Today's Headlines and Commentary
The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in Trump v. Hawaii, the third iteration of Trump’s travel ban issued last September, reports the New York Times. The justices will consider whether restricting travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, and Somalia, the six Muslim countries of the eight listed in the Trump administration’s executive order, is unconstitutional.
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The Supreme Court will hear oral argument on Wednesday in Trump v. Hawaii, the third iteration of Trump’s travel ban issued last September, reports the New York Times. The justices will consider whether restricting travelers from Syria, Libya, Iran, Yemen, Chad, and Somalia, the six Muslim countries of the eight listed in the Trump administration’s executive order, is unconstitutional. Hawaii is the last scheduled argument for the Supreme Court this term, with the decision expected to be announced in late June.
On Tuesday Judge John Bates of the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, ruled against the Trump administration’s attempt to end the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program and ordered the government to reopen applications for “dreamers,” the children of undocumented immigrants in the United States, the Washington Post reports. The D.C. District Court judge called the department’s decision “arbitrary and capricious.” Bates, now the third judge to rule against the Trump administration’s move to end the program, stayed his ruling for 90 days to allow the Department of Homeland Security to come up with better reasoning to rescind DACA.
The Senate confirmed Lt. Gen. Paul Nakasone as the next director of the NSA and commander of U.S. Cyber Command, according to the Washington Post. Nakasone will take over for Adm. Mike Rogers, who is retiring after roughly four years in the joint positions and 37 years in service. Nakasone will assume command on May 4.
In a new study, Chinese experts have alerted North Korea that its nuclear test site, Punggye-ri, is inoperable following Pyongyang’s September detonation, according to the Wall Street Journal. The September test triggered a cavity collapse within Mount Mantap, the mountain holding the country’s nuclear missile site, leading experts to warn of imminent “environmental catastrophe” should Pyongyang detonate again. On Saturday, Kim Jong Un announced he is suspending all nuclear and missile tests and shutting down the Punggye-ri facility amid developing talks with the United States, South Korea, and China.
The city of Atlanta plans to spend at least $2.6 million recovering from the ransomware attack initiated last month, ZDNet reports. Although Atlanta never paid the roughly $55,000 ransom, demanded in bitcoin, the city faces major expenditures from cyber incident groups, including SecureWorks and Ernst & Young.
ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare
Bob Bauer shared his review of James Comey’s book, “A High Loyalty.”
Scott Anderson and Benjamin Wittes published their FOIA request to see the results of the most recent FBI climate survey.
In this week’s Middle East Ticker, J. Dana Stuster reviews the call from European leaders to preserve the Iran deal, a snap election in Turkey, and the death of a Houthi political leader.
In a day of podcasts, Matthew Kahn shared this week’s Lawfare Podcast, Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck posted the latest National Security Law Podcast, and Stewart Baker published the next episode of The Cyberlaw Podcast.
Kahn posted the Supreme Court ruling in Jesner v. Arab Bank.
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