Ballroom SCOTUS petition window
Fourteen-day stay on the D.C. Circuit ballroom injunction expires — administration expected to seek emergency Supreme Court review.
August 3–9, 2026 · Sunday Edition · architectural authority
40 U.S.C. § 8106 · D.C. Cir. No. 26-5123 · decided Aug 7, 2026
A divided D.C. Circuit affirmed a preliminary injunction halting above-ground construction of a roughly $400 million White House ballroom, holding that Congress — not the Executive — must authorize dramatic alterations to federal property in the District of Columbia. The court stayed its ruling fourteen days for Supreme Court review.
Sources: Law.com — Millett/Garcia majority · CNN — 2-1 ruling
D.C. Circuit · Aug 7, 2026
Circuit Judges Patricia Millett and Brad Garcia held the National Park Service likely lacks statutory authority to construct a 90,000-square-foot ballroom after demolishing the East Wing. The injunction bars above-ground work but expressly permits below-ground security construction — bunkers, bomb shelters, and protective infrastructure.
Majority affirms · Dissent would allow construction to continue for national security
"Each President is a temporary tenant, not the owner, of the White House — and cannot fundamentally reshape it without congressional authorization."
Judge Neomi Rao dissented, arguing the district court's injunction "seized supervision of construction at the White House" and that aesthetic preferences should not override substantiated security concerns. The majority responded that security interests are addressed by the below-ground exception.
Sources: D.C. Cir. — slip op. · Spokesman-Review — $400M project
Follow-up · SCOTUS emergency docket · Aug 3, 2026
Twenty-three states and the District of Columbia urged the Supreme Court to deny the administration's request to stay Judge Indira Talwani's nationwide injunction blocking the March mail-voting executive order. California Attorney General Rob Bonta's 45-page filing argued granting a stay would allow the federal government to "rush out an unprecedented, legally indefensible voter-verification and ballot-interception program" weeks before absentee ballots go out.
The states emphasized that neither federal defendants nor intervenor states defended the legality of the executive order on the merits — only ripeness and irreparable harm. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson had set the August 3 response deadline last week without granting an immediate administrative stay.
Awaiting SCOTUS action on stay application · Nos. 26A124 & 26A139Sources: SCOTUSblog — opposition filed · Law.com — Bonta filing
9th Circuit · Aug 4, 2026
Judge Milan Smith Jr. vacated a preliminary injunction barring Perplexity's Comet browser assistant from operating on Amazon.com, holding Amazon was unlikely to prove the AI tool "accessed" its servers under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act. The panel ruled that when a user tasks an agent with shopping on their behalf, "it was the user who accessed Amazon's computers — with the help of Perplexity's AI agent."
Sources: Law.com — Smith opinion · Cooley — CFAA analysis
Step 01
User instructs Perplexity Comet assistant to find and purchase items on Amazon.com.
Step 02
Assistant captures browser screenshots and sends them to Perplexity's servers for processing.
Step 03
User's authenticated session performs the transaction — not Perplexity acting independently.
Holding
No CFAA "access" by Perplexity; ruling limited to current agentic technology on this record.
Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund at stake
$0B
The full D.C. Circuit en banc reversed a September 2025 panel that had sided with EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin's effort to terminate $20 billion in climate grants to nonprofits including Climate United Fund. Six judges voted to uphold the preliminary injunction barring grant termination based solely on policy disagreement with the Inflation Reduction Act's § 60103 appropriation.
The government filed a motion August 6 to stay the mandate pending certiorari. EPA had frozen funds in a Citibank custodial account after alleging mismanagement — claims grantees deny.
Sources: Columbia Climate Law Blog · Legal Brief — en banc ruling
Follow-up · Senate floor · Aug 8, 2026
The Senate confirmed Todd Blanche as attorney general in a predawn vote Saturday, ending a weeks-long standoff that had stalled his nomination in the Judiciary Committee. Republican Sens. Susan Collins and Lisa Murkowski joined all Democrats in opposition; Sen. Bill Cassidy provided the decisive vote after Blanche submitted written assurances August 2 rescinding the Anti-Weaponization Fund from the May IRS settlement.
Written rescission of the $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund order — "shall have no force or effect"
Revised tax-audit immunity provisions demanded by Sens. Cornyn and Tillis
Sources: CNN — 50-49 vote · CNBC — Cassidy decisive
Congress · Aug 8, 2026
In an unusual early-August move, the Senate approved a continuing resolution nearly two months before the September 30 fiscal-year deadline — seeking to avoid a third government shutdown during midterm campaign season. Democrats secured language barring fund transfers to CBP and ICE and blocking a proposed rule placing political appointees in charge of federal grant approvals through the stopgap period.
