Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
Trump says he's going to get the Supreme Court to reconsider its birthright citizenship ruling "IMMEDIATELY." (He's not.)
 
He also says he's going to get SCOTUS to reconsider its denial of certiorari in the E. Jean Carroll case, and thus he shouldn't have to pay the $5 million he owes her. (Again, he's not.) Judge Lewis Kaplan ordered the escrowed funds to be disbursed to Kaplan, holding that it was time for Trump to "do equity and pay the judgment." And the Second Circuit summarily refused his "emergency" request for an administrative stay of the disbursement order. Pay up, a-hole!
 
The DC Circuit rebuffed Trump's petition to get his name slapped back on the Kennedy Center pending appeal of the ruling that it was illegal to put it there in the first place.
Olympian David Hearn was arraigned today in DC Superior Court on felony charges for having vandalized Trump's janky Reflecting Pool remodel.
 
Former Wisconsin judge Hannah Dugan was given a $5,000 fine but no jail time after being convicted of obstructing ICE by letting an immigrant defendant exit the courtroom using the jury door. The government had sought an eight to ten-month custodial sentence.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Ken Paxton, who separated from his wife two years ago, and still continues to use his former marital home as his address for voting purposes, according to ProPublica.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
The Eleventh Circuit upheld an injunction blocking much of Florida's Stop WOKE Act (get it? get it?), which barred university professors from taking a position on "controversial" ideas like systemic racism. The state's theory is that professors are government employees, and employers can regulate speech, and thus teachers are just like Walmart greeters who can be given a strict script. The judges did not agree.
 
In Georgia, a federal judge quashed a subpoena for a vast trove of data on every person who worked on the 2020 election. Judge William Ray reasoned that any "crime" committed would be outside the statute of limitations, and so he need not reach the propriety of the subpoena to quash it.
 
According to a recently filed lawsuit, the Trump administration has been violating its own policies and handing Iranian asylum seekers over to the Iranian government — even after we started bombing the country.
 
Maine senatorial candidate Graham Platner has dropped out — sort of. We'll discuss the legal implications and what happens going forward.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:


Update on the "Judgefight" from Ep. 243. Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in DC says that the Trump administration cannot use the Social Security database to bulk-verify state voter rolls. Judge T. Kent Wetherell in Florida says that they must. Now what?
 
Carroll v. Trump [SDNY docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65895581/carroll-v-trump
 
Carroll v. Trump [Second Circuit docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73589905/carroll-v-trump/
 
Beatty v. Trump [Kennedy Center, DC Circuit docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73477160/joyce-beatty-v-donald-trump
 
US v. Dugan 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70255566/united-states-v-dugan
 
Ken Paxton Vowed to Crack Down on "Illegal Voting." He May Have Violated Texas Election Law.
https://www.propublica.org/article/ken-paxton-voter-registration-election-law
 
Pernell v. Commissioner of the FL State Board of Education [11th Circuit Stop WOKE]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca11.80813/gov.uscourts.ca11.80813.11014486517.1.pdf
 
Iranian American Legal Defense Fund v. Rubio [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73581390/iranian-american-legal-defense-fund-v-rubio/
 
Maine Revised Statutes, Title 21-A, §374-A [candidate dropping out statute]
https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/21-a/title21-Asec374-A.html
 
League of Women Voters v. DHS (DC Cir appeal) [docket via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cadc.43348/
 
League of Women Voters v. DHS (Sooknanan SAVE docket) [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71499795/league-of-women-voters-v-us-department-of-homeland-security/?order_by=desc
 
State of Florida v. DHS (Wetherell SAVE docket) [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69271601/state-of-florida-v-department-of-homeland-security/?order_by=desc
 
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DOCKET ALERTS:
 
As Trump tries to get out of paying E. Jean Carroll what he owes her, his supporters have filed a scandalously irresponsible bar complaint against her lawyer Roberta Kaplan.
 
US Attorney Andrew Boutros is in hot water with yet another court. The Chicago prosecutor appears to have violated a court order and publicly discussed a sealed case and has to come in and explain himself to the court.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demands that the GOP investigate the masked dorks from Patriot Front who marched around DC this weekend. She's pretty sure they're really antifa!
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
Trump and his allies have engaged in forum shopping for years. They're currently parking all kinds of administrative and criminal cases in Texas, no matter where the "violation" occurred, because they know they can get in front of a handful of friendly judges. Now they're ginning up conflicts between those "friendly" judges and other courts.
 
