquiry column by William Bunch entitled, Trump actually is ‘canceling’ the 2026 midterms, starting in Texas, which I attach. One of the concluding paragraphs reads
- This is how liberty dies, at least in the 21st century. For rising dictators like Trump, the beauty part of competitive authoritarianism is how the illusion of democracy can still exist for all who still believe. It works like a neutron bomb: The Supreme Court, CBS, Columbia University, and now the midterm elections are still standing — but as lifeless shells of what they once were, their humanity irradiated.
This proposal is a serious threat to our system, and will probably succeed in being implemented in Texas and other states, but it is far from the death of liberty. The problem we face is that Trump remains popular in the country, particularly in the red states and red areas, so even in a fair election it is unclear that the Democrats can win enough Senate or House seats to take control of either House. The question is can we change that, and the answer is unclear, but we may get some clues in the New Jersey and Virginia state elections this November.
Cf. August 10, 2025 column by Peter Wehner and Robert P. Beschel Jr. entitled, Trump’s Unforgivable Sin who conclude
Trump is smashing up things on a scale that is almost unimaginable, and he seems completely untroubled by the daily hardships and widespread suffering he is leaving behind. And the president is hardly done. The pain and the body count will rise, and rise, and rise. It will be left to others to clean up the mess he has made. Some of the damage may be repaired with time; some will be irreparable. Democrats should say so. It’s their best path to defeating his movement, which is the only way for the healing to begin.