February 12, 2026 — Morning Report

The DOJ attempted to bring criminal charges against six sitting members of the U.S. Senate and House for statements they made arguing that military personnel are not required to follow unconstitutional orders. This was a blatant violation of Article I, Section 6's Speech and Debate Clause, which immunizes members of Congress for anything said in the course of their legislative duties. The attempt didn't survive the grand jury — the grand jury simply declined to indict. Senator Mark Kelly was separately in civil litigation with Hegseth (26-cv-00081) over Hegseth's threats to strip Kelly's military rank and pension, which Bryan reported would be covered in detail Friday.

Immigration detainees at a GEO Group-run detention center in Washington State were paid one dollar per day for work inside the facility. Washington argued that because these were civil immigration detainees — not criminal inmates — the state's minimum wage law applied. The Washington Supreme Court and then the Ninth Circuit agreed. When the Ninth Circuit refused en banc rehearing, it added an opinion emphasizing the distinction: civil detainees have not necessarily done anything wrong, are being held temporarily, and GEO Group was simultaneously being paid millions of dollars in government contracts for the very work the detainees were doing for a dollar a day.

Congressman Neguse and eleven other House members sued after DHS blocked congressional access to immigration detention facilities without seven days' advance notice. Congress has included a funding rider in DHS appropriations every year since 2020 prohibiting DHS from using appropriated funds to block or require advance notice for congressional oversight visits. The court previously ordered compliance in December; DHS issued a new rule in January that "rearranged the words" but still required advance notice. Today's hearing covered the motion to stay that new rule. Bryan highlighted three issues: (1) individual members have standing because the rider specifically grants them individual rights, not just collective congressional standing; (2) DHS argues some facilities are "holding centers" not "detention centers" and the rider only covers detention — but those holding centers are where people are held before being transferred to Texas; (3) the "bathtub problem" — Noem's argument that she can use unrestricted funds from a second appropriations bill doesn't work because money is fungible. A restricted dollar and an unrestricted dollar in the same account are just dollars.