Case in point: the Federal Trade Commission is trying to manufacture a case against WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, for "consumer fraud" — by which they mean an article summarizing best practices for gender-affirming care. After Chief Judge James Boasberg in DC quashed their subpoenas on the organization, the FTC tried to get Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas to issue identical ones. This provoked rounds of dueling non-suiting motions, until Judge O'Connor backed down and agreed not to start an internecine judicial war.
 
Meanwhile in Florida, the state sued the Biden administration in 2024 for failing to allow it to bulk-verify voters for citizenship. When Trump came back to the White House, he entered into a settlement — or "settlement" — with Florida and the other plaintiff states promising to check their voter rolls. But then Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in DC enjoined that verification process as a violation of the Privacy Act and the Social Security Act. So now Florida is asking Judge T. Kent Wetherell to force DHS to comply with the "settlement" and violate Judge Sooknanan's order.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Obviously Trump's Great American State Fair was a debacle. But was it illegal? (Yes.)
 
Carroll v. Trump 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65895581/carroll-v-trump
 
US v. Torres
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73572960/united-states-v-torres/
 
Judge orders U.S. Attorney Boutros into court over 'potential violations' of seal order
https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2026/07/03/judge-orders-u-s-attorney-boutros-into-court-over-potential-violations-of-seal-order
 
WPATH v. FTC
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72295218/world-professional-association-for-transgender-health-v-federal-trade/
 
FTC v. WPATH 
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.421590/
 
Florida v. DHS
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69271601/state-of-florida-v-department-of-homeland-security/
 
League of Women Voters v. DHS
​​https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71499795/league-of-women-voters-v-us-department-of-homeland-security/
 
From Vanity to Insanity: How the White House Cheated the American People Out of Their 250TH Birthday
https://democrats-naturalresources.house.gov/imo/media/doc/freedom250_oversight_report2.pdf
 
Inside America's Ugly Birthday Battle
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/06/trump-250-great-american-state-fair/687456/
 
Show Links:
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Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
House Speaker Mike Johnson sent everyone home for vacation rather than deal with a dissident faction in his own caucus that keeps demanding a vote on the vote-suppressing SAVE America Act Trump keeps braying for.
 
A federal judge in New Hampshire became the tenth to dismiss a DOJ lawsuit seeking full, unredacted state voter rolls — or eleventh if you include the Sixth Circuit.
 
In 2024, Florida sued to force DHS to bulk verify citizenship data so states could "audit" their voter rolls. In 2025, DHS entered into a "settlement" with Florida, Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana agreeing to do it, and handing power to a Trump-appointed judge in Florida to ensure compliance. But that database has now been enjoined by a judge in DC for violating the Privacy Act of 1974, so Florida is moving to enforce the settlement in Florida. 
 
And in DC, Judge Emmet Sullivan barred the Post Office from complying with Trump's executive order requiring the mailman to claw back ballots from any voter not on an approved list. This order violates a 2021 settlement the government made with the NAACP after Trump's last postmaster general tried to mess with mail-in ballots.
 
A judge in Louisiana has dismissed a lawsuit against several academics associated with the now-shuttered Stanford Internet Observatory. The online wingnut plaintiffs alleged that they had been "censored" by scholars who pointed out that they were violating Facebook's TOS.
 
Former CIA Director John Brennan is suing Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche in DC, seeking an injunction forcing prosecutors investigating him to retain all records. He hasn't been indicted yet, but, with Trump's minions planning a giant conspiracy indictment in Florida, he wants an order to preserve evidence for an eventual motion to dismiss for vindictive prosecution.
 
Prosecutors trying to convict a former US Attorney in Florida for emailing herself a copy of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report on the stolen documents case were forced to admit that they'd done the exact same thing, sending copies of it to defense counsel in discovery disclosures. 
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
The Supreme Court issued its final opinions of the term. 
 
In Trump v. Barbara, a narrow majority upheld birthright citizenship, refusing to invent some kind of exception to the plain terms of the 14th Amendment.
 
The conservative justices continued to tear down barriers to corruption in politics, invalidating the Federal Elections Campaign Act's bar on campaigns coordinating spending with outside committees in NRSC v. FEC. 
 
And in West Virginia v. BPJ/Little v. Hecox, the six conservatives allowed states to ban trans athletes from sports.
 
Finally, we discuss a new class action lawsuit challenging labor practices at the online gaming platform Roblox for violating child labor laws.
 
