Andy Mendrala

Ah, I see, shadow docket *plus* rocket docket for whatever Trump needs.

Reminder that the emoluments clause case filed by Maryland & DC started June 12, 2017 and then was stalled for so long that SCOTUS dismissed it in January 2021 without a decision because Trump losing made it moot.

A big problem with US conservatives is that they view people disagreeing with them as an attack — but they view them actually attacking people as “a disagreement.”

Dear Chairman Comer and Ranking Member Garcia: The House Committee on Oversight and Government Reform is scheduled to markup fourteen bills tomorrow related to the operations of the District of Columbia. With the exception of H.R. 2693, the District of Columbia Electronic Transmittal Act, I write in strong opposition to these bills. They address inherently local issues and laws that were passed after careful consideration by the District’s elected representatives, who are directly accountable to District residents. Members of this very Committee have long advocated for the principles of federalism on which this nation was founded. They have consistently condemned federal overreach and fought forcefully and convincingly for the uniquely American values of local control, freedom, and self-governance. These principles should apply to the more than 700,000 people who call Washington, DC home, just as they do for your constituents across the country. I specifically want to call attention to the significant incursion on local self-governance reflected in two bills, the District of Columbia Attorney General Appointment Reform Act and the District of Columbia Judicial Nominations Reform Act. Both laws would displace the ability of District residents to have a voice in the selection of local leaders who wield significant power over local judicial matters: the judges on our local courts and the Attorney General for the District. The judges on the DC Court of Appeals and DC Superior Court rule on inherently local matters such as criminal prosecutions, landlord-tenant cases, probate proceedings, civil cases, and divorce proceedings, all of which have profoundly important impact on our community. For more than 50 years, the Judicial Nomination Commission has successfully allowed DC residents to have a voice in judicial appointments, while also granting the President and Senate a role in confirming our judges. I urge the Committee not to overturn that well-established process.

The DC Attorney General, as the District’s chief law officer, is also responsible for local legal issues, namely, protecting the District and its residents in a wide range of matters, such as enforcing child support laws, handling abuse and neglect proceedings in the child welfare system, enforcing our housing code, and defending District agencies and officers when they are sued. In no other 2 place in the United States are such local issues determined by a federally appointed person with no local accountability. The proposed legislation would be especially undemocratic in light of the fact that, in 2010, an overwhelming majority of District voters(76%) exercised their right to amend the District Charter to make the DC Attorney General an independent, elected office, rather than a position appointed by and subordinate to the Mayor. With that vote, District residents clearly expressed their desire that the Attorney General should be independent and accountable to them. The pending bill would displace that choice in favor of installing an Attorney General accountable not to District residents, but to the President. Given that the U.S. Attorney for the District is already appointed by the President, if passed, this bill would concentrate all criminal and civil litigation authority in the President, divesting the District and its residents of any local control over these essential functions.

DC residents pay more federal taxes per capita than any state and fought and died in our nation's wars.

We deserve the right to set our local laws and an independent Attorney General who is accountable to the people of DC.

I wrote in strong opposition to 13 anti–DC Home Rule bills in Congress.

This is an affront to the dignity and autonomy of the 700,000 Americans who call DC home.

Our office will go to court to defend Home Rule, block the unlawful orders, and maintain MPD under District control.

We have no choice but to stand up for DC residents' rights and safety.

Incredibly proud to be part of this team fighting for the District.

Why D.C. is taking Trump to court over MPD This could be the first of many lawsuits over D.C.’s ability to govern itself.

Let the lawsuits ... begin?

D.C.'s Attorney General has filed a federal lawsuit challenging Trump’s most recent push to take day-to-day control over MPD, calling it “brazenly unlawful." 51st.news/why-d-c-is-t...

BREAKING: A federal judge has blocked the Trump administration from dismantling the Department of Education and ordered the administration to reinstate employees fired in a mass termination.

This can't happen without cnogressional approval, she ruled.

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

It's 2015. President Barack Obama has accepted a "sky palace" jumbo jet from the Qatari government, which he'll own after he leaves office. "Everybody relax," he says in an interview with the New York Times. Everyone does. The networks then televise the military parade in his honor on his birthday.

MEMORANDUM AND ORDER JOHN J. MCCONNELL, JR., United States District Court Chief Judge. Once again, this Court is confronted with a legal challenge by various states, against an Executive Order that attempts to dismantle congressionally sanctioned agencies and ignores congressionally appropriated funds. Here, the targeted federal agencies support our libraries, museums, minority business enterprises, and the well-respected federal mediation services. This Executive Order violates the Administrative Procedures Act ("APA") in the arbitrary and capricious way it was carried out. It also disregards the fundamental constitutional role of each of the branches of our federal government; specifically, it ignores the unshakable principles that Congress makes the law and appropriates funds, and the Executive implements the law Congress enacted and spends the funds Congress appropriated.

