Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, had a morning meeting with Judge Merrick Garland of the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, President Obama’s Supreme Court nominee. The meeting yielded details about both men’s breakfast preferences, but no evidence that the chairman had plans to proceed with confirmation hearings. Advocates continued to apply pressure in Grassley’s home state and in other jurisdictions where members face tight re-election races. A sampling of their efforts, being coordinated by the #WeNeedNine campaign of the Constitutional Responsibility Project:

    WHO-TV: Former Grassley staffer calls for fair hearing for Supreme Court nominee
    Sacramento Bee: Poll: Merrick Garland should get confirmation hearings
    PennLive op-ed: Why won't Pat Toomey back a hearing for Judge Merrick Garland?

Advocates trumpeted the administration’s newly filed reply brief in US v Texas, the Supreme Court case challenging President Obama’s immigration executive actions, which is set for oral arguments April 18. America’s Voice helped publicize a post from former American Immigration Lawyers Association president David Leopold deconstructed the plaintiffs’ arguments and asserted that politics, not law, is driving the challenge. The elected sheriff of Polk County, Iowa, penned an op-ed arguing that if successful, the plaintiffs’ case would interfere with local law enforcement’s ability to work with immigrant communities.

The children of undocumented immigrants are being prevented from registering to attend school and otherwise receiving needed educational services, a new report from the Georgetown University Human Rights Institute has found. Complicating matters: the Obama administration’s efforts to locate and send back home many of the unaccompanied minors who came to the U.S. fleeing violence in Central America in 2014, a policy that left many school-age children fearful of signing up for school, lest that trigger deportation proceedings. The report was produced in concert with grantee the Women’s Refugee Center.

In an op-ed published by the New York Times, Bono pointed toward a new version of the Marshall Plan, the US initiative to help rebuild the economies of Western Europe following World War II, as an example of what is required in response to the burgeoning global migration crisis.

Kansas Secretary of State Kris Kobach announced that he helped draft parts of Donald Trump’s proposal to force Mexico to build a wall along the US border, and is advising the GOP frontrunner on immigration policy more broadly.

Meanwhile, Mark Zuckerberg announced that a 10-year plan to use Facebook to help better connect the global community, making explicit references to the need to combat calls for “blocking free expression, for slowing immigration, for reducing trade, and in some cases for cutting access to the internet.”

News surfaced that the FBI paid hackers a one-time fee to help them access the iPhone of one of the assailants in the San Bernardino attacks. Apple has indicated it would not sue the government to learn about how the hackers were able to get in. The White House has a process for reviewing whether to compel the FBI to share information about the software flaws the hackers uncovered with Apple, which may take some weeks to resolve. 

Among other grantee activities:

--The ACLU and the National Immigration Law Center wrote to Arizona Gov. Ducey, urging him to block  controversial immigrant rights legislation from becoming law. The bill, SB 1377, “would ensure that unauthorized immigrants convicted of certain offenses would face the harshest penalties and be ineligible for probation or plea deals,” according to an Arizona Public Media account of the effort.

--TheDream.US published a piece extolling the economic benefits to communities that immigrants provide. 

--The Guardian published a first-person piece by a United We Dream adherent who walked 1500 miles from Florida to Washington DC to help draw attention to call for an end to the deportation of fellow Dreamers, and to publicize the administration’s deportation practices more generally. 

--Asian Americans Advancing Justice launched a new citizenship campaign through its LA chapter.

--Colorlines, published by Race Forward, produced videos featuring advocates talking about the FBI’s decision to track hate crimes against Muslims (and those perceived to by Muslim by law enforcement). Among those featured: South Asian Americans Leading Together)

--The Electronic Frontier Foundation stepped up efforts to kill legislation that would require tech companies to create backdoors for law enforcement to collect smartphone users’ data.