A federal judge on Monday temporarily blocked an Iowa law authorizing state criminal charges against undocumented immigrants who enter the state after being deported or denied admission to the country. In a 25-page ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Stephen Locher found that the so-called “illegal reentry” law, which would have taken effect July 1, is “preempted in its entirety by federal law” under the Supremacy Clause of the U.S. Constitution, per the Iowa Capital Dispatch.

“As a matter of politics, the new legislation might be defensible,” Locher wrote. “As a matter of constitutional law, it is not.”

             Important distinction! (Photo by Robin Opsahl/Iowa Capital Dispatch)

The law, which would have effectively created a state-level system for deportation (…in Iowa), was challenged in court by the U.S. Department of Justice, which argued that the policy infringed on the government’s ability to enforce immigration policy. But attorneys for the state rejected those claims, arguing that the law could not infringe on federal policy because it did not implement any new immigration rules — it simply gave state law enforcement officers the authority to enforce existing statutes.

Iowa Republicans approved the policy earlier this year in response to what they described as “open border” policies championed by the Biden administration. (They were inspired by a 2023 Texas law, which was also blocked by a federal judge.) Iowa Attorney General Brenna Bird repeated that flawed explanation Monday, vowing to appeal the injunction she said would prevent Iowa from “keeping our communities safe” from the flow of immigrants crossing a border more than 1,600 miles away.

“Iowa never would have had to pass this law to begin with if it weren’t for Biden’s open borders,” Bird said. “Rather than suing Iowa for enforcing immigration laws, he should do his duty to secure the border.”   Somewhere in here is (probably) a trove of important documents. (Photo by Lexi Browning/West Virginia Watch)

Officials in West Virginia may be taking security a bit too far when it comes to emails and documents that could shed light on the state’s response to an ongoing crisis in its foster care system, attorneys said in court documents last week. Those filings, part of a 2019 lawsuit over alleged mistreatment of foster kids, come two months after a judge sanctioned the West Virginia Department of Human Services for failing to preserve relevant emails from former top officials, West Virginia Watch reported.

Attorneys for the plaintiffs said state officials requested what’s known as “deliberative process privilege” — essentially, permission to withhold records containing confidential information — to exempt at least 2,610 documents from legal review. That privilege applies only to specific documents, including policy drafts and certain emails — but not news releases, meeting minutes or drafts related to agency decision-making processes, all of which were included in the exemptions. The department did not explain those redactions beyond a log containing “meaningless descriptions” of each document, attorneys said.

“Defendants should not be permitted to withhold documents nor prevent answers at depositions by asserting deliberative process privilege,” the plaintiffs wrote on June 13.

Attorneys for the state said the exemptions were necessary to shield staff members who discussed a wide range of topics over email. Subjecting those messages to public scrutiny could create a “chilling effect,” potentially harming “the process and integrity of executive decision-making,” they argued.

“Defendants have provided Plaintiffs with nearly 700,000 documents in response to Plaintiffs’ document requests,” they said. “Of these hundreds of thousands of documents, [DoHS] withheld only 2,610 documents on claims of deliberative process privilege, based on the individual review of each document.”             Under investigation, it seems. (Photo by Getty Images)

Details are similarly unclear in Minnesota, where the FBI is allegedly investigating possible Medicaid fraud related to autism treatment, sources told the Minnesota Reformer. And that’s pretty much all we know about that, though I can tell you that autism treatment has exploded across the state in recent years. The number of providers who diagnose and treat people with autism spectrum disorder has increased by 700% since 2018, jumping from 41 in 2018 to 328 last year, according to state data. Spending has far outpaced that growth, climbing from $6 million in 2018 to nearly $192 million in 2023, a 3,000% increase.

Astonishing as it may seem, that growth is “pretty consistent” with other programs administered by the state Department of Human Services, according to Natasha Merz, the agency’s assistant commissioner.

“I don’t think we are surprised or particularly disturbed by the rate of growth,” Merz said. “We know that having early intervention and access to service is a really, really important part of putting these kiddos on a good trajectory for the rest of their lives.”

Asked about the FBI’s involvement, Merz said only that she “can’t comment on ongoing investigations.” A spokeswoman for the FBI did not respond to a request for comment.

                Matt Gaetz will comment, but only by referring you to other comments he has already made on social media. (Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images)

The U.S. House Ethics Committee said Tuesday it had “identified additional allegations that merit review” as part of its ongoing investigation into whether Rep. Matt Gaetz had inappropriate sexual relationships or violated rules by accepting gifts. The new lines of inquiry aim to discover whether Gaetz, a Florida Republican, “dispensed special privileges and favors to individuals with whom he had a personal relationship, and sought to obstruct government investigations of his conduct,” our D.C. bureau reported.

Other allegations have been dismissed, according to a statement from the committee, which said it will “take no further action at the time on the allegations that [Gaetz] may have shared inappropriate images or videos on the House floor, misused state identification records, converted campaign funds to personal use, and/or accepted a bribe or improper gratuity.”

The update came a day after Gaetz criticized the “Soviet” committee for “opening new frivolous investigations,” probably at the direction of former House Speaker Kevin McCarthy. Nice try, losers! Florida voters aren’t buying it!

“I work for Northwest Floridians who won’t be swayed by this nonsense and McCarthy and his goons know it,” Gaetz fumed in a social media post.

The committee noted in its statement that Gaetz has “categorically denied” all allegations (and also made it difficult to obtain “relevant information”). Still, members have “spoken with more than a dozen witnesses, issued 25 subpoenas, and reviewed thousands of pages of documents,” the statement continued.

The committee did not respond to a request for comment.