The GOP establishment dramatically ramped up its efforts to stop Donald Trump, as Mitt Romney and John McCain, the party’s presidential nominees in 2012 and 2008 respectively, warned that the 2016 Republican frontrunner posed a grave economic and national security threat to the country—and could even put American democracy itself at risk. Historians struggled to find precedent for such a fierce, and increasingly well-funded, campaign by party leaders to stop their own frontrunner. Thursday evening’s debate, hosted by Fox News anchor (and noted Trump antagonist) Megyn Kelly), reflected the growing rancor, with smashmouth crosstalk and junior high insults that led GOP pollster Frank Luntz to tweet that “the number one word my focus group used to describe tonight’s debate: ‘Embarrassing.’”  

Advocates will be watching for signs, suggested in several recent reports, that Trump may not be quite as adamantly committed to his pro-deportation stance as many of his statements suggest, though smoking gun proof that the frontrunner flip flops, sometimes within the hour, seems unlikely to materially affect the race. Grantee the Center for American Progress resurfaced reports documenting what it would cost to actually deport the 11 million undocumented immigrants living in the U.S.

Analysts continued to sift the results of Super Tuesday balloting with an eye toward getting a better handle on Trump’s demographic strengths and weaknesses, noting that in Texas, where he lost to home-state Sen. Ted Cruz, Trump’s best performances came in Southwestern counties close to the U.S.-Mexican border. 

The Obama Justice Department filed a new brief in US v. Texas, the challenge to the president’s immigration executive actions now pending before the Supreme Court. The brief sought to establish that the executive actions reflect the president’s well-established power to defer deportation for the millions of undocumented immigrants living in the U.S., and that these latest moves were necessary because Congress had not allocated sufficient funds for the federal government to properly enforce immigration laws as a practical matter. (A summary of the administration’s arguments can be found here.) The state of Texas, joined by 25 other states, has argued the president’s actions exceed the bounds of his authority.

Even as many grantees line up behind the administration in the Texas case, they continue to criticize Immigration and Customs Enforcement for deporting Central American youth who crossed the U.S. border seeking refuge from violence back home. The American Immigration Lawyers Association, with support from America’s Voice, launched a petition urging ICE to stay the deportation of a 10th grader from Honduras, who fled to the Atlanta area fearing sexually assault by gang members. 

 Democrats increased pressure on Iowa Sen. Charles Grassley, chairman of the Senate Judiciary Committee, to buck his party leadership and proceed to hold hearings on the Obama administration’s yet-to-be-named nominee to replace the late Supreme Court Justice Antonin Scalia. Party leaders announced that a prominent state official was mounting a challenge to Grassley’s re-election this fall, creating serious competition in a race that had previously been seen as a walk for the incumbent.

A raft of tech companies announced they were siding with Apple in its ongoing legal fight with the FBI over the bureau’s request for cooperation in unlocking an iPhone belonging to one of the San Bernardino shooters killed in the attacks. Among them: Twitter, Airbnb, eBay, LinkedIn, Square and Kickstarter.

 The New York Community Trust announced a $1.2 million investment to battle Islamophobia in New York City.

Among other grantee activities:

--Media Matters published a report that the National Policy Institute, which the group billed as a white nationalist organization, announced plans to hold a pro-Trump rally in Washington, DC March 5.

--OSPC grantee Human Rights First issued a statement pointing out that the U.S.resettled just 114 Syrian refugees last month, “far short of the level of progress needed to meet the government’s current modest commitment to resettled 10,000 Syrian refugees in fiscal year 2016.”

--South Asian Americans Leading Together joined with the National Council of Asian Pacific Americans in publicizing an apparent hate crime late last week in Louisville, Kentucky, where a Pakistani Muslim father was fatally shot after dropping his daughter off at school. The incident is just the latest in a series of anti-Muslim acts of violence that the MASA community is tracking and combating.

--Just Security posted a piece looking at the fragile ceasefire agreement in Syria through the lens of international humanitarian law.