1st Circuit · Aug 13, 2026
Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz
Noncitizens arrested in the interior are not "seeking admission" under the INA; bond hearings required. Montecalvo/Lynch majority; Dunlap dissents.
No. 25-02152 · 2-1
August 10–16, 2026 · Sunday Edition · constitutional collision
Executive · emergency docket
26A203
D.C. Cir. injunction effective Aug 21 · Roberts orders response by Aug 18 noon
The Trump administration asked the justices to stay a preliminary injunction halting above-ground White House ballroom construction, arguing the integrated military complex is "beyond the point of no return" and that a casual observer lacks standing to sue.
Judiciary · nationwide blocks
Talwani Aug 11 · Laplante motion Aug 11 · Montecalvo Aug 13
With Congress in August recess, federal judges expanded nationwide injunctions against mail-in voting restrictions and a renewed birthright citizenship order, while the First Circuit rejected mandatory immigration detention in a deepening circuit split.
Sources: SCOTUSblog — 26A203 application · NBC News — Aug 14 filing
Follow-up · SCOTUS emergency · Aug 13–14, 2026
Solicitor General D. John Sauer filed an emergency application Aug. 13 asking the Supreme Court to stay Senior Judge Richard Leon's injunction before it takes effect Aug. 21. The administration contends the National Trust lacks standing because its claims rest on a member's "subjective preference" against the construction — and that halting work on the concrete-and-steel superstructure would be a "disaster" for presidential security.
Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the National Trust to respond by noon EDT on Aug. 18. The administration also signaled it will seek expedited merits review. White House management director Joshua Fisher declared the structure "beyond the point of no return" — freestanding walls that cannot remain without designed structural steel.
D.C. Circuit affirms injunction 2–1 (Millett/Garcia majority; Rao dissent); 14-day stay for SCOTUS review.
Administration files emergency application 26A203 seeking stay of injunction.
National Trust response deadline set by Chief Justice Roberts.
D.C. Circuit mandate takes effect unless Supreme Court intervenes.
Sources: SCOTUS — application 26A203 · ABC News — Fisher declaration
"If allowed to go into effect, the injunction would wrongfully install a single district judge as sole arbiter of what further construction is 'strictly necessary' to protect the safety of the President."
Solicitor General D. John Sauer · Application 26A203 · Aug 13, 2026
Follow-up · E.D. Mass. · Aug 11, 2026
Judge Indira Talwani issued a nationwide preliminary injunction barring the Postal Service from implementing Section 3 of the March mail-voting executive order — sweeping broader than her June 25 ruling in Trump v. California that blocked the order in 23 states and D.C. Talwani held the executive branch "has no authority to regulate elections" under the Elections Clause, rejecting the government's ripeness arguments with fewer than 90 days before the midterms.
Aug 12 supplemental brief
Solicitor General Sauer urged the Supreme Court to act "promptly" on the pending stay application in Trump v. California, arguing Talwani's Aug. 11 ruling "confirms the urgent need" to grant the stay — the matter has been fully briefed since Aug. 3.
Sources: Constitution Center — Aug 11 injunction · SCOTUSblog — supplemental brief
Awaiting SCOTUS · Nos. 26A124 & 26A139
Twelve intervenor states led by Alabama separately asked the justices to stay Talwani's June injunction. Twenty-three states and D.C. filed consolidated opposition Aug. 3 warning that granting a stay would let the federal government "rush out an unprecedented, legally indefensible voter-verification and ballot-interception program."
Sources: SCOTUSblog — opposition · LWV — Talwani order
Follow-up · N.D.N.H. · Aug 6–11, 2026
14th
Five days after the Supreme Court's mandate issued in Trump v. Barbara, President Trump signed a new executive order attempting to narrow birthright citizenship again — plus a separate "Ending Birth Tourism" order. Plaintiffs who won at the Supreme Court on June 30 returned to Judge Joseph Laplante's court asking him to clarify that his preliminary injunction forbids any new executive attempt to strip class members' citizenship.
Aug 6, 2026
Continuing to Protect the Meaning and Value of American Citizenship
Aug 6, 2026
Ending Birth Tourism
The ACLU, Legal Defense Fund, and Democracy Defenders Fund argued the new orders violate the Court's reaffirmation that citizenship extends to "nearly all children born in the United States" save only children of foreign diplomats — per Wong Kim Ark and the Fourteenth Amendment's Citizenship Clause.
Sources: SCOTUSblog — Laplante motion · ACLU — motion filed Aug 11
Immigration detention · circuit split deepens
The administration's 2025 policy change — treating millions of long-resident noncitizens as perpetually "seeking admission" subject to mandatory detention without bond — now faces rejection from seven appellate courts while the Fifth and Eighth Circuits have upheld it.
1st Circuit · Aug 13, 2026
Guerrero Orellana v. Moniz
Noncitizens arrested in the interior are not "seeking admission" under the INA; bond hearings required. Montecalvo/Lynch majority; Dunlap dissents.
No. 25-02152 · 2-1
7th Circuit · prior
Class certification upheld
Rejected mandatory detention for interior arrests; certified nationwide class of noncitizens arrested without inspection.
Part of seven-circuit consensus
5th Circuit · prior
Administration interpretation upheld
Noncitizens without admission are "by operation of law seeking admission" regardless of time in the country.
