The Gavel: Trump's ‘big, beautiful bill’ lands in court

The Hill's weekly courts news digest.

By Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld   |   Wednesday, July 9 By Zach Schonfeld and Ella Lee Wednesday, July 9 © (AP Photo/Alex Brandon, Pool) Trump's 'big, beautiful bill' lands in court  President Trump's signature second-term legislative agenda is hitting the courts.  His "big, beautiful bill" is a boon for Second Amendment groups, who say it aids their quest to strike down a 91-year-old gun law requiring many Americans to register their firearms. Meanwhile, a judge already intervened to block one provision of the massive package, protecting Planned Parenthood from cuts.   It has shifted the Trump administration's legal sagas from a tug of war between the judiciary and the executive to one involving the legislature.  The package's toplines include key campaign promises like tax breaks for overtime pay and tips and additional funding for immigration enforcement. But packed into the 887-page law is a key change for gun owners.  It zeroes the $200 tax the National Firearms Act of 1934 (NFA) has imposed on the manufacture and transfer of firearm silencers, short-barreled rifles and short-barreled shotguns.  The law has long been upheld under Congress' taxing authority. So, gun rights groups wasted no time heading to court after Trump signed the bill on Independence Day, believing it dissolved the NFA's constitutional foundation.   As the National Rifle Association put it, the mega bill is the "biggest blow" yet to the NFA.  The gun industry wants a judge to end the NFA's requirements, like buyers providing fingerprints and passing a background check, for the now-untaxed firearms. Republicans had wanted to do so in the bill itself, but the Senate parliamentarian ruled reconciliation rules didn't permit it.  "This is a once-in-a-generation opportunity to dismantle one of the most abusive federal gun control laws on the books," Erich Pratt, senior vice president at Gun Owners of America, said in a statement.   "With the tax struck down by Congress, the rest of the NFA is standing on air. We're ready to take this fight to the courts and finally end the federal registry once and for all," he continued.  They filed their lawsuit in the San Angelo division of the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of Texas, where it was guaranteed to be assigned to U.S. District Judge Wes Hendrix, one of Trump's appointees.  Meanwhile, a judge on Monday issued the first known injunction against a provision of the Republicans' reconciliation package, temporarily blocking Medicaid funding cuts to Planned Parenthood's health centers.  U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani's lightning-fast ruling — issued without explanation and before the government responded — sparked criticism from conservatives who see it as the latest instance of judges abusing their authority.  "We have the best judicial system in the world, but it's run by fallible, mortal humans. People make mistakes," Sen. Mike Lee (R-Utah) wrote on X.  "But unless I'm missing something here, this wasn't an honest mistake. This was a pretty egregious judicial usurpation of legislative power," he continued, suggesting the House could try to impeach the judge.  An appointee of former President Obama, Talwani's ruling is temporary. She's set to hold a July 21 hearing and then decide on whether to issue a longer injunction.  Trump called the law, signed on July Fourth, a "triumph of democracy on the birthday of democracy."  It extends tax cuts he signed into law in 2017, eliminates some taxes on tipped wages and increases the state and local tax deduction cap, in addition to cutting green energy incentives and providing $150 billion increases in immigration enforcement funding and defense spending each.   The Senate eventually passed the bill 50-50, following a tie-breaking vote from Vice President Vance, with the House then voting 218-214 in favor of the legislation after much at-times overnight wrangling in both chambers of Congress.  A conservative commentator on Tuesday asked the president's Cabinet whether it planned to challenge the "rogue judge" who ruled for Planned Parenthood and against a provision of the law. Attorney General Pam Bondi said "absolutely."  "We're on it," Bondi said.    Welcome to The Gavel, The Hill's weekly courts newsletter from Ella Lee and Zach Schonfeld. Click above to email us tips, or reach out to us on X (@ByEllaLee, @ZachASchonfeld) or Signal (elee.03, zachschonfeld.48).   Not already on the list? Subscribe here. IN FOCUS Trump's campus crackdown; South Sudan; Emergency docket crammed Trump campus crackdown testimony invokes Holocaust  The Holocaust has emerged as a recurring theme in the first major trial of Trump's second term.  Two green-card-holding German citizens who are professors at U.S. universities have invoked their home country's darkest era while testifying in the trial over the government's crackdown on pro-Palestinian campus activists.  Their testimony is meant to bolster several university associations' bid to convince a judge that a Trump administration policy leading to arrests and efforts to deport foreign-born students and faculty members linked to campus demonstrations is unlawful.   The case marks the first time a judge will enter judgment after conducting a full-fledged trial, while the bulk of the hundreds of challenges to Trump's policies remain in preliminary proceedings.  Nadje Al-Ali, a professor of international studies, anthropology and Middle East studies at Brown University, testified that growing up in Germany during the 1960s and 1970s came with a "historical awareness" of the Holocaust and Nazi Germany, one that left a lasting impact on her thinking, academics and morals.   Harvard philosophy professor Bernhard Nickel told a similar story. Born in Germany in 1975, his generation felt "deeply grateful" for America's role in World War II, which played a role in his decision to immigrate to the U.S.  "It held the promise of being a place where history isn't quite destiny," Nickel said Tuesday.   That upbringing made Al-Ali "sensitive" to ideas around silence and complicity, she said Monday, pointing to the fact that many Germans stayed silent as the Nazi regime targeted Jews and other marginalized groups.   She said that if she didn't participate in the trial, she's "complicit on several accounts."  "I do feel that I want to speak out on Palestine, what's happening in Gaza and Palestine more broadly," Al-Ali said. "And secondly, I also worry about what's happening in this country."  Al-Ali, Nickel and a third witness — Canadian citizen and Northwestern University professor Megan Hyska — each testified that their political activism and outspokenness had diminished since the singling out of pro-Palestinian campus demonstrators began.   They individually pointed to the arrests of former Columbia University pro-Palestinian activist Mahmoud Khalil and Tufts student Rümeysa Öztürk as pivotal moments where they decided to keep their heads down.  "I didn't think that those kinds of arrests would happen in America," Nickel said. "But they did."  Nickel testified that he signed on to several open letters in recent years, including a 2019 letter objecting to a policy of unequivocally rejecting analogies between the Holocaust and other events.   He explained his view that it's important to understand that something "as horrific" as the Holocaust was something brought about by "people in all walks of life."   At the time, he was not fearful that the letter would threaten his immigration status or position at Harvard. However, now, he said he refuses to sign public letters in fear of retaliation.   The university associations are seeking to convince U.S. District Judge William Young, an appointee of former President Reagan, that the Trump administration's so-called "ideological deportation policy" is unlawful.   To target the students and faculty, Secretary of State Marco Rubio invoked a statute making deportable any noncitizen whose "presence and activities in the United States" is deemed to have "potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences" by the secretary of State. However, the statute contains a safe harbor that blocks deportation based on their beliefs or associations.    The plaintiffs say the administration's focus on campus activists opposing Israel's war in Gaza violates that exception. They're not challenging the constitutionality of the foreign policy provision.   The bench trial is expected to last roughly two weeks.  South Sudan deportations complete after rocket docket  The Trump administration deported eight migrants with serious criminal records to South Sudan, but only after the two-month legal battle culminated in a rocket docket last stand on July 4.  "These sickos were finally deported to South Sudan on Independence Day," said Department of Homeland Security Assistant Secretary Tricia McLaughlin.  "After weeks of delays by activist judges that put our law enforcement in danger, ICE deported these 8 barbaric criminal illegal aliens who are so heinous even their own countries will not accept them," McLaughlin's statement continued.  Since May, immigration authorities have sought to deport the group to the war-torn country, despite all but one having no ties there. U.S. District Judge Brian Murphy quickly blocked the flight, finding it violated his injunction guaranteeing migrants certain due process before they are deported to a third country.  The airborne flight detoured to a military base in Djibouti, where the migrants were held for weeks in a shipping container as the administration fought on appeal.  Ultimately, the Supreme Court rebuked Murphy — twice.  First, the justices late last month lifted his injunction. But the judge, undeterred, insisted the high court had not lifted his subsequent ruling on the South Sudan flight, so the migrants still must receive a sufficient opportunity to raise torture claims.   The Supreme Court then ruled Murphy had no authority. Even liberal Justice Elena Kagan, who voted in the earlier round to uphold Murphy's injunction, said he wasn't complying with her colleagues' directive.  The justices' ruling landed Thursday afternoon, freeing the administration to resume the flight just before the holiday weekend. It set off a burst of court activity, the urgency superseding the federal holiday Friday.  The migrants first pleaded with a federal judge in the nation's capital. U.S. District Judge Randolph Moss, an Obama appointee, convened the parties twice in the afternoon before ruling the case must head to Murphy's court in Boston. As Moss transferred the case, he agreed to block the flight for roughly another hour so the migrants could try to reach Murphy.  With the hindsight of the Supreme Court's two rebukes, Murphy declined to intervene minutes before the flight was scheduled to take off, just as Americans on the East Coast were starting to head to firework celebrations.  "This Court interprets these Supreme Court orders as binding on this new petition, as Petitioners are now raising substantially similar claims, and therefore Petitioners motion is denied," Murphy wrote in a brief order.  