SCOTUS vs. Trump: Immigration and Birthright Citizenship
Subscribe here. The Supreme Court ruled that President Donald Trump may move forward in his efforts to cancel protected legal status for more than 300,000. Venezuelan migrants. NBC News reported that the issue would continue to be litigated by lower courts. The Court temporarily blocked, on May 16, 2025 the White House from using the Alien Enemies Act of 1790 to deport a Venezuelan group it accused of being part of a gang. A majority of justices said the administration had violated the due process rights of the migrants. Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito dissented. According to the Associated Press, the question before the Court was whether lower-court judges have the power to issue nationwide injunctions. The justices appeared to be ready to block the White House’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship. While the question in front of the Court focused on whether lower-court judges have the power to issue nationwide injunctions, the justices appeared poised to block the White House’s efforts to restrict birthright citizenship, according to the Associated Press.
“The real concern, I think, is that your argument seems to turn our justice system, in my view at least, into a ‘catch me if you can’ kind of regime from the standpoint of the executive, where everybody has to have a lawyer and file a lawsuit in order for the government to stop violating people’s rights,” Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson said on May 15, according to a Court transcript.
Here’s some other executive dysfunction that went down last week.
Anti-democratic actions
Zeteo reported Friday that the Department of State directed universities to report international students on J-1 visas who participate in specific protests, “proscribed antisemitic actions,” “terrorist activity,” or in “endorsing or espousing terrorism.” Examples provided by the State Department included taking physical actions toward Jewish students or institutions, joining an unauthorized encampment or occupation, and endorsing or participating in “terrorist” activity.
National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard fired the acting chair and vice chair of the National Intelligence Council. Both had overseen a memo that contradicted the Trump administration’s claims that the Venezuelan government controls the Tren de Aragua gang, NBC News reported.
The Harvard Crimson reported that Harvard on May 13 amended its lawsuit against the Trump administration over funding cuts to name the U.S. Department of Agriculture and Department of Housing and Urban Development as additional defendants after the White House cut an additional $450 million in funding to the university on the same day.
Pro-democracy wins
- Reproductive rights
- The FBI is investigating the bombing of a California fertility clinic, which is believed to have only killed the suspected perpetrator, NPR reported. The suspect reportedly held anti-natalist views, believing that no one should have children, according to the Associated Press.
- Rewire News Group’s Cameron Oakes reported last week on a recent Harvard study finding that sexual minority groups may get abortion care more often than heterosexual people.
LGBTQ+ rights
The Associated Press reported Thursday that military commanders will soon be instructed to identify and send transgender troops or subordinates who have gender dysphoria to medical assessments in an effort to push them out of the military.
- DOGE
- Chris Geidner reported on his blog Law Dork that an appeals court had ordered the Department of Government Efficiency to turn over documents in a lawsuit filed by the Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington. This will allow the watchdog group to gain more insight into DOGE, which has attempted to avoid FOIA requests by arguing that it isn’t a real government agency.
Immigration
- A Wisconsin federal judge who was arrested last month on charges of obstructing Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s attempts to detain an undocumented immigrant in her courtroom has pleaded not guilty, according to NBC News.
FBI field offices have been directed to shift their focus to immigration enforcement, likely away from counterterrorism, fraud investigations, and counterintelligence, NBC News reported.
- Health and science
The Food and Drug Administration announced last week that it would review prescription fluoride tablets for children in an effort to take them off shelves, the Associated Press reported.
- HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. sparred with lawmakers in two separate congressional hearings last week over his statements on vaccines, agency layoffs, and Medicaid. He told the House Appropriations Committee that his opinions about vaccines were irrelevant. Later he added, “I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.”
- DEI and civil rights
The CIA is moving to dismantle hiring practices that ensure a diverse workforce, which the New York Times reported was once seen as of major importance to protecting national security.
- Recommended reading
- New York magazine dove into the GOP’s proposed SNAP cuts–and why they’re worse than the proposed Medicaid cuts.
Unwind
- I’ve got more RNG staff recommendations for you! This week, we’re getting into the books that my colleagues and I have been loving lately:
Flamboyants: The Queer Harlem Renaissance I Wish I’d Known by George M. Johnson — Cage Rivera, senior graphic designer
- Retrograde by Ryan Calais Cameron — Christian Prins Coen, social media producer
The Throne of Glass and A Court of Thorns and Roses series by Sarah J. Maas — Mallory Johns, executive director
Ocean’s Godori by Elaine U. Cho — Margaret Lin, audience director
- Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum — Natasha Roy, staff editor
