Welcome to This Week in Civil Rights and Civil Liberties.
This week the Fourth Circuit found Travel Ban 3.0 unconstitutional, the Senate failed to reach consensus on DACA, Justice Ginsburg spoke on topics from the #MeToo movement to voting rights, and legislation reducing mandatory minimums for nonviolent drug offenders moved forward in the Senate.
Appeals court says Trump’s latest travel ban violates the law — again: In the latest round of litigation over the President’s attempts to limit immigration from certain Muslim majority countries, the Fourth Circuit has again found unconstitutional “anti-Muslim bias.” (Washington Post)
Senate Rejects Immigration Plans, Leaving Fate of Dreamers Uncertain: Three different measures aimed at resolving the debate around DACA were blocked. (New York Times)
Supreme Court will meet behind closed doors Friday on DACA: The Court will consider a rare request from the Justice Department to review the opinion of a district court judge—who blocked a plan to end DACA—before a circuit court has ruled on it. (CNN)
Ruth Bader Ginsburg Opens Up About #MeToo, Voting Rights, and Millennials: The Atlantic posted a transcript of a wide-ranging conversation between Jeffrey Rosen of the National Constitution Center and Justice Ginsburg. (The Atlantic)
Pennsylvania Court Issues New Congressional Map: The new district boundaries were drawn after the Pennsylvania Supreme Court declared the old map unconstitutionally partisan and will be in place for the May 15 primary. (NBC)
ICE Lawyer Charged With Stealing Immigrants’ Identities: ICE chief counsel, Raphael A. Sanchez, allegedly stole the identities of seven people who were in immigration proceedings. (New York Times)
Rights group sues to block Ohio Down syndrome abortion ban: The ACLU filed a lawsuit in federal district court in Ohio, challenging the state’s ban as unconstitutional. (Reuters)
Prison sentencing bill advances over Sessions objections: The legislation, which was approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee last week, is designed to reduce mandatory minimum sentences for nonviolent drug offenses. (The Hill)
Senate Leaders Reconsider Ban on Pell Grants for Prisoners: In a bipartisan move, the Senate may reinstate eligibility for the incarcerated—stripped away in a 1994 crime bill—in its reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. (New York Times)
U.S judge weighs challenge to federal marijuana prohibition: Plaintiffs argue before the Southern District of New York that Congress’s classification of marijuana as a Schedule I drug lacks a rational basis. (Reuters)
Despite court directive, Alabama still segregates seriously mentally ill prisoners: A federal judge ordered the Alabama Department of Corrections to immediately move 21 prisoners with “serious mental illness” out of solitary confinement. (Southern Poverty Law Center)
Jess King Becomes the Second Congressional Candidate Nationwide Whose Campaign Workers Have Unionized: The campaign workers supporting Democrat Randy Bryce in Wisconsin were the first to unionize. (The Intercept)
New Health Secretary Faces First Test as Idaho Skirts Federal Law: Critics say the state’s new healthcare plan allows insurers to discriminate on the basis of preexisting conditions, in violation of the ACA. (New York Times)
House passes changes to Americans With Disabilities Act over activists’ objections: Critics warn that the bill will remove incentives for businesses to comply with the ADA. (Washington Post)
Nine organizations sue Trump administration for ending grants to teen pregnancy programs: Four separate lawsuits have been filed arguing that the grants were wrongfully terminated. (Washington Post)
Massachusetts top court rejects police traffic stop challenge: The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously upheld the use of traffic stops as pretext for investigating other crimes, under the state’s constitution. (Reuters)
Judges Say Throw Out the Map. Lawmakers Say Throw Out the Judges: Legislators in Pennsylvania, Iowa, and North Carolina have floated measures to restrain judges who have delivered unfavorable decisions on issues such as gerrymandering and gun control. (New York Times)
State and local election infrastructure vulnerable to attacks ahead of midterm elections, Democrats warn in new report: The Report issued by the Democratic Congressional Task Force on Election Security identifies risks to U.S. election systems. (ABC)
U.S. Climate Change Litigation in the Age of Trump: Year One – A New Sabin Center Working Paper: The Sabin Center for Climate Change Law at Columbia Law School has released a new working paper which tracks climate change litigation over the past year. (Climate Law Blog)
Here Are the Places that Struggle to Meet the Rules on Safe Drinking Water: A new study finds that between 3 and 10 percent of the nation’s drinking water systems fail to meet minimum standards set by the federal Safe Drinking Water Act. (New York Times)