Welcome back to Trump Watch. President Donald Trump has successfully appointed two nominees to the US Court of Appeals for the DC Circuit, and today one of them—former White House regulatory czar Neomi Rao—hears her first set of oral arguments. We preview her first sitting as a circuit judge below. Plus: The fight between the Trump administration and Democratic lawmakers is heating up, and things are getting snitty around here. Thanks as always for reading, and remember you can always reach out at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter@elliskkim.

Neomi Rao's DC Circuit Debut

Neomi Rao, the Trump administration's former top regulatory official whose confirmation came under fire over her college writings, will make her debut on theU.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit on Friday.

Rao, who was nominated by President Donald Trump in November and confirmedin March, will take the bench alongside Judges David Tatel and Sri Srinivasan. The panel will hear oral arguments Friday morning in a criminal sentencing matter and another case that confronts the Trump administration's efforts to roll back Obama-era environmental regulations.

That later case, Natural Resources Defense Council v. Wheeler, will fall squarely within Rao's wheelhouse. Before joining the court, Rao served as head of the White House's Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs, where she largelyspearheaded the Trump administration's deregulatory agenda. Rao, a formerJustice Clarence Thomas clerk and administrative law expert, was previously a law professor at George Mason University Antonin Scalia Law School, where she also founded the school's Center for the Study of the Administrative State.

Friday's case centers on an environmental group's challenge to the Environmental Protection Agency's April 2018 decision to no longer enforce part of an Obama-era rule that regulated the use of hydrofluorocarbons, a greenhouse gas. The Natural Resources Defense Council, which sued the EPA, contends the agency unlawfully suspended the rule without providing sufficient explanation, or providing notice or opportunity to comment.

Peter DeMarco, a lawyer for the Natural Resources Defense Council, will argue before the panel. Benjamin Carlisle, a trial lawyer from the Justice Department's environmental and natural resources division, will represent the EPA and its administrator, Andrew Wheeler.

The first case arises out of an appeal of a man's denied bid to have his sentence retroactively reduced. Mark Smith, who pleaded guilty to drug distribution charges, is represented by the federal public defender's office in Washington, who argues Smith's sentence was based on a guideline range that the sentencing commission later reduced.

Rao, who filled the vacancy that was left after Brett Kavanaugh's elevation to the U.S. Supreme Court, is the Trump administration's second appointee to the D.C. Circuit. Trump previously named Gregory Katsas, a former deputy White House counsel and Jones Day partner, to the court in 2017.

Rao endured a blitz of attention during her confirmation over her writings at Yale University in the 1990s about sexual assault and campus multiculturalism. She told senators that looking back, some of her writings made her “cringe.”

Rao's nomination also faced questions from Senate Republicans about her stance on abortion. Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Missouri, and a former clerk to Chief Justice John Roberts Jr., suggested Rao was pro-choice and that she would agree with more liberal judges to expand certain rights. Hawley's commentary drew ire from some conservatives, and he ended up voting in favor of Rao's nomination.

Speed Reads

>> Pelosi Accuses Barr of Law-Breaking as Democrats' War with Attorney General Boils Over. “House Democrats' feud with Attorney General William P. Barr boiled over on Thursday, as Speaker Nancy Pelosi accused the nation's top law enforcement officer of lying to Congress and the Judiciary Committee threatened to hold him in contempt if he did not promptly hand over a complete version of Robert S. Mueller III's report.” [New York Times]

>> White House lawyer mocks Mueller report as 'law school exam paper'. “A top White House lawyer slammed Robert Mueller in a letter made public Thursday, calling out the special counsel for playing politics by submitting findings to Attorney General William Barr that are 'part 'truth commission' report and part law school exam paper.'” [POLITICO]

>> House Dems Seek to Join Trump's Suit Over Bank Subpoenas. “Deutsche Bank and Capital One have agreed to halt document production in response to the subpoenas issued by two U.S. House of Representatives committees seeking detailed financial information about President Donald Trump, his family and his businesses, according to documents filed in federal court late Wednesday. The same filings indicated the suit will likely soon be joined by attorneys for the House Democrats, whose counsel intends to file a motion to intervene before week's end.” [NYLJ]

>> Trump's stonewalling of Congress is illegal. How far will he push it? “It is all too easy to underestimate the significance of President Trump's outright defiance of Congress's request that senior aides testify. His declaration that this White House will resist all congressional subpoenas, across the board, is an unprecedented challenge to the House's exercise of its constitutional oversight powers,” former Obama White House counsel Bob Bauer writes. [Washington Post]

>> The way Trump is asserting the rights of his office is not impeachable.“Trump is not the first president to resist congressional investigation of the inner workings of his administration, and Barr is not the first Cabinet officer to negotiate the terms of his appearance before a committee. In fact, the responses are unremarkable,” argues former Tenth Circuit Judge Michael McConnell, now at Stanford Law. [Washington Post]