Alright — we're back for more fun with court cases. Thursday wasn't quite as busy a day in terms of rulings and new case filings, aside from a rather overwrought opinion issued by the Fourth Circuit denying a stay in the Abrego Garcia case (detailed further below).
There was also one Supreme Court decision handed down on Thursday — Cunningham v. Cornell University, involving ERISA claims. (I'll provide a full breakdown of that one in my Skinny on SCOTUS series. Eventually — I promise!)
So, here's the Thursday round-up:
- Abrego Garcia v. Noem - 8:25-cv-00951 - (case challenging removal of plaintiff — a/k/a "Maryland father" — to El Salvador) — Both the district court (Judge Xinis) and the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals have now denied the administration's motion to stay Xinis' orders (preliminary injunction and expedited discovery) pending appeal of the matter. It's just that Judge Xinis issued her denial via a perfunctory minute entry on the docket, while the Fourth Circuit decided to wax Shakespearean (or maybe Faulknerian) in its denial of the stay. I suspect this one's headed right back to the Supreme Court.
- AFSCME/AFL-CIO v. Social Security Administration - 1:25-cv-00596 - (case challenging disclosure of personal financial records to DOGE) — Judge Ellen Hollander (Maryland) entered a preliminary injunction effectively barring DOGE personnel from any access to SSA records containing "personally identifiable information," and filed a 148-page memorandum opinion in support of her ruling.
- Associated Press v. Budowich - 1:25-cv-00532 - (case challenging the administration's denial of press (AP) access to the White House) — The administration has filed a reply in opposition to the AP's motion to enforce the preliminary injunction, including a declaration from Deputy Chief of Staff Taylor Budowich noting that the administration announced a new press pool policy not based on viewpoint as of Tuesday and that the AP is expected to receive a spot in the print journalist press pool by Saturday and one of their photojournalists was, in fact, admitted today.
- CASA, Inc. v. Trump/State of Washington v. Trump/New Jersey v. Trump (the birthright citizenship cases) — These are now set for oral argument before the Supreme Court on May 15, but solely on the issue of nationwide injunctions and only in this type of case. In other words, this will not be to determine the validity of birthright citizenship, nor will it determine whether nationwide injunctions involving other statutes/areas of the law are valid.
- Climate United Fund v. Citibank, N.A. - 1:25-cv-00698 - (case challenging denial of federal grants) — Following Judge Tanya Chutkan's order issuing a preliminary injunction, the administration has appealed that order to the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals.
- Pippenger v. DOGE - 1:25-cv-01090 - (case challenging the administration's actions as to the U.S. Institute for Peace) — Judge Beryl Howell (D.C. Circuit) denied the plaintiffs' motion for a temporary restraining order.
And here's a sampling of the new cases filed on Thursday regarding the Trump administration:
- Public Citizen v. OPM (regarding FOIA request directed at the Office of Personnel Management "for records relating to OPM’s subscription to and monitoring of email listservs maintained by nonprofits")
- Public Citizen v. HUD (regarding FOIA request directed at the Department of Housing and Urban Development for records regarding the "use of non-governmental entities to conduct government communications")
I'll end by offering my apologies in advance: There will be no Evening Docket on Friday as I will be off for the holiday weekend and a family wedding.
You can check out prior installments of The Evening Docket series here.