Pam Kruger

The Harvard-Trained Lawyer Behind Trump’s Fight Against Top Universities

www.nytimes.com/2025/08/11/u...

Shylock is among the most quintessential antisemitic stereotypes. This is not an accident. It follows years in which Trump has normalized antisemitic tropes and conspiracy theories — and it’s deeply dangerous.

I'm genuinely not sure what this is supposed to mean but now worried. The National Archives in College Park houses the public records of DOJ, the military, etc. & is used daily by scholars, students, genealogists, etc. Having govt records accessible to the public is part of what makes the govt ours.

IN THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE NORTHERN DISTRICT OF CALIFORNIA GAVIN NEWSOM, et al., Plaintiffs, Case No. 25-cv-04870-CRB v. DONALD J. TRUMP, et al, ORDER GRANTING PLAINTIFFS' APPLICATION FOR TEMPORARY RESTRAINING ORDER Defendants. On June 6, 2025, the federal government initiated immigration raids across the City of Los Angeles. Protests swiftly followed, and some individuals involved in those protests were unruly and even violent. State and local law enforcement responded. The following day, President Trump ordered that members of the California National Guard be federalized, and thereupon assumed control of those forces. At this early stage of the proceedings, the Court must determine whether the President followed the congressionally mandated procedure for his actions. He did not. His actions were illegal both exceeding the scope of his statutory authority and violating the Tenth Amendment to the United States Constitution. He must therefore return control of the California National Guard to the Governor of the State of California forthwith.

BREAKING: Judge Breyer orders Trump to "return control of the California National Guard" to CA Gov. Newsom, finding that Trump's order taking control was illegal because it did not follow the required procedure.

The order is stayed until noon Friday.

More to come at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com

BEFORE: Srinivasan*, Chief Judge, and Henderson**, Millett, Pillard, Wilkins, Katsas**, Rao**, Walker** , Childs, Pan, and Garcia, Circuit Judges ORDER Upon consideration of the petitions for hearing en banc, which include motions for en banc reconsideration and vacatur of the court's March 28, 2025 order granting Hnited States Court of Appeals FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA CIRCUIT No. 25-5037 September Term, 2024 the government's motions for a stay pending appeal, and the combined opposition thereto, which includes a request for a 7-day stay if the motions are granted, it is ORDERED that the motions for en banc reconsideration and vacatur be granted and the government's motions for a stay pending appeal be denied.

*** EN BANC ACTION ***

This morning, the full D.C. Circuit, on a 7-4 vote, ordered Cathy Harris & Gwynne Wilcox back in their jobs at the Merit Systems Protection Board & National Labor Relations Board, respectively.

The move vacated a panel decision that allowed Trump's firings to go into effect.

Washington DC. How many people traveled from how far, and how many previously participated in the Women's March?

Trump Says He ‘Couldn’t Care Less’ if Car Prices Go Up If the new 25% tariff on imported vehicles makes foreign cars more expensive, the president says, that would boost sales of U.S.-made vehicles.

www.wsj.com/politics/pol...

> @joshkaulwi.bsky.social

#Wisconsin

Exclusive | Hegseth Brought His Wife to Sensitive Meetings With Foreign Military Officials The defense secretary’s handling of sensitive information is under criticism after he shared details about a strike on Houthi militants in a group chat on a widely used app.

www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

Even law firms aligned with Trump seem to be getting queasy. I asked Jones Day – which represented Trump's 2016 campaign and staffed his first administration – whether they remain committed to their pro bono work helping migrants.

The response: "No comment."

At a Time When Lawyers Feared Defending Government Enemies, One Law Firm Stood Up A scrappy law firm decided to represent federal workers accused of disloyalty and survived to become a legal behemoth.

During the Red Scare, Arnold & Porter was one of the only firms to defend people accused of disloyalty. Their courage is a lesson for today. Here’s their story: www.politico.com/news/magazin...

Three prominent Yale professors depart for Canadian university, citing Trump fears History department power couple Timothy Snyder and Marci Shore and philosophy professor Jason Stanley will begin teaching at the University of Toronto’s renowned Munk School in fall 2025.

Timothy Snyder, the Yale professor who wrote twenty lessons for fighting fascism, has taken a position at a university in Canada. yaledailynews.com/blog/2025/03...