Aligns with 8th Circuit
1st Circuit · dissent
Judge Dunlap
"Seeking admission" is a deeming provision — not an independent limiting requirement. "Will doubtless be resolved by the Supreme Court."
Trump appointee dissenting
Sources: Bloomberg Law — 1st Cir. ruling · ACLU — class action
5th Circuit en banc · Aug 14, 2026
Dismissed — Moot
The full Fifth Circuit dismissed a challenge to President Trump's use of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798 to deport alleged Venezuelan gang members, finding the case moot after the government removed all three named petitioners under the Immigration and Nationality Act instead. Judge James Ho concurred separately, urging the court to affirm the president's AEA authority anyway — arguing judges should defer to invasion proclamations.
Source: Law.com — No. 25-10534
E.D. Mass. · Aug 13, 2026
Dismissed
Judge Richard G. Stearns granted Harvard's motion to dismiss the Justice Department's Title VI enforcement action, finding incidents cited in the amended complaint — mostly from the 2023–2024 academic year — were "too isolated and episodic" to show ongoing noncompliance after statutory notice. The government had sought to cut off more than $1 billion in federal grants.
Sources: Harvard Crimson — Stearns order · E.D. Mass. — slip op. No. 26-11352
SEC & CFTC · M.D. Fla. · Aug 11, 2026
$0M
alleged crypto Ponzi · 1,600+ investors
Parallel civil complaints accuse CEO Christopher Delgado of operating a Ponzi scheme through purported crypto liquidity pools promising 3–10% monthly returns. The SEC alleges no investor funds entered the pools; Delgado agreed to a bifurcated settlement subject to court approval. Criminal sentencing is scheduled Oct. 21 before Judge Gregory A. Presnell in Orlando.
The case aligns with DOJ's 2025 directive to prioritize digital-asset investor fraud using wire fraud charges rather than litigating security-or-commodity status.
Sources: Bitcoin.com — parallel filings · Chain Tech Daily — Delgado settlement
DOJ · M.D. Ala. · Aug 13, 2026
Heidi Beirich arrested in California
Former Intelligence Project Director charged in second superseding indictment alleging wire fraud conspiracy, false bank statements, and concealment money laundering.
Donor-fraud scheme alleged
DOJ says SPLC concealed payments to informants embedded in white supremacist groups while telling donors funds would dismantle violent extremist organizations.
Virtual arraignment Aug 19
Trial on the broader SPLC case could begin as early as Oct. 5. Beirich faces three counts in the individual indictment.
Follow-up · D.D.C. · Aug 13, 2026
"It's not a threat. It's a promise."
Judge Emmet G. Sullivan warned Justice Department attorneys he could hold them in civil contempt if they continue failing to comply with orders in journalist Katie Phang's lawsuit over Epstein Files Transparency Act releases. The hearing came six days after Todd Blanche's confirmation as attorney general — the named defendant in the case.
Sullivan invoked his 2009 contempt finding against DOJ lawyers in the Ted Stevens prosecution, upheld on appeal. DOJ lawyer Andrew Block arrived with few ordered documents and no timeline for production of redaction logs and handwritten FBI interview notes.
Sources: CNN — Sullivan hearing · NBC News — Stevens precedent
N.D. Cal. · Tunney Act · Aug 12, 2026
$14B
Judge P. Casey Pitts approved the DOJ consent decree settling the administration's sole outright merger challenge — the first filed in Trump's second term. Twelve states and D.C. intervened to oppose the settlement, exposing evidence that DOJ leadership overrode career antitrust staff.
Pitts found procedural failures by both DOJ and HPE but held entry serves the public interest because the Antitrust Division might lose at trial or walk away entirely.
Sources: Law.com — Pitts order · Gibson Dunn — Case No. 5:25-cv-00951
FTC · Policy statement · Aug 7, 2026
The Commission voted 2–0 to declare it will no longer pursue disparate-impact or "unfair discrimination" claims under Section 5 of the FTC Act or ECOA, aligning with CFPB's July 21 effective Regulation B amendments and President Trump's Executive Order 14281 on meritocracy. Three prior auto-dealer settlements were modified to drop compliance monitoring obligations.
Prior enforcement
Statistical disparate-impact analyses under Section 5 UDAP and ECOA effects test — liability without proof of intent.
New policy · Aug 7
Disparate-treatment claims only under ECOA; Section 5 treated as consumer-protection statute without antidiscrimination cause of action.
Sources: FTC — press release · Consumer Finance Monitor — analysis
State highlight · Florida
Christopher Delgado's criminal sentencing in the Middle District of Florida — moved to Oct. 21 before Judge Presnell — will test DOJ's wire-fraud-first approach to crypto enforcement. Federal investigators continue locating traceable property as the SEC and CFTC civil cases proceed in parallel.
National Trust must respond to emergency application 26A203 by noon EDT — Chief Justice Roberts set the deadline.
Virtual arraignment for Heidi Beirich in the SPLC fraud case, M.D. Ala., 1:00 p.m. local time.
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.
D.C. Circuit mandate halting above-ground White House construction takes effect unless SCOTUS grants stay.
Bench trial scheduled in E.D. Va. on FTC challenge to Zillow-Redfin $100M exclusive multifamily listings partnership.
Earliest House action on Senate-passed continuing resolution; must reconcile with House CR before Oct. 1 fiscal deadline.
Third summer order list expected — mail-voting stay, ballroom application, and cert grants may appear.