Lauren Miller Karalunas

TLDR: the administration's attempt to freeze billions of dollars in nearly all federal financial assistance is not over yet, and these harms should be top of mind as courts consider the freeze on appeal.

And this brief from housing advocates highlights the impact of freezing funds intended to respond to the affordable housing crisis, i.e. shrinking the nation's affordable housing stock when it already faces a 4 million unit shortage www.brennancenter.org/sites/defaul...

This brief from the U.S. Conference of Mayors highlights the billions of dollars in local govt. projects under threat if the freeze goes into effect, i.e. projects that monitor air quality, protect drinking water, and improve public health outcomes www.brennancenter.org/media/14512/...

Amidst many funding cases, it's easy to forget that challenges to the administration's attempted funding freeze are still working their way through the courts. Two amicus briefs filed this week in one of those cases, Woonasquatucket River Watershed Council, highlight the enormity of what's at stake:

Lawsuits Reveal the Administration’s Attacks on Congressional Power The hundreds of legal challenges to executive actions expose the administration’s efforts to seize legislative authority.

Unfortunately, this piece from @sam-breidbart.bsky.social and myself on the administration's efforts to seize legislative authority remains more relevant than ever. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

In a single paragraph, SCOTUS allowed the executive branch to withhold $4 billion in funds Congress appropriated for foreign aid. Make no mistake: this is a major assault on Congress's power of the purse and yet another step towards giving the president king-like power to defy the legislature.

Election Certification Stronger safeguards can ensure that the process cannot be exploited to disrupt elections.

As I wrote earlier this year, states have a critical opportunity to combat exactly this type of certification threat before the midterms -- simple, commonsense safeguards can go a long way in helping them meet this moment. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol...

A reminder that election certification law is already very clear: it's a mandatory legal duty, and county officials in Arizona (and across the country) have no discretion to refuse to certify final election results.

Justice Dept. Abruptly Escalates Pressure Campaign on a Trump Adversary

The NDNY US Attorney has reportedly issued 2 subpoenas to NY AG Letitia James's office under a 150-yr-old civil rights law in an investigation into whether the office violated Trump's civil rights or the NRA's in successful lawsuits vs each of them. Seems like a page straight out of Project 2025...

Late yesterday, a strong slate of amicus briefs was filed in support of the New York AG's challenge to the Trump Administration's across-the-board freeze of federal funding. Former federal agency officials, scholars, and lawmakers among them! Here are some of the highlights... 🧵⬇️ @brennancenter.org

SCOTUS's expanded use of the shadow docket to halt lower court orders against the administration is a huge story. The emergency docket used to be just that - for emergencies. Its expansion has allowed SCOTUS to accrete more power to itself & expand executive power...often without any explanation.

And it's part of the administration's ongoing attempt to use legal challenges to seize authority that the Constitution explicitly gives Congress, not the president. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/ana...

Today's order is just the latest in a series of decisions that have facilitated unprecedented, and increasingly unchecked, executive power this term. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24p...

Even if the Court later invalidates the administration's actions on the merits, it has once again used the shadow docket to allow the executive branch to enact sweeping harms that simply cannot be undone after the fact.

In an unsigned and unexplained order issued this afternoon, SCOTUS effectively greenlit the Trump administration's efforts to dismantle the Department of Education while the case plays out in lower courts.

Today’s Supreme Court decision in Trump v. CASA changes NOTHING about the fact that President Trump’s executive order on birthright citizenship is unconstitutional.

Election Certification Stronger safeguards can ensure that the process cannot be exploited to disrupt elections.

Very excited to share this new white paper on election certification! States have a critical opportunity to strengthen their certification frameworks before the midterms - the reforms outlined in the paper will help them meet this moment. www.brennancenter.org/our-work/pol... @brennancenter.org

New Jersey Considers Challenge to its Ban on Fusion Voting The practice, which allows multiple political parties to nominate the same candidate for the same office, ensures third parties can meaningfully participate in the electoral process.

NEW: Next week, a NJ appellate panel will hear oral arguments in "In re Tom Malinowski," a case challenging the state's ban on fusion voting. @lmillerkaralunas.bsky.social breaks down the role of the contested practice in US electoral history and the impact of the case on its future.