Congressman Denounces ICE Response About Prosecutor Operating Racist X Account In response to the Observer’s reporting, U.S. Rep. Marc Veasey demanded answers he has yet to fully receive—while ICE refuses to clarify the prosecutor’s current job status.

www.texasobserver.org/congressman-...
The Texas Observer previously reported that a prosecutor for ICE has been operating a white supremacist account on X.

Mike Waltz Left His Venmo Friends List Public A WIRED review shows national security adviser Mike Waltz, White House chief of staff Susie Wiles, and other top officials left sensitive information exposed via Venmo—until WIRED asked about it.

www.wired.com/story/michae...

Corporate America’s Euphoria Over Trump’s ‘Golden Age’ Is Giving Way to Distress CEOs and investors are fretting over what they see as whipsaw policy changes and complacency about the risks of recession.

www.wsj.com/economy/wall...

Consumer expectations for future plunge to 12-year low on tariff anxiety Pessimism about price pressures rose, with expectations for inflation in 12 months increasing to 6.2% this month from 5.8% in February, the Conference Board said.

www.cfodive.com/news/consume...

Bennet: Did you know the President’s Middle East advisor was in Moscow on this thread? This sloppiness, this incompetence, this disrespect for our intelligence agencies and the personnel who work for him is entirely unacceptable. It's an embarrassment

The Trump Administration Accidentally Texted Me Its War Plans U.S. national-security leaders included me in a group chat about upcoming military strikes in Yemen. I didn’t think it could be real. Then the bombs started falling.

In 25 years of covering national security, I’ve never seen a story like this: Senior Trump officials discussed planning for the U.S. attack on Yemen in a Signal group--and inadvertently added the editor-in-chief of The Atlantic. www.theatlantic.com/politics/arc...

Why Hasn’t Columbia U. Sued to Protect Itself? Legal scholars say the university would have a strong case to make if it wanted to use the courts to fight for its funding to be restored.

www.chronicle.com/article/why-...

Have Columbia faculty members taken a vote or a position on any of this?

Columbia Makes Concessions to Trump Amid Bid to Reclaim Federal Funds The administration has moved to cut $400 million in federal funding to the university without changes to its policies and rules.

The "concessions":
1) A ban on face masks
2) Hiring a new security force who can arrest students
3)What appears to be an academic receiver to oversee Middle East, South Asian, and African Studies departmenthttps://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/21/nyregion/columbia-response-trump-demands.html

‘Have you seen our congressman?’ Angry voters press GOP for answers. Republicans’ efforts to avoid heated protests are rallying the opposition in one battleground House district in Wisconsin.

In Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin: www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...

For the reasons set forth below, the Court agrees with the Government that Khalil's Petition cannot be heard in this District and agrees with Khalil that it should be transferred to the District of New Jersey, not dismissed or transferred to the Western District of Louisiana. These conclusions flow from the undisputed fact that, at 4:40 a.m. on March 9, 2025, when Khalil's lawyer filed the Petition on his behalf, he was detained in New Jersey. A straightforward application of the district-of-confinement and immediate-custodian rules therefore dictates that Khalil's Petition should have been filed in the United States District Court for the District of New Jersey, not in this Court. Khalil makes various arguments in an effort to avoid that conclusion, most notably seizing on a concurring opinion in Padilla, in which Justice Anthony M. Kennedy, joined by Justice Sandra Day O'Connor, observed that he "would acknowledge an exception" to the district-of-confinement and immediate-custodian rules "if there is an indication that the Government's purpose in removing a prisoner were to make it difficult for his lawyer to know where the habeas petition should be filed, or where the Government was not forthcoming with respect to the identity of the custodian and the place of detention." 542 U.S. at 454 (Kennedy, J., concurring). But it is not clear that Justice Kennedy's opinion is the law of the land; nor has any court ever found that his exceptions applied. In any event, even if Justice Kennedy's exceptions were the law (or the Court were to adopt them), they would not aid Khalil. That is because he has not alleged facts indicating that his transfer from this District to the District of New Jersey - the only transfer relevant to the jurisdictional analysis — was done for an improper purpose or that the Government was not forthcoming about his whereabouts in a way that meaningfully affected his ability to seek, let alone obtain, judicial review of his detention.

