Trump targets lawyers who he says file ‘frivolous’ lawsuits against his administration
A new memo from Trump that authorized the attorney general and the homeland security secretary to sanction law firms that file lawsuits they deem “frivolous” is a major escalation of his intensifying assault on law firms, legal experts and former Justice Department officials told NBC News.
The presidential memorandum, “Preventing Abuses of the Legal System and the Federal Court,” also ordered Attorney General Pam Bondi to recommend revoking attorneys’ security clearances or terminating law firms’ federal contracts if she deems their lawsuits against the administration “unreasonable” or “vexatious.”
Appeals court to hear arguments in Alien Enemies Act case
Gary Grumbach and Megan Lebowitz
A federal appeals court panel of three judges will hear arguments today over the Trump administration’s deportation of five Venezuelans under the Alien Enemies Act.
The U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia will listen to arguments by both sides on the government’s request to reverse U.S. District Judge James Boasberg’s temporary restraining order, which effectively blocked the administration from deporting more people under the rarely used wartime law.
The arguments will take place at 1:30 p.m., and each side will be allotted 30 minutes to make their case.
Trump continued attacks on Boasberg over the weekend, calling him a “constitutional disaster” in a post to his Truth Social platform yesterday.
Former Utah Rep. Mia Love, the first Black Republican woman elected to the U.S. House, has died
SALT LAKE CITY — Former U.S. Rep. Mia Love of Utah, a daughter of Haitian immigrants who became the first Black Republican woman elected to Congress, died Sunday.
She was 49.
Love’s family posted news of her death on Love’s X account.
She had undergone recent treatment for brain cancer and received immunotherapy as part of a clinical trial at Duke University’s brain tumor center. Her daughter said earlier this month that the former lawmaker was no longer responding to treatment.
Four hurdles facing Republicans as they shift focus to a bill to pass Trump’s agenda
The Republican-led Congress returns today after a weeklong recess with plans to shift focus to the party-line bill to pass Trump’s multitrillion-dollar agenda after having dispensed with a separate government funding deadline.
House Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., has set a target of passing the legislation through the House in April before the Easter recess, which leaves Republicans in the House with three weeks — and a lot of work. And then the bill would go to the Senate, which has a different idea of how to proceed.
Ukraine and U.S. teams met in Saudi Arabia yesterday
Yesterday, Ukrainian and U.S. delegations discussed proposals to protect energy facilities and critical infrastructure, Ukraine’s defense minister said, part of a diplomatic push by Trump to end three years of war.
The meeting in Saudi Arabia, which preceded talks today between the U.S. and Russian delegations, came as U.S. special envoy Steve Witkoff expressed optimism about the chances for ending Europe’s deadliest conflict since World War Two.
“I feel that [Russian President Vladimir Putin] wants peace,” Witkoff told Fox News yesterday.
NAACP, NEA and others sue Trump administration over efforts to dismantle the Education Department
The NAACP and the National Education Association, along with other groups, announced this morning that they are suing the Trump administration over its efforts to dismantle the Department of Education.
“Eliminating or effectively shuttering the Department puts at risk the millions of vulnerable students, including those from low-income families, English learners, homeless students, rural students and others who depend on Department support,” the groups said in a press release.
The groups said that the lawsuit urges the court to “immediately halt the government’s attempt to dismantle the Department.”
Trump signed an executive order on Thursday directing the Education Secretary to start dismantling the department. Eliminating the department entirely requires an act of Congress.