COURTS/DEMS/INVESTIGATIONS/LAWSUIT/LEGISLATION/TRUMP AS PRESIDENT: “Democrats took control of the House this year promising to use legislation and investigations to check President Trump. But facing substantial roadblocks to each, they are increasingly opposing him in a different way: Eight months into their majority, the House is going to court at a tempo never seen before. Fighting in courtrooms as much as in hearing rooms, the House has already become a party to nine separate lawsuits this year, while also filing briefs for judges in four others. More lawsuits are being drafted, according to a senior aide to Speaker Nancy Pelosi. The fights include efforts to reveal Mr. Trump’s hidden financial dealings, force his aides to testify about his attempts to obstruct the Russia investigation, challenge his invocation of emergency powers to spend more taxpayer money on a border wall than Congress approved and defend laws like the Affordable Care Act that his Justice Department abandoned. While it is routine for the executive branch to be in court, it was once vanishingly rare for Congress, which has typically used its authority to pass laws, appropriate funds and investigate the executive branch, to balance out the president’s power.”
–Charlie Savage and Nicholas Fandos, “The House v. Trump: Stymied Lawmakers Increasingly Battle in the Courts,” The New York Times online, August 13, 2019