For these reasons, elaborated upon below, the Court concludes that it may not entertain Khalil's Petition. But the Court rejects the Government's requests to dismiss the case or to transfer it to the Western District of Louisiana. As to the former, transfer, rather than dismissal, is the path that courts usually take in these circumstances. That path is all the more appropriate in this case, as dismissal would mean vacatur of this Court's order barring Khalil's removal from the United States until his claims can be addressed, see ECF No. 9, and thus might allow the Government to frustrate Khalil's effort to obtain judicial review of his claims by removing him from the country before a court could rule. Moreover, Khalil filed in the wrong district through no fault of his own; his lawyer reasonably relied on the information made available to her by the Government at the time of filing. As to the latter, the Court concludes that a straightforward application of well-established federal law mandates transfer of the case to the District of New Jersey because, under the immediate-custodian and district-of-confinement rules, it is the one and only district in which Khalil could have filed his Petition at the time this action commenced. Congress has prescribed the district to which this case must be transferred, and it is New Jersey. The Court is no less bound by these laws to transfer to the District of New Jersey than it is bound by the immediate-custodian and district-of-confinement rules to decline jurisdiction.

BREAKING: Judge Furman transfers Mahmoud Khalil’s habeas case to New Jersey, where he was when the petition was filed, rejecting government requests to dismiss the petition or transfer it to Louisiana, where he is now. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Trump Administration Expands Fight With Big Law Firms to DEI Practices The EEOC’s acting chair is questioning the legality of diversity, equity and inclusion programs at 20 major law firms.

Trump Administration Expands Fight With Big Law Firms to DEI Practices
EEOC’s acting chair questions legality of the firms’ diversity efforts

www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

Orbán tries to ban Pride in Hungary as polls show rival surging Fidesz says it’s trying to prohibit Pride to keep children safe from the LGBTQ+ agenda, but opponents say the prime minister’s party is trying to create a wedge issue.

Viktor Orbán’s attempt to ban the Hungarian Pride march is one of the strongest examples yet of his Fidesz party’s efforts to win back extremist voters as its rival surges in the polls.

I could write up why there’s no constitutional problem with the President using an auto-pen to sign official documents—or I could just post the 30-page 2005 opinion by George W. Bush’s Office of Legal Counsel that explains why in lots of detail.

I choose the latter:

www.justice.gov/file/494411/...

This is horrible to post, but I may as well post it. We are essentially shutting down research operations in my group, which is focused on treatments for pediatric brain cancer. I’m a well funded investigator, and there’s no choice. Science can’t function without the stability of NIH

Judge: Are deportations imminent in next 24-48 hours?

Government attorney: Don't know. I can’t “confirm or contest” whether that's happening.

Plaintiff: We are aware of government moving people in planes very rapidly to El Salvador!

Judge to USG: Come back and tell me at 6pm (40 mins from now)

UPDATE: Lawyer for govt, Drew Ensign, cited 'grave national security issue' in declining to discuss current state of the deportations in a public hearing, so judge took it private. But looks like one El Salvador-bound flight took off during a break in the hearing www.flightaware.com/live/flight/...

PRAYER FOR RELIEF WHEREFORE, Plaintiffs respectfully pray this Court to: a. Issue permanent injunctive relief prohibiting Defendants from removing Plaintiffs pursuant to the Alien Enemies Act Proclamation; b. Grant a temporary restraining order to preserve the status quo pending further proceedings; c. Declare unlawful the AEA Process; d. Enter an order enjoining Defendants from applying the AEA Process; e. Enter an order providing relief by ordering that Defendants to stay their removals under the Proclamation and remove anyone subject to the Proclamation from the AEA Process; f. Grant a writ of habeas corpus to Plaintiffs that enjoins Defendants from removing them under the AEA, g. Award Plaintiffs' counsel reasonable attorneys' fees under the Equal Access to Justice Act, and any other applicable statute or regulation; and h. Grant such further relief as the Court deems just, equitable, and appropriate.

The lawsuit — J.G.G. v. Trump — was filed this morning in D.C. by the ACLU and Democracy Forward.

Complaint: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...