US v. New Hampshire Secretary of State [Voter rolls]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71453646/united-states-v-nh-secretary-of-state/
 
State of Florida v. DHS [SAVE voter verification database]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69271601/state-of-florida-v-department-of-homeland-security
 
Hines v. Stamos [Stanford Internet Observatory]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67310145/hines-v-stamos
 
NAACP v. US [Mail-in ballots]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/17461792/national-association-for-the-advancement-of-colored-people-v-united-states
 
Brennan v. Blanche
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73562893/brennan-v-blanche/
 
SCOTUS
Trump v. Barbara (14th Amdt birthright citizenship)
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-365_4hdj.pdf
 
NRSC v. FEC (PAC Coordination/campaign finance)
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-621_h315.pdf
 
West Virginia v. BPJ/Little v. Hecox (trans athletes)
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-43_2b35.pdf
 
Doe B.D. v. Roblox Corp. [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73332976/doe-bd-v-roblox-corporation/
 
Eurogamer, Roblox Studio boss: children making money on the platform isn't exploitation, it's a gift [April 4, 2024]
https://www.eurogamer.net/roblox-studio-boss-children-making-money-on-the-platform-isnt-exploitation-its-a-gift



Show Links:
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BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

DOCKET ALERTS:
From the SCOTUS orders list, petitions for certiorari denied in E. Jean Carroll's defamation suit against Trump and Alan Dershowitz's defamation suit against CNN. Pay up, a-hole! And of course, a big Nelson Muntz HA HA for Dersh.
 
The DC man who followed National Guard troops around while playing the Imperial March from Star Wars has settled his lawsuit against DC cops, but not against the guardsmen who called them.
 
John "Torture Memos" Yoo has been sworn in as a constitutional "advisor" to the farcical conspiracy investigation in South Florida being led by conspiracy-flogging lawyer Joe diGenova.
 
We discuss our post on the NRA trying to sue itself into oblivion.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Mehmet Oz
 
MAIN SHOW:
Journalist Katie Phang sued the Justice Department to make it release the remaining Epstein files, and she won!
 
Associate Attorney General Stan Woodward told a federal judge in Virginia to get bent in the slush fund case. Big fail!
 
The Supreme Court rules that states can accept ballots that are postmarked by election day and arrive a few days late. 
 
But SCOTUS went on to gut the administrative state in a case called Trump v. Slaughter, overturning a seminal 1935 case that allowed Congress to protect federal agencies and ensure partisan continuity by barring the president from firing agency heads and board members. The Court did carve out an exception for the Federal Reserve in Trump v. Cook, which is different for, uh, REASONS. 
 
SUBSCRIBER EDITION:
We'll break down the Supreme Court's ruling in Chatrie v. US, a case involving geofencing warrants for cellphone location data.
 
SCOTUS orders list
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/062926zor_1bn2.pdf
 
O'Hara v. Beck
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71730267/ohara-v-beck/
 
Yoo to advise diGenova on probe into inquiries of Trump's 2016 campaign and Russia
https://www.politico.com/news/2026/06/28/yoo-to-advise-digenova-on-probe-into-inquiries-of-trumps-2016-campaign-and-russia-00979585
 
The NRA Is Suing Itself In All The Courts At Once
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/the-nra-is-suing-itself-in-all-the
 
Phang v. Blanche
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73246595/phang-v-blanche/
 
Floyd v. DOJ [Slush Fund]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73383692/floyd-v-department-of-justice/
 
Watson v. RNC [late ballots]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-1260_g3cn.pdf
 
Trump v. Cook [Federal Reserve Board]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a312_5468.pdf
 
Trump v. Slaughter [FTC]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-332_qn12.pdf
 
Chatrie v. US
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/slipopinion/25#:~:text=Chatrie%20v.%20United%20States



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Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

DOCKET ALERTS:
The administration says it's going to prosecute anyone who touches the algae-ridden Reflecting Pool at the Lincoln Memorial. So far, that seems to be more bluster than reality.
 
Sadly, what isn't bluster is that Judges Reed O'Connor and Mark Pittman in Texas are handing down extraordinarily long punitive sentences for Antifa protestors to "send a message" not to criticize the government.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Postmaster General David Steiner, who tried to pass off voter suppression efforts to not distribute ballots as just "best practices" for the USPS. Fortunately, Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts permanently enjoined that part of Trump's plan to steal the midterms and ordered declared Trump's executive order unconstitutional and void.
 
MAIN SHOW:
It was a rough week at the Supreme Court, with SEVEN decisions all reaