You know it’s a rough week when President Donald Trump for the umpteenth time declares war on — wait for it! — the autopen. This time around, he asserted that former President Joe Biden’s usage of automatic signatures renders all his pardons and executive orders invalid. 

Maybe Trump is lashing out at his old bete noire — we mean the pen — because, otherwise, things aren’t going so well.

After taking a drubbing in federal court, Trump’s Department of Justice (DOJ) may file new charges in its incredibly weak political prosecutions of former FBI Director James Comey and New York Attorney General Letitia James (D). 

And an appeals court this week determined that another acting U.S. attorney, Alina Habba, was illegitimately appointed. It’s becoming a pattern.

Plus, will Homeland Security Secretary Kristi Noem take the fall in the administration’s illegal removals of hundreds of immigrants to a notorious Salvadoran megaprison? Read on.

I hope you all had a wonderful Thanksgiving break. Please send any thoughts or concerns you have to me at knutson@democracydocket.com.

Jacob Knutson, reporter

Second time’s a charm?

• The DOJ apparently isn’t done with Comey and James, two of Trump’s longtime perceived political foes. A week after a federal judge tossed the department’s cases against them, federal prosecutors are now considering bringing new indictments, according to Politico.
  
  
• The judges dismissed the cases after finding that Lindsey Halligan, who Trump handpicked to bring indictments against Comey and James, was unlawfully appointed as acting U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. 
  
  
• The DOJ may be able to seek new indictments because the original cases were dismissed without prejudice, though a statute of limitations issue could sink any effort to revive charges against Comey.
  
  
• If it decides to pursue fresh charges, the DOJ will likely run into several new issues. For example, it’s unclear who would actually present the indictments. Before Halligan’s appointment, officials in the Eastern District of Virginia appeared unwilling to bring charges against Comey and James.
  
  
• Additionally, Daniel Richman, Comey’s former lawyer, sued the DOJ, alleging it misused his personal data in its initial case against the former FBI chief. Richman asked a judge to bar prosecutors from using the data, which would likely be central to any new indictment against Comey.

Dive Deeper: Trump and the GOP’s war on naturalized citizens’ right to vote

Trump and GOP officials in key states are viciously targeting the voting rights of the people who go through the arduous process of becoming a U.S. citizen, Democracy Docket’s Yunior Rivas writes.

• The GOP has repeatedly displayed its contempt for new citizens in recent years by framing their participation in U.S. democracy as a threat to the “character” or “foundation” of the country.
  
  
• Beyond just statements, however, the Trump administration’s clearest display of contempt for naturalized citizens came this summer, when the United States Citizenship and Immigration Services abruptly banned all nongovernmental organizations from providing voter registration assistance at naturalization ceremonies — the very moment new Americans first gain the right to vote.
  
  
• The Trump administration’s fixation on purging noncitizens from voter rolls is also likely to disproportionately affect naturalized citizens, as the immigration status verification system it’s relying on has long been criticized for not reliably updating when someone becomes a citizen.

To do list

• The Supreme Court Monday is set to hear arguments over Trump’s attempt to oust a Democratic member of the Federal Trade Commission. Through the case, the court could give Trump unprecedented power to fire members of independent federal agencies. The hearing is set to begin on Dec. 8 at 10 a.m. ET. You can tune in here.
  
  
• Join the Center for American Progress today at 10:30 a.m. ET for a conversation with Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) about the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle our science and innovation infrastructure. You can RSVP here.
  
  
• At 2 p.m. ET Tuesday, Dec. 9, the Brennan Center is hosting a virtual panel discussion on the legacy of Bush v. Gore and the current state of U.S. elections. RSVP here.

Odds and ends

• Judge blocks warrantless arrests in D.C.: A federal judge severely limited the Trump administration’s ability to carry out warrantless immigration arrests in the nation’s capital.
  
  
• ICE arrests and separates father from six-year-old son: Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents in New York City arrested and separated a Chinese father and his 6-year-old son. The child’s whereabouts were still unknown as of Tuesday morning, according to The City.
  
  
• Noem claims Trump controls the weather: In a scene more fitting for Pyongyang than the White House, Noem in a cabinet meeting this week thanked Trump for keeping “the hurricanes away” from the U.S. During that same cabinet meeting, Trump appeared to repeatedly doze off before launching into a racist tirade against Somali immigrants.

Quote of the week

A week after the Department of Defense threatened to court martial him for reminding soldiers they are legally bound to refuse illegal orders, Sen. Mark Kelly in a defiant press conference said he would not stop speaking out against Trump’s efforts to politicize the military.

“The president has gone too far. Everybody needs to wake up. The occupant of the Oval Office is ignorant of the Constitution and has no regard for the rule of law.

In trying to silence me, proposing to court martial me, and threatening to kill me for fighting back when our democracy demands that we must fight back, President Trump has crossed a line. And this time, it’s not going to work.”