Senate passed · House must reconcile when it returns Sept 14 · President signature required
Sources: AP News — 90-6 vote · CNN — funding extension
Senate Foreign Relations · Aug 7, 2026
The Senate overwhelmingly approved a bipartisan Russia sanctions bill negotiated by the late Sen. Lindsey Graham and Sen. Richard Blumenthal, penalizing countries that continue purchasing Russian oil, gas, and other exports. Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy watched from the gallery hours after Graham's funeral; the package includes presidential waiver authority for national-security certifications.
Heads to House when session resumes · Trump has signaled support
86
Senate yeas
Most substantial congressional move on Ukraine funding during Trump's second term
Source: PBS NewsHour — Graham package
SEC enforcement · Aug 7, 2026
$12M
alleged losses avoided via 10b5-1 plans
The SEC walked away from a novel insider-trading case after a presidential pardon erased the criminal conviction.
The Commission filed a motion to dismiss its civil enforcement action against former Ontrak CEO Terren Peizer, who a California jury convicted in 2024 of using prearranged stock-sale plans to avoid losses before the company's largest customer cut ties. President Trump pardoned Peizer in January 2026; the SEC's Friday motion ends its pursuit of financial penalties — subject to court approval.
Sources: Bloomberg Law — dismissal motion · Law360 — 10b5-1 prosecution
$20M
civil penalty
SEC · File No. 3-22665 · Aug 3, 2026
The SEC censured UBS Financial Services for failing to timely file SARs from January 2019 through June 2023, citing flaws in both its legacy and replacement anti-money-laundering transaction monitoring systems. A remediation lookback led to thousands of catch-up filings in October 2023 covering approximately $250 million in suspicious foreign-currency wire transactions — all untimely under 31 U.S.C. § 5318(g).
Source: TIJ News — SEC order
Follow-up · New York · Aug 5, 2026
Statewide · Aug 5
PHL Art. 28-F permits terminally ill New Yorkers with less than six months to live to request life-ending medication from willing physicians.
Consent TRO · Jul 30
Four orders of Catholic nuns and Catholic Health exempt from counseling, referral, and on-premises administration requirements while Carmelite Sisters v. James proceeds in N.D.N.Y.
Attorney General Letitia James must respond to the preliminary injunction motion by August 20. Briefing on the merits continues through September 15.
Sources: NYS DOH — effective date · Ithaca Journal — TRO scope
9th Circuit · Aug 3, 2026
The Ninth Circuit affirmed former Los Angeles County Supervisor Mark Ridley-Thomas's convictions for conspiracy, federal-program bribery under 18 U.S.C. § 666(a)(1)(B), and honest-services fraud. The panel held that a $100,000 USC donation funneled through United Ways to benefit his son's nonprofit constituted a "thing of value" supporting both bribery and fraud theories.
Source: 9th Cir. — slip op. No. 23-2200
State highlight · Florida
While the Senate debated Blanche's nomination over the Trump-IRS settlement, President Trump's appeal of Judge Kathleen Williams's July 13 bad-faith sanctions order remained pending before the Eleventh Circuit. Williams referred attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar and barred Daniel Epstein from practicing in the Southern District of Florida for one year — findings that shaped the written assurances Blanche ultimately provided to secure confirmation.
Source: CNBC — 11th Cir. appeal pending
Fourteen-day stay on the D.C. Circuit ballroom injunction expires — administration expected to seek emergency Supreme Court review.
15-day deadline for State Department to issue boarding foils to derivative plaintiffs in AA v. State Department (E.D. Va.).
Earliest House action on the Senate-passed continuing resolution when members return from August recess.
50% duties on approximately $20 billion in Canadian imports take effect — Court of International Trade litigation expected.
Attorney General Letitia James must respond to Carmelite Sisters v. James preliminary injunction motion in N.D.N.Y.
Bench trial scheduled in E.D. Va. on the FTC's challenge to the Zillow-Redfin $100M exclusive multifamily listings partnership.
Must reconcile Senate CR with House-passed alternative before September 30 fiscal-year deadline.
First Monday in October — mail-voting emergency, ballroom appeal, and EPA grant cert petitions may land on the docket.