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The news this week is ten pounds of chaos in a three-pound bag, and it can be hard to even keep track of everything happening. I’ve done my level best to give you a quick tour-de-force, but the news cycle is accelerated to a truly impressive level even by our modern standards, so who knows what will have changed by the time this roundup goes out. Daily summaries like WTFJHT may be particularly helpful right now!

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a tax attorney!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!   

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

I know I say this every week, but this week was yet another new low for Disregard of Governing Norms.  Here’s what I have for you:

• Tax Return Tango.* As I type this, everybody’s talking about the New York Times article summarizing Donald Trump’s taxes, which lo and behold are pretty terrible. The info dump involved was huge, and there’s a lot to unpack here, so the New York Times has also quite helpfully put out a summary. That said, there are some points that I think deserve particular discussion, so I’m going to spend a few minutes unpacking them here with the careful caveat that I am not, in fact, a tax attorney: 1) Trump’s massive debt as a sitting President is a really, really big deal because it’s a risk to national security, as Nancy Pelosi has already noted–that kind of debt creates leverage that can be used to influence behavior, which is why it traditionally is a reason to deny security clearance; 2) Ivanka’s “consultant” fees appear to be a pretty big deal too, because they illustrate yet more instances of Trump family double-dipping; and 3) Everybody’s yelling about the $750 paid in taxes during 2016 and 2017, and his tax avoidance is insulting, but the bigger story there is what gave him the legal means to do that–his history of constantly running a deficit.

• Your Regularly-Scheduled Illegality. There sure was a lot of news about illegal government action other than Trump’s taxes this week, not that you’d know it given the last 24 hours. Among the laundry list: 1) Secretary of Education Betsy DeVos is under investigation now for Hatch Act violations, which is practically a rite of passage in this administration; 2) An executive order was issued “combating sex and race stereotyping” that forbids diversity and inclusion training of any vendors that contract with the federal government; 3) Acting Secretary of Homeland Security Chad Wolf is accused of awarding $6M in contracts to his wife’s security firm, which would definitely be self-dealing (and he hasn’t even had his confirmation hearing yet); 4) The Department of Justice is refusing to let senior officials testify before Congress because they “scold[ed] and insult[ed]” William Barr back in July; and 5) A National Security Counsel member is claiming the White House made things up to block publication of John Bolton’s book because the facts reported in said book made them look bad.

Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).   This was another nightmare week for election news.  At the top of the week, Trump ‘joked’ this week that he wouldn’t accept a peaceful transition of power, noting, “Get rid of the ballots and there won’t be a transfer, frankly, there’ll be a continuation.” Unsurprisingly, watchdogs and other experts began to sound alarms about the state of this election, and the head of the Federal Election Commission was not impressed.  Then Trump straight-up stated that he wants a nominee on the bench by the time the election happens because he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election–in other words, he wants to determine who gets to make a determination about whether he’s a valid President.  (More news on SCOTUS developments below, though at this rate they’ll end up in the election section eventually.)  The Pentagon is beginning to plan for the possibility that he’ll try to deploy the military at some point during this election process.  Meanwhile, the head of the FBI indicated that they aren’t seeing instances of voter fraud by mail-in ballot (probably because spoiler, the data says they’re not), and White House chief of staff Mark Meadows started publicly attacking him for it and undermining the FBI’s credibility.  Folks, I know we’re all pretty inured to everything by this point, but I think it’s worth stepping back and thinking about that last point; the current White House chief of staff publicly stated that we can’t trust the current FBI’s investigation process because the head of the FBI said we can have safe free elections during a pandemic.  That’s just absolutely bananas, and it hurts the entire country.

The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*   COVID news remains dispiritingly terrible for another week, and much of it is outright bizarre.  The U.S. passed the threshold of 200,000 deaths this week, and experts warn that that number might double as we move into winter; additionally, total instances of infection have surpassed 7 million. Internationally, the virus has claimed over a million lives in the past ten months. News also broke that the Pentagon diverted about a billion dollars of COVID relief fund, instead spending the money on jet parts and uniforms. Meanwhile, several vaccines are beginning Stage 3 trials–which would be good news, except that Trump is already threatening to override the FDA if they are appropriately cautious about vaccine safety. And speaking of vaccines, some media outlets are starting to pay attention to the low rate of child vaccination for other infections during the pandemic, which may in turn impact orders to reopen schools.

• Black Lives Still Matter.  The biggest piece of news to know on this front is that there was no justice for Breanna Taylor; the grand jury considering whether her shooters should be punished handed down a single indictment that related to endangering neighbors by shooting the walls, rather than any charges related to her murder.  This, of course, kicked off major protests in Louisville and the arrest of the city’s sole black female legislator. New body cam footage and increasingly contradictory case information case have prompted a massive call for grand jury information to be released, which the Kentucky AG appears to be considering.

• Supreme Court Updates.  Recently passed Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg was laid in state at the Capitol building this week, and is the first woman and first Jewish person ever to receive this honor.  Meanwhile, Trump announced his nomination on Saturday, and it was indeed Amy Coney Barrett, which remains extremely concerning. Additionally, it would appear that Mitch McConnell now has enough votes to put the matter on the Senate floor, and a hearing is now scheduled for October 12. Incredibly, some Republican voices (apparently including Mike Pence) want to skip the hearing entirely and just vote her in, which is utterly unprecedented. And as mentioned above, Trump straight-up stated that he wants a nominee on the bench by the time the election happens because he expects the Supreme Court to decide the election. Needless to say, it remains extremely important that we call our Senators repeatedly to make our opinion of this Senate vote known, especially because it may inform the approach taken by Democrats in response. 

The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. A federal court found this week that U.S. Census counting must continue through its original date, which would force the administration to continue until October 31–though the administration is already appealing the decision. Meanwhile, 3,500 U.S. companies are suing Trump over his tariffs on Chinese goods, which probably were in fact arbitrary and capricious. And finally, a New York state judge has ordered Eric Trump to testify in an ongoing fraud case no later than October 7th, which should prove interesting at the very least.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve beaver construction documentation and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

Okay. I know I said the news was going to keep getting worse as we head into the election season, but the news this week is Capital-B-Bad, y’all. I’m running out of ways to say “I’m here if anybody needs anything,” but I am. And we all have a lot of work to do.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not an injunction!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!   

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

I know I say this every week, but this week really was a new low for Disregard of Governing Norms.  Here’s what I have for you:

• Administrative Anarchy. First Attorney General William Barr signaled he wants to charge protesters who damage property with sedition, which is… a disturbing expansion of governmental power, to say the least. But I’m guessing it was intended to be an opening salvo, because he followed that up by declaring New York City, Portland, and Seattle “anarchist jurisdictions”–evidencing either further fascist tendencies or the fact that his house lacks a dictionary. Per the declaration itself, this is really just a fancy way of announcing that the administration is about to pull federal funding from those cities because people have been protesting there. Folks, I’m sure I don’t have to tell you how illegal all of this; it runs counter to our First Amendment right to freedom of assembly, and a comparable attempt to punish cities that support immigrants in 2017 was enjoined as illegal by several courts because the move violates separation of powers. That said, a joint statement from the three mayors of impacted cities notes this declaration’s unconstitutionality as well.

• Your Regularly-Scheduled Illegality. Even before Barr made his announcements, this wasn’t a great week for governmental behavior. News broke that DC military police considered using a heat ray against protestors back in the summer when they cleared out a peaceful assembly so that Trump could take a photo in Lafayette Square. An HHS spokesperson accused CDC scientists of sedition because their work on COVID “undermines President Trump.” (Said spokesperson is now “taking a medical leave” to sit in a corner and think about what he’s done.) Trump called teaching about systemic racism “child abuse” and announced he would sign an executive order against the practice. And just as the cherry on top of it all, he’s also now facing yet another sexual assault allegation from the 1990s, this time by model Amy Dorris. For those of y’all playing the home game, Dorris joins over a dozen women to have made similar allegations. 

Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).  Needless to say, things keep taking further turns for the bizarre and we’re still about forty days away from Election Day as I type this.   At a campaign rally, Trump threatened to sign an executive order that prevented Biden from being elected, because jokes about authoritarianism are hilarious, amirite? He also indicated he expects a winner declared on election night, despite states’ need to accommodate remote voting during a pandemic.  Watchdogs are so alarmed by this that they’ve started pressing media to detail how they will handle Election Night reporting–and in particular, what they will do if one party (read: Trump) simply declares himself the winner before counting is done. And of course, the news about Ruth Bader Ginsburg above creates a whole new spectre as we enter the final days of the election process, but we’ll talk about that more below.

The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*  COVID news remains dispiritingly terrible for another week, and much of it is outright bizarre.  DHHS Secretary Alex Azar declared himself in charge of FDA policy this week, indicating that new matters will require his approval and signature before they can be finalized.  His announcement comes on the heels of yet more shifts in the CDC’s posted rules; namely, information about aerosol transmission that was added on Friday was then removed on Monday as an “error.”  This change comes as more news trickles out about last month’s changes, also reversed this week, which removed recommendations for asymptomatic testing–apparently, that change was made without CDC scientists’ review and over their objection.   These developments, unsurprisingly, leave people worried about the CDC’s functionality as a scientific entity.  Meanwhile, many countries in Europe and South America are experiencing a surge in cases, making experts worry about another wave of outbreaks.  And in Oregon, wildfires have apparently exacerbated COVID infection.

• Immigration Updates.   There’s a lot of immigration news to watch right now, and almost all of it is pretty dire.  The Ninth Circuit undid protections for people sheltering in the United States due to catastrophe in their home country, which throws the fate of nearly 400,000 people into limbo.  Meanwhile, the Second Circuit undid protections for people seeking lawful permanent status in its jurisdiction, permitting blanket denial of disabled and indigent applicants to be enforced across the country.  In Georgia, an ICE whistleblower alleges that an ICE medical vendor performed so many medically unnecessary hysterectomies on detainees they started calling him “the uterus collector,” and subsequent reporting suggests he wasn’t even a board certified gynecologist. News also broke that the U.S. has expelled nearly 9,000 unaccompanied minor children since the pandemic began, which is an incredibly high number and strongly suggests that legal process has not been followed.  A witness in an ongoing sexual assault case against ICE officers in El Paso was deported in apparent retaliation for her testimony. And finally, the Washington Post reported that high coronavirus numbers in ICE custody can be partially linked to failure to follow protocols about transporting patients, which were themselves brought about so that ICE agents could be deployed at protest sites.    

• The Passing of Ruth Bader Ginsburg.  Long-time Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg passed away on Friday evening, apparently from complications due to pancreatic cancer.  Needless to say, the nation is devastated, and this has a lot of implications for the Supreme Court and our government.  NPR reports that a few days before her death, she informed her granddaughter, “My most fervent wish is that I will not be replaced until a new president is installed.”  Nonetheless, Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell plans to act immediately, despite his refusal to confirm Obama nominee Merrick Garland under less extreme circumstances.  Trump has also signaled he will nominate a new justice “without delay,” apparently meaning before the next Presidential debate (let alone the election).  It’s still an open question whether the Senate has the votes needed to confirm an unknown nominee, and it’s also possible the identity of the nominee will prove relevant.  (The nominee is very likely to be Amy Coney Barrett, by the way, which is definitely my nightmare fuel for the week.) It is extremely important that we call our Senators repeatedly to urge them to postpone a Senate vote until after the election, and ideally until the next Presidential term.  

The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. We had a few promising court cases this week.  In Seattle, a federal judge blocked the current Postmaster General’s attempted operational changes to the mail system, calling them “a politically motivated attack.” (This is particularly welcome news as a report was also issued this week estimating that the policies disrupted up to 7% of total first class mail.) In unrelated but also positive news, an order scheduled to go into effect on Sunday that banned WeChat and Tiktok is already blocked by federal court, who noted that the ban would likely infringe on First Amendment rights.

So that’s what I have for this week, and I think we can agree that it’s more than enough. For making it through, you deserve this laptop ballad and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more cozy blankets for autumn napping!

Let’s not mince words; this week was rough and disturbing even by our basement-level 2020 standards–though on the plus side, at least there aren’t that many stories. Someday the news will be less horrifying, but this week is not that week, and I’m here if anyone needs anything.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a post office!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!   

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

On the Disregard of Governing Norms front, the biggest news by far involves the U.S. Postal Service.  That said, there are a few other bits and bobs to know as well, so we have a few stories to know.  Here’s what I have for you:

• Messed Up Trump Response: Post Office Edition. As more and more news comes out, it becomes increasingly clear that Trump is gutting the U.S. Postal Service so that voting by mail becomes impossible–so clear, in fact, that he literally told us this on Wednesday.  (Incidentally, Trump’s statement contextualizes why the Senate never voted on the HEROES Act, which provides additional funding to USPS, despite the fact that Trump literally plans to vote by mail.) The statement also validated the House Dems’ announcement that they want to investigate the postmaster general because he’s intentionally delaying the mail, and it’s not surprising that he’s now scheduled to testify before the Oversight Committee next Monday. The postmaster general is also now being independently investigated for the many sweeping changes he has been making amid obvious conflicts of interest, and the House has introduced legislation to undo said changes; Nancy Pelosi has called the whole House back from recess to vote on it this Saturday.  On the mail end of things, the Letter Carriers union has also filed a national grievance.  And in addition to all of that, news surfaced that 46 states received notice that their ballots may not be delivered on time back in July, despite the postmaster general’s promises otherwise.  The United States Postal Service is an essential government service, and we need it for so many reasons even without considering the November election.  But in the face of such a high-stakes election, this is a very, very big deal. and we need to be calling our officials about it right now.

• Creaking Cabinet. There were also a couple of stories this week about West Wing dysfunction, though they’re flying a bit under the radar for obvious reason. Trump apparently is considering replacing his current Secretary of Defense, which would put us on our fourth Secretary of Defense this year alone. And on the Homeland Security side of things, the Government Accountability Office has found that the top two DHS officials, Chad Wolf and Ken Cucchinelli, are not eligible to serve these roles under the Federal Vacancies Reform Act of 1998. (To be fair, experts have been saying this for a while now, but now there’s an official memo for Congress to ignore.)

Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).  In addition to the postal service news above, we did see a few other stories about the election.  The biggest piece of news, which I’m sure folks have already heard, is that Joe Biden has tapped Kamala Harris to be his pick for Vice President.  Harris is expected to formally accept this week at the Democratic National Convention, which began today and will be largely virtual this year.  Harris is also the first Black woman and the first person of Indian descent to be nominated for national office by a major party, so of course 45 is already positing that she’s not a citizen, despite clear documentation that she was born in Oakland, California.  And despite the post office news above, the vast majority of states have authorized mail-in voting for this November’s election as I type this.

The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*   COVID news is still weird and awful for the millionth week in a row.  Death rates are continuing to rise, which might be in part because COVID is hitting nursing homes again, and Wednesday was our worst single day since early May in that regard.  Reports also suggest that our official rate is too low, based on the number of unattributed and outlying deaths in the country over the past several months.  Meanwhile, a Florida sheriff has banned his staff and visitors from wearing masks, and news broke that Trump is considering making a highly toxic plant extract a COVID medication.  The Senate has gone on recess until September without passing any kind of COVID relief legislation, and the White House has clarified that the executive order benefits are lower than Trump has previously claimed.  And just to cap everything else off, we’re conducting fewer tests and experts say we’re not doing enough as we move into the autumn months and greater health risk.  Against this backdrop, it’s not surprising that the CDC has reported that Americans are experiencing increased anxiety and depression during the COVID pandemic.  In a very mild silver lining, the CDC has also reported that people who have recovered from COVID will not need to be tested for about three months, which appears to be the window of the antibody.

