Welcome back to Trump Watch. The skirmishes between the U.S. House of Representatives and President Donald Trump are keeping one lawyer very busy. Plus, one of Trump's judicial nominees faced heat in a Senate confirmation hearing this week, while conservative groups continue to collect power as they seek to shape the federal bench. Thanks as always for reading, and remember you can always reach out at [email protected] or follow me on Twitter at @elliskkim.

Douglas Letter, general counsel for the U.S. House, must have spent the bulk of last week in transit, if not in a federal courtroom fighting President Donald Trump.

In the last ten days, the former Justice Department lawyer (pictured above) has appeared in New York and Washington federal trial courts defending congressional subpoenas for Trump's financial information; and in California and again D.C. to fight Trump's plan to redirect billions of dollars in federal funding for border construction.

Letter's schedule reflects the escalating legal wars between the Trump administration and the U.S. House's Democratic majority. Trump has vowed to resist all congressional subpoenas flung his way by the Democratic heads of House committees; and calls for Trump's impeachment grew among lawmakers this week.

With the U.S. House emerging as one of Trump's primary legal foes, here's a review of the court fights we've seen this month between the two sides:

The feud over Trump's financial docs. This case involves a House Judiciary subpoena issued to Trump's long time accountant Mazars USA, seeking eight years' worth of his financial records. Trump's legal team, including the firms Consovoy McCarthy Park and Michael Best & Friedrich, filed a lawsuit to block Mazars from complying with the subpoena, which the lawyers say lacks legislative purpose. Judge Amit Mehta in Washington, D.C., rejected that effort this week and Trump appealed. A panel for the D.C. Circuit announced on Thursday it will hear oral argument on July 12, in what will likely be the first time an appeals panel reviews a congressional subpoena for Trump's financial records. The panel will include Judges Neomi Rao, Patricia Millett and David Tatel.

>> You can read more about the D.C. Circuit panel set to review the subpoena. >> Plus, check out my colleague Marcia Coyle's story on the two Supreme Court rulings highlighted in Judge Mehta's order here. The subpoenas to Trump's banks. This dispute centers around subpoenas that two House committees issued last month to Deutsche Bank and Capital One. Deutsche Bank's records—sought here by the House's Intelligence Committee and the Financial Services Committee—have drawn much curiosity because the bank has long been Trump's primary lender. In New York federal court this week, Trump's lawyer Patrick Strawbridge of Consovoy McCarthy Park again contended the subpoenas weren't tied to legislation, but also limited under the federal financial privacy law, my colleague B. Colby Hamilton reports. Judge Edgardo Ramos of the Southern District of New York, like Mehta, declined to block the subpoenas on Wednesday, dealing Trump a 0-for-2 record in subpoena suits. His New York legal team—including Marc Mukasey of Mukasey Frenchmen & Sklaroff—is appealing.

>> My Albany colleague Dan M. Clark writes about a measure the New York State Legislature approved this week to ease access to Trump's state tax returns.

A legal attack on Trump's border wall. When Trump in February declared a national emergency on the border to redirect billions of dollars in federal funding to construct a wall, state attorneys general and the American Civil Liberties Union were among the first groups vowing to take him to court. That legal fight went before Judge Haywood Gilliam in the Northern District of California last week, as he weighed requests to temporarily block the diversion of any money from the Pentagon for border construction. Letter was allotted time to argue as a friend of the court, my colleague Ross Todd reports here.

The fight over power of the purse. The U.S. House filed its own lawsuit against the Trump administration in April, contending that Trump's plan would usurp the legislative branch's power of the purse. Judge Trevor McFadden in D.C. heard argument on Thursday, as Letter asked for a preliminary injunction to stop the administration from spending money to build the wall. A key hurdle for lawmakers in this case will be whether McFadden, a former Justice Department lawyer and Trump appointee to the court, believes the House has standing to sue. The judge at times appeared ready to take up deputy assistant attorney general James Burnham's forceful argument Thursday that courts should stay far away from such interbranch disputes.

What We're Reading

>> Kirkland's Daniel Bress, Nominated to Ninth Circuit, Grilled Over California Ties. “Daniel Bress [pictured above], a Kirkland & Ellis litigation partner and former clerk to Justice Antonin Scalia, defended his ties to California on Wednesday, as a hearing on his federal appeals court nomination almost entirely devolved into a debate over geographic roots.” [NLJ] Meanwhile, The U.S. Senate confirmed Daniel Collins, a Munger, Tolles & Olson partner and former Scalia clerk, to the Ninth Circuit on Tuesday. The vote was 53-46, my colleague Ross Todd reports.

>> A conservative activist's behind-the-scenes campaign to remake the nation's courts. “He is widely known as a confidant to Trump and as executive vice president of the Federalist Society, an influential nonprofit organization for conservative and libertarian lawyers that has close ties to Supreme Court justices. But behind the scenes, Leo is the maestro of a network of interlocking nonprofits working on media campaigns and other initiatives to sway lawmakers by generating public support for conservative judges.” [Washington Post]

>> Conservative Group Wants to Bring 'Brass Knuckles' Approach to Judicial Fray. “Named the Article III Project for the section of the Constitution that established the judiciary, the organization will be led by Mike Davis, a former Republican Senate and White House aide who was a central figure in the confirmations of Justices Neil M. Gorsuch and Brett M. Kavanaugh.” [New York Times]

>> Carl Nichols, Trump's Pick to DC District Court, Wins Senate Approval.Nichols, who has represented clients in trial and appellate courts on a broad range of issues, has been a partner at Wilmer since 2010. The U.S. Senate approved his bid to the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia on a 55-43 vote. [NLJ]

>> States Are Fighting Back Against Trump's New Anti-Abortion, Anti-Trans 'Conscience' Rule. “Two dozen Democratic-led states, counties, and cities sued on Tuesday to overturn a new Trump administration rule that would protect health care workers who refuse medical procedures — like abortion, assisted suicide, or sex reassignment surgery — if it violates their 'conscience.' An 80-page complaint in federal court in Manhattan argues the policy could have dire effects for patients, particularly low-income people of color, women, and LGBT people who disproportionately rely on government-backed health care systems.” [BuzzFeed News]