Accordingly, because IMLS, MBDA, and FMCS have not provided a rational connection between the sweeping actions they have taken and the vague, conclusory justifications they have provided, the Court finds that the States have established a strong likelihood of success on their arbitrary and capricious claims. Ohio, 603 U.S. at 292. Further, the Court finds that the States have illustrated a strong likelihood of success on their claims that IMLS, MBDA, and FMCS acted arbitrarily and capriciously in failing to consider reliance interests. Regents, 591 U.S. at 30; see also Smiley v. Citibank (S. Dakota), N.A., 517 U.S. 735, 742 (1996) (citations omitted) ("Sudden and unexplained change, . . . or change that does not take account of legitimate reliance... may be 'arbitrary, capricious lor] an abuse of discretion."

The Court therefore finds that the States are likely to succeed in establishing that IMLS, MBDA, and FMCS violated the APA by acting "not in accordance" with 38 Case 1:25-cv-00128-JJM-LDA Document 57 Filed 05/06/25 Page 39 of 49 PagelD #: 1396 their respective statutory mandates and congressional appropriations acts when effectively absconding their statutory mandates by terminating core services and grant programs.

BREAKING: Federal judge finds, in multistate lawsuit, that Trump's EO targeting three entities — Institute of Musuem and Library Services, Minority Business Development Agency, and Federal Mediation and Conciliation Service — likely violates the APA, Take Care Clause, and separation of powers.

House Republicans created a disaster for D.C. with the CR — restricting the District's ability to use its OWN money to fund its OWN schools, public safety and more.

My bill with Senator Collins to fix this passed unanimously in the Senate. House Republicans need to pass it NOW.

If I were Judge Xinis, I would order the government to produce, in her courtroom, officials who were in a position to answer her questions and to do so under oath.

Letting DOJ continue to prevaricate and deflect responsibility in written submissions seems ... insufficient at this point.

At this point it wouldn’t even be a stand on principle so much as a play for a suddenly underserved market

I keep a collection of Mr. Martin’s public letters in a desktop folder as a reminder that all things are possible: that one can have the discernment of a starving raccoon, the writing skills of a pecking pigeon, and the charisma of a naked mole rat and still grow up to be a US Attorney.

Any Senate Democrat who votes for cloture should have to spend time at schools across D.C. answering questions about why they care so little about the lives of D.C. residents.

Why lay off teachers in the middle of the school year?

Why cut police while working to reduce crime?

Why defund Metro while it wins back riders?

That is exactly what the CR does to DC — without saving the federal government a dime.

It is undemocratic, un-American, and undermines self-governance.

The Continuing Resolution would require the District to immediately cut $1 billion from a local budget that is already balanced — forcing deep cuts to police, firefighters, trash collection, homelessness services, and schools. It hurts everyone's goal of a safer and stronger DC.

We will defend the rule of law, DC Home Rule, and the right to govern ourselves.

BREAKING: A federal judge has determined that the Trump administration is violating his order lifting the blanket spending freeze on federal grant programs.

He is orderin gthe administration to immediately unfreeze funds, including for NIH and the IRA. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NWSL must create $5 million fund for players in wake of abuse scandal, settlement states The deal comes more than three years after allegations of harassment, emotional abuse and sexual misconduct sparked a crisis that rocked the league and sport.

The National Women’s Soccer League must create a $5 million fund to compensate players abused by coaches and team officials — the result of a settlement between the league and three attorneys general.

Attorneys general from 18 states sued to block an executive order by President Trump that seeks to deny citizenship to babies born to unauthorized immigrants in the U.S. The states view Trump’s attempt to limit birthright citizenship as “extraordinary and extreme.” nyti.ms/3E2qr53

one thing i’m stuck on is this idea that “masculine” energy means license to act like a chud in public, as opposed to more traditional notions of public masculinity, such as those that put a premium on the performance of integrity, honesty, honor and generosity.

How a D.C. ‘Slumlord’ Scammed Tenants and Lenders to Build a Portfolio of Neglected Properties, According to Lawsuits and Tenant Accounts Ali “Sam” Razjooyan and his associates are accused of doctoring loan documents and tricking tenants out of their rights. While they get rich, tenants are displaced.

54 buildings, 600 units, and a pattern of neglect: Tenants accuse a D.C. landlord of exploiting their rights. WCP contributor Suzie Amanuel uncovers a web of deceit—from fake units to falsified documents to unsafe living conditions.