• Immigration Updates.  It’s not on the forefront of the news, but we are still seeing negative immigration stories trickle out of the administration, and they’re worth revisiting.  This week’s latest is that Trump is considering closing the border to U.S. citizens and people with lawful permanent residence if CBP believes they may have COVID.  (It’s always hard to tell whether the administration is seriously considering these types of extreme measures or just leaks memos to scare people, but I’ll try to follow up if we hear anything else on this.)  Our short respite from the new public charge rule was also rolled back by the 2nd Circuit, and now only applies to Connecticut, New York, and Vermont.  And finally, news also broke that a private detention company is holding migrant children in hotels prior to deportation without guarantee of food or adequate child care, which is both illegal and disturbing on a lot of levels.  Apparently, this private detention company had previously detained kids in an abandoned office park in 2018, so I guess this is a step up, and that’s definitely the most messed-up sentence I’m going to type this week.

The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. We did get a couple of decent court cases this week, in addition to the bummer from the Second Circuit above. A federal judge in New York reinstated protections for birds that the Trump administration had rolled back, which should result in a lot of wildlife protection. And the Supreme Court declined to interfere with a new Rhode Island law that removed an old witness requirement for mail-in voting. Progress!

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this ferret’s ball avalanche and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me more hours in the day!

I know we’re all getting tired of same-y stories, but this week was another miserable Groundhog Day–right down to the heat wave happening as I type this. Come on, universe, you’re clearly running out of ideas. Just end the season and be done with it.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a post office!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!   

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

On the Disregard of Governing Norms front, everything old is new again. Here are the things to know:

• Messed Up Trump Response: COVID Edition. This sure was a week for Trump either spewing nonsense about COVID or using it to justify executive overreach. The week began with sources telling CNN that Trump “still doesn’t get” how bad COVID really is, which was certainly borne out by his statements in that infamous HBO interview on Monday. When Dr. Fauci acknowledged that the U.S. has the worst coronavirus outbreak in the world–more on that below–Trump countered by claiming we would have a vaccine by the November election (spoiler: no we won’t). Numerous outlets report that the White House played a role in this week’s failure to reach a COVID relief deal, but that didn’t stop Trump from issuing a slew of executive actions that probably aren’t legal, don’t fully address constituents’ needs, and reflect a common pattern of executive overreach. (He also issued a bunch more orders that didn’t relate to COVID, but we’ll talk about that below.) And just to cap off the week, both Twitter and Facebook ended up removing Trump campaign content because it dangerously mischaracterized facts about spread of COVID-19.

• Generic Disregard Redux. We had a pretty broad range of suspicious government stories this week, and almost all of the grab bag is some kind of redux: 1) A State Department watchdog resigned, only a few months after the previous inspector general was forced out; 2) ActingDHS secretary Chad Wolf insinuated that troops are still on standby in Portland when testifying before the Senate; 3) House Dems want to investigate the postmaster general because they believe he’s intentionally delaying the mail for political gain; 4) New York prosecutors subpoenaed the President’s bank again as part of an ongoing criminal investigation into his business practices; 5) The Census Bureau announced it’s ending counting efforts a month early, on September 30, with no real explanation given for the change; and 6) Both Trump and his economic adviser made utterly wild statements aligning the Presidency with God, noting that Joe Biden would “hurt God” and that “The Lord and the Founding Fathers created executive orders,” respectively. (Depressingly, I thought that last one was at least new, but then I remembered that a GOP rep compared Trump to Jesus during the impeachment process only eight months ago, so in fact it is not.)

• Executive Order Bonanza. Trump has issued or discussed a truly impressive number of executive actions over the past week. I already mentioned the four COVID-related actions above, which delay payroll tax collection, extend unemployment aid, authorize “considering” whether an eviction ban is merited, and defer federal student loans. Among the others: 1) A truly wild promise to create an insurance order that would mandate covering pre-existing conditions, which is in fact already mandated by the Affordable Care Act; 2) An order barring TikTok from doing business with U.S. companies; 3) an order that would extend telehealth in rural areas; and 4) an order that requires the government to buy ‘essential’ drugs from U.S. companies. Some of these orders are benign, or even reasonable, but it nonetheless is noteworthy that he has this many executive orders in the pipeline, particularly when Congress is stalled.

Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).  There was a lot of election news this week, even by our ordinary standards.  Some of it was even good: 1) Several states had primaries on Tuesday, which appeared to be relatively uneventful (hooray); 2) Iowa restored voting rights of people convicted of felonies, which means all 50 states now have at least some form of restored enfranchisement for that population; and 3) the DNC will be fully virtual for the first time ever in light of the current pandemic.  But unsurprisingly, we had some nonsense news from Trump as well: 1) He announced he’ll be accepting his nomination from the White House, which probably isn’t legal; 2) He insisted that only Florida can safely vote by mail; and 3) He is suing Nevada over their plan to make mail-in ballots widely available.  And all of this, of course, is on top of growing concern about whether mailed ballots will be delivered in a timely fashion, as I mentioned above.

The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*   Even by our ordinary standards, the news regarding COVID-19 is… really bad. We’ve passed 5 million cases at the time that I type this, and continue to have about a quarter of the entire world’s infections.  About 162,000 people have died.  A new study indicates that nearly half of low-income areas in the country have no ICU beds, despite being more likely to have outbreaks.  The Senate, as noted above, failed to reach any kind of deal to assist the over 1 million people with unemployment claims, and governors are worried about trying to implement Trump’s executive orders.  Nonetheless, Trump wants schools to reopen, while polls show parents want to retain some virtual education and districts that have reopened continue to report COVID outbreaks.  But on the plus side, at least the IRS is finally fixing some stimulus check payment errors.

• Immigration Updates.  After a brief jaunt to Portland, CBP is again back to banging the xenophobia drum, saying that migration numbers are increasing due to COVID issues in Mexico and arguing that this is reason to keep building a wall.  The ACLU, meanwhile, is calling for DHS to be dismantled due to their many recent abuses.  But as a silver lining to the changes brought by COVID, we did get new federal injunctions on the new public charge rule, and USCIS has already announced they will comply with them–which will bring relief to a lot of people seeking lawful permanent residence. 
  
  

The Good:

• Recent Court Resilience. We saw some promising court cases this week. The New York Attorney General filed a lawsuit to dissolve the National Rifle Association due to widespread fraud and self-dealing, which will be an interesting case to track on a lot of levels. And a federal appeals court concluded that the House can sue to force former White House counsel Don McGahn to testify, which will keep the issue moving forward after SCOTUS semi-punted at the end of their season. (He’s likely to stall further on other grounds, but at least it’s an indication that Congress does have that power.)

So that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this a capella rendition of ‘Wait For It’ and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me your favorite animal videos!

We’re riding another heat wave as I type this, and news plus heat is not any more fun the second time around. It’s rough right now, but I’ll be here, in a puddle in front of my air conditioner, if anybody needs anything.

Standard standing reminders apply: I am no journalist, though I play one in your inbox or browser, so I’m mostly summarizing the news within my area of expertise. NNR summaries often contain some detailed analysis that’s outside my expertise–I’m a lawyer, not a post office!–but all offroad adventures are marked with an asterisk. And, of course, for the things that are within my lane, I’m offering context that shouldn’t be considered legal advice. Okay, I think that’s about it for the disclaimers.  Onward to the news!   

Constitutional Crisis Corner:

On the Disregard of Governing Norms front, we have yet another week of Operation Terrible and overall administrative mishandling. Here are the things to know:

• Portland Pressure Cooker. The situation in Portland continued to escalate for another week, and it doesn’t show signs of abating as I type this. Trump’s federal CBP agents teargassed the mayor, who was standing with protesters in an attempt to heal the city’s rift, prompting said mayor to call Trump’s response “flat-out urban warfare.” Now both CBP and Portland’s police are under independent investigation. Meanwhile, Trump is sending agents into more cities, such as Chicago and Kansas City, under a banner he’s calling “Operation Legend”. Unsurprisingly, this is increasing civil unrest in several more cities as well, such as Seattle and Oakland, even though the administration claims the push is crime-related. Several cities declared riots to authorize further force against protesters, and one man was fatally shot in Austin. The weekend closed out with the U.N. calling us out and Trump sending even more troops to Portland.