The migrants landed in South Sudan hours later, effectively ending the standoff. The migrants voluntarily dismissed the lawsuit Tuesday. "This was a win for the rule of law, safety and security of the American people," McLaughlin said.   Supreme Court emergency docket still crammed  The Supreme Court has resolved the battle over the South Sudan flight, and on Tuesday, the justices granted the Trump administration's request to resume plans for mass layoffs across a wide swath of the federal bureaucracy.  But a handful of major emergency disputes remain pending before the justices.  Unlike normal cases, the justices still act on emergency appeals during their recess. Late last month, the court confirmed to reporters that emergency orders "will continue to be released as required" this summer.  Much of the activity comes from the Trump administration, which has filed a staggering 20 applications since Inauguration Day to halt or narrow lower judges' injunctions. Two remain pending.  In McMahon v. New York, the administration wants the green light to resume dismantling the Education Department, including laying off half of its staff and moving some of its functions elsewhere in the federal bureaucracy. That request has been fully briefed since June 16.  Meanwhile, briefing remains ongoing in the administration's third application, Trump v. Boyle. Last week, Trump asked the justices to permit him to fire three Democratic appointees at the Consumer Product Safety Commission (CPSC). Chief Justice John Roberts ordered the fired commissioners to respond in writing by Friday afternoon.  It's the administration's latest bid to eviscerate for-cause removal protections for independent agency leaders, even if it requires the Supreme Court to disavow its 90-year-old precedent.   Several conservative justices have signaled a willingness to do so. In the latest sign, the court in May said Trump could terminate leaders at two labor boards until that litigation is resolved.  The CPSC firings were blocked weeks later, so Solicitor General D. John Sauer protested to the justices that lower courts aren't taking the hint. Sauer wants the justices to leapfrog a lower court and take up the CPSC case now to settle the issue.  The court also has two emergency appeals pending from other parties.  The justices have yet to act on a man's request to halt his extradition to Ecuador to stand trial on a sexual abuse charge, Gomez v. United States.  Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier (R) is also at the high court, asking the justices to allow enforcement of a new law making it a state crime for people to enter Florida after arriving in the U.S. illegally. A lower court found it was unconstitutional and preempted by federal law.  Uthmeier v. Florida Immigrant Coalition became fully briefed Friday. But the justices have since been alerted that the Trump administration now formally supports Florida's law and an appeals court blocked a similar law in Texas.  SIDEBAR 5 top docket updates Abrego Garcia: At a hearing Monday, a federal judge scrutinized the Trump administration's plan for Kilmar Abrego Garcia if he's released from criminal custody as soon as next week and ordered the government to produce a witness to answer more questions.   CBS settlement struck: The parent company of CBS News and one of the largest media conglomerates in the United States, Paramount Global, agreed to settle a high-profile lawsuit brought by President Trump for $16 million over a "60 Minutes" interview that aired last fall with then-Vice President Harris. Epstein files fruitless: The Department of Justice and FBI concluded that disgraced financier Jeffrey Epstein killed himself and did not keep a client list. It fueled outrage among right-wing influencers who have long promoted conspiracy theories about the convicted sex trafficker.  RFK hit with suit: A group of medical organizations sued Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and other Trump administration health leaders over the decision to stop recommending COVID-19 vaccines to healthy children and pregnant women.  Not our problem: The government of El Salvador formally asserted that the U.S. retains "legal responsibility" for Venezuelans held in a Salvadoran megaprison, not the Central American country, contrary to the Trump administration's claims.  In other news Moving on up: Trump named two new nominees to become federal appeals court judges. Joshua Dunlap, a civil litigator in Maine, was tapped to serve on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 1st Circuit and Eric Tung, a former law clerk to Justice Neil Gorsuch and the late Justice Antonin Scalia, was picked to join the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit.  YSL case update: Yung Thug's lawyer has asked a Fulton County judge for a hearing to consider modifying his sentence, though it was not immediately clear what changes the rapper is seeking.   Athleisure affray: Lululemon sued Costco, claiming the big-box store is selling "knockoff" versions of the athleisurewear company's pants, hoodies and jackets.   THE ORDER LIST Cases the Supreme Court is taking up — or passing on — this term. The court released its final order list before the summer recess.   Known as the "clean up conference," the justices granted a few cases that will likely be argued near the end of this year and cleared out the remaining petitions ripe for review.  The court will still release three order lists before coming back in October, but don't expect much news. The summer lists usually concern mundane matters, like approving how parties want to split their oral argument time and waiving the court's normal requirement that parties print 40 copies of their often-lengthy joint appendix.  The lists are set for release on July 21, Aug. 18 and Sept. 5. We'll alert you in future editions if anything notable ends up on their agenda.  In:  Transgender athlete bans As we previewed last week, the Supreme Court took up another blockbuster dispute implicating transgender Americans.  Days after upholding Tennessee's youth transgender care ban, the court said it would hear appeals from Idaho and West Virginia defending their laws prohibiting transgender girls from competing on girls' and women's school sports teams. The cases are Little v. Hecox and West Virginia v. B.P.J.  The decision stands to impact laws passed in 27 states, which have come under challenges alleging they violate the 14th Amendment's equal protection guarantee and Title IX, the landmark law that protects against sex discrimination in schools. The American Civil Liberties Union will advance those arguments before the justices next term.  "It's a great day, as female athletes in West Virginia will have their voices heard," West Virginia Attorney General JB McCuskey (R) said following the announcement.  The court also agreed to hear three other cases.  We previewed Olivier v. City of Brandon last week. The court will weigh preacher Gabriel Olivier's bid to revive his federal civil rights lawsuit, which challenges under the First Amendment a Brandon, Miss., ordinance that limits demonstrations near a public amphitheater.  Olivier called women "Jezebels" and "whores" and men "sissies" as they walked by, court records show, and he was found guilty of violating the ordinance. A lower court ruled Olivier's conviction barred him from trying to assert a First Amendment challenge in his current civil rights lawsuit.  And finally, the Supreme Court will answer the question everyone has been waiting for: whether NJ Transit is legally an arm of New Jersey's state government.  At stake in Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corporation and New Jersey Transit Corporation v. Colt is whether NJ Transit must face lawsuits from private parties in other states' courts (namely Pennsylvania and New York, where the train system serves).  Out: Reviving Montana's abortion law The court declined Montana's bid to enforce its abortion law, a petition we highlighted last week.  Montana's constitution expressly protects abortion, but the 2013 law requires minors to obtain parental consent before undergoing the procedure. Montana's top court ruled the law violated minors' rights under the state constitution.  The Republican-controlled state asked the Supreme Court to revive the statute by ruling that the federal Constitution provides parents the rights to participate in their child's medical care, and it supersedes any state-level rights.  Alito, joined by Thomas, issued a two-page statement as the court turned away Montana v. Planned Parenthood of Montana, cautioning they weren't rejecting the state's argument.  "But because of the way this case was litigated below, it provides a poor vehicle for deciding that question," Alito wrote.  ON THE DOCKET Don't be surprised if additional hearings are scheduled throughout the week. But here's what we're watching for now:      Today A federal judge in Washington, D.C., is set to hold a hearing to stay the agency action underpinning a challenge to the Trump administration's policies expanding expedited removal.   Thursday A federal judge in Maryland is set to hold a hearing in Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case, where she has ordered the government to produce at least one witness to testify about its plans if Abrego Garcia is released from custody in Tennessee.  A federal judge in New Hampshire is set to hold a class-certification and preliminary injunction hearing in three mothers' nationwide class-action lawsuit challenging Trump's executive order narrowing birthright citizenship.    A federal judge in Massachusetts is set to hold a motion to enforce or modify the preliminary injunction in a lawsuit brought by seven transgender and nonbinary individuals challenging Trump's order blocking people from updating the sex marker on their passports.  Friday No notable hearings scheduled.   Monday A trial against Boeing Corporation for the 2019 crash of a 737 MAX8 aircraft that killed all 157 people on board is set to begin in federal court in Chicago.  Tuesday No notable hearings scheduled.  WHAT WE'RE READING The New York Times's Adam Liptak: In Digital Era, Supreme Court Insists on Vast Piles of Paper  Bloomberg Law's Mike Vilensky: Combs, Mangione Cases Drag Staid Federal Court Into TikTok Era  Gothamist's Ben Feuerherd: Former NYPD chiefs claim Adams administration created a culture of cronyism, corruption  The Washington Examiner's Kaelan Deese: Harmeet Dhillon: Civil rights being rebuilt after 'cultural shift' under Trump  Politico E&E's Robin Bravender and Niina H. Farah: The Truman-era law giving environmental lawyers hope  We'll be back next Wednesday with additional reporting and insights. In the meantime, keep up with our coverage here. Questions? Tips? Love letters, hate mail, pet pics? Email us: elee@thehill.com and zschonfeld@thehill.com.  On Signal: @elee.03 and @zachschonfeld.48.  Privacy Policy   |   View in Browser    |   Manage Subscriptions Sign Up for Other Newsletters   |   Unsubscribe  400 N Capitol Street NW Suite 650, Washington, DC 20001 Copyright © 1998 - 2025 Nexstar Media Inc.   |   All Rights Reserved.

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