PSJD News Digest – April 11, 2025

April 11, 2025 at 11:34 am · Filed under Public Interest Law News Bulletin

Sam Halpert, NALP Director of Public Service Initiatives

Photo: Harris and Ewing Collection, Library of Congress

Hi Interested Public,

It’s been another eventful week, both in the news and for NALP–I’m so glad to have had a chance to see so many readers face-to-face over the past few days here in Cleveland. (If you weren’t able to make it, I look forward to catching you up on our conversations!) In the world outside our sessions, appellate decisions blocked lower court’s efforts to reinstate federal probationary workers, Berkeley Law students issued a public statement on the federal government’s expanding program for revoking student visas on a variety of bases, and a US House of Representatives committee withdrew its probe of a law school clinic after the clinic filed a lawsuit.

As always, these stories and more are in the links below. Solidarity,

Sam

Editor’s Choice(s)

  • With many career lawyers gone, Justice Dept. hires Trump loyalists for court (Washington Post; 10 Apr 2025)

    “The Justice Department is building a roster of lawyers willing to defend in court the most controversial parts of President Donald Trump’s agenda, firing career attorneys whom leaders view as standing in their way and hiring dozens of political appointees to carry out the president’s agenda.”

  • Public Service Loan Forgiveness is the Canary in the Coal Mine (Slate; 10 Apr 2025)

    “The illegality doctrine gives the IRS sweeping authority to define and enforce “the law” using a single provision of the Internal Revenue Code. And the Trump administration’s creative use of this doctrine reveals that it is seriously capable of transforming tax law into a tool of ideological enforcement.”

Federal RIFs

  • Unlocked: How the federal government historically has hired and fired workers (The Journalists’ Resource; 10 Apr 2025)

  • Supreme Court allows Trump to fire independent agency board members — for now (PBS; 9 Apr 2025)

    “The Supreme Court on Wednesday allowed the Trump administration to oust two board members who oversee independent agencies, for now. The action seems to signal the court’s support for President Donald Trump’s effort to remove limits on his power to hire and fire. Chief Justice John Roberts signed an order pausing a ruling from the federal appeals court in Washington that had temporarily restored the two women to their jobs. They were separately fired from agencies that deal with labor issues, including one with a key role for federal workers as Trump aims to drastically downsize the workforce.”

  • Supreme Court halts judge’s order to reinstate federal probationary workers (NBC; 8 Apr 2025)

    “The Supreme Court on Tuesday halted a federal judge's ruling requiring several federal agencies to reinstate around 16,000 workers the Trump administration had sought to fire. The decision to grant the administration's request means the federal government doesn't have to take steps to bring back some workers who were laid off while litigation moves forward before a federal judge in California.”

Civil Society

  • Justice Dept. Bars Its Lawyers From American Bar Association Functions (New York Times; 9 Apr 2025)

    “In a memo, the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, said that the bar association was “free to litigate in support of activist causes” but that the department’s employees “must conduct themselves in a manner that does not undermine or appear to undermine the department’s core mission of administering justice in a fair, effective, and evenhanded manner.” The department, Mr. Blanche wrote, “will no longer use taxpayer funds to pay for any travel to or engagement with A.B.A. events.” Any department employees who work in policy-related positions also may not “speak at, attend, or otherwise participate in” the association’s events in their official capacity, the memo continued, adding that those employees may not hold positions in the association or renew their memberships.”

Student Safety & Speech

  • Berkeley Law student government steps down, condemns administration in wake of visa revocations (The Daily Californian; 10 Apr 2025)

    “The Students Association at Berkeley Law, or SABL, condemned UC Berkeley School of Law administration for its silence regarding the revocation of student visas, and several officers stepped down from their positions Monday. In a statement titled “SABL Statement on Berkeley Community Member Visa Terminations” issued on the SABL Instagram, the organization expressed discontent that administration “is so quick to condemn student protest” but “remains silent in the face of current visa revocations.”

  • Columbia Activist Can Be Deported for His Beliefs, Rubio Says (Bloomberg; 10 Apr 2025)

    “Secretary of State Marco Rubio said Columbia University activist Mahmoud Khalil should be deported because his presence in the United States harms the country’s foreign policy interests even if his beliefs and statements are “otherwise lawful.”…Rubio said Khalil’s presence in the US “would have potentially serious adverse foreign policy consequences,” a determination based on his “past, current, or expected beliefs, statements or associations that are otherwise lawful.”

  • More than 300 student visas revoked as the government expands reasons for deportation (CNN; 11 Apr 2025)

    “Now, an increasing number of student deportation threats involve the revocation of visas based on relatively minor offenses like years-old misdemeanors, according to immigration attorneys, or sometimes no reason at all…“All of these tools that exist in the (immigration) statute have been used before, but they use them in a way that causes mass hysteria, chaos and panic with the hope that students won’t get proper legal advice and they’ll just, through attrition, leave the country,” said Jeff Joseph, president-elect of the American Immigration Lawyers Association.”

  • International Student Visas Revoked [MAP] (Inside Higher Ed; last updated 10 Apr 2025)

    “As of April 10, over 120 colleges and universities have identified 640-plus international students and recent graduates who have had their legal status changed by the State Department.”

  • Ten National Unions Call for Anti-Trump Resistance (Labor Notes; 8 Apr 2025)

    “Ten national unions [including the American Association of University Professors] and dozens of locals representing more than 3 million members have issued a joint statement demanding the release of immigrant workers recently snatched by Immigration and Customs Enforcement…The unions are also calling on employers, university administrators, and local governments to refuse to cooperate—and demanding that elected officials ‘find their spines.’”

  • Academic Council Statement: The Defense of the University (University of California Academic Senate; 8 Apr 2025)

    “We thus call on the Regents, President, and Chancellors of the University of California to expend every effort, commit necessary resources, and use all legal measures to defend our ability to conduct consequential, transformative research and provide high-quality teaching and mentoring. We call on our leaders to ensure the safety and privacy of students, faculty, and staff. And we further call on our leaders to protect academic freedom and faculty control of the curriculum—proactively and publicly.”

Other News