• Who Needs a Post Office, Anyway. We also saw a further push against the post office, this time from its own postmaster, who issued a memorandum this week dramatically changing a number of procedures. The biggest immediate change for consumers will be that some letters will now get left at distribution centers, but the memorandum seems to indicate a sea change in general. Needless to say, an internal memorandum comparing the post office to private institutions that can go bankrupt is not normal, but for this administration it’s just Tuesday.

Your “Normal” Weird:

• Election Oddities (Again).  This week’s weird election news is that Trump has canceled the Republican National Convention in Jacksonville, which he insisted move to Jacksonville in the first place.  In true Trump fashion, he’s claiming “the timing wasn’t right,” but it’s presumably canceled because Jacksonville couldn’t make it safe to attend.  Unsurprisingly, the GOP is now fighting with itself, and it’s likely not a coincidence that Republican Senators also overwhelmingly voted for a bill provision Trump publicly hates.

The Bad:

• State of the COVID-19.*   COVID news remains a mess on an impressive number of levels.  We continue to break records about daily infection rates, and death rates are rising again as well. At the time that I type this, over 4 million Americans have been infected and over 145,000 people have died–or at least, that’s our best understanding of the numbers, as data may still be having issues.  Unemployment rates are still rising, possibly because PPP money is running out.  And speaking of running out, a lot of workers are poised to run out of $600 unemployment supports on Friday, and the federal eviction moratorium is ending too. The Senate has not yet passed a final version of the Heroes Act, and Mitch McConnell says getting an agreement could take “weeks”–though his final version of the bill looks pretty sparse, so he might just be estimating how long they’ll be fighting over the difference between versions.  An ICE facility was in the news for having staggeringly high infection rates–more on the below–and major league baseball experienced disruption due to an outbreak among members of the Miami Marlins.  Studies were also published about the quick rate of antibody decay, prompting question about whether people can be infected twice or more–which in turn prompts further questions about what this means for vaccines.  (Antibody tests also suggest that rates of infection are much higher than reported, which is pretty disturbing given how high the report rates are.)  Oh, and 4,000 federal employees have contracted the virus at work, apparently including Trump’s own national security advisor.

• Immigration Updates.  We had a significant amount of bad immigration news this week.  Trump announced that he’s going to instruct the U.S. Census to stop counting undocumented people, which is both illegal and probably a bluff, because it’s unclear how he would even implement this with the census halfway done and no citizenship question.  (That said, it can and probably will have a chilling effect on immigrant populations completing the survey.)  The administration was also in the news for holding migrant kids in hotels and then deporting them, which is a pretty clear violation of the Flores agreement that requires them to matriculate unaccompanied minors through shelters and into sponsors’ homes.  Against that backdrop, it’s unsurprising that Canada concluded this week that their asylum treaty with us should be invalidated, because the U.S. is not a safe country for asylum seekers anymore.

The Good:

• Recent Racial Change Resilience. On the more positive side, we have promising follow up on several stories from earlier roundups. The NFL team based in Washington has settled on–wait for it–the ‘Washington Football Team’ as their name for the next season. (They say it’s temporary, but I hope they keep it forever, because this is hilarious.) In Chicago, an official decision to remove statues of Christopher Columbus from two park locations was enacted without incident. The House voted to remove Confederate statues from the U.S. capitol. And in Philadelphia, the District Attorney publicly outlined his plan for arresting and charging any federal agents who engage in the abduction methods reported in Portland. It’s not comprehensive, by any stretch, but progress is progress.

o that’s what I have for this week, and I’m sorry, there are no news refunds. For making it through, you deserve this particularly savvy black bear showing how a bear can rest at ease and an eventual better government.  I’ll be back next week with more (and hopefully more tolerable) news, and I hope you will be back as well–but in the meantime, feel free to ping the National News Roundup ask box, which is there for your constructive comments.  Send me questions! Send me feedback! Send me ice cubes and Mr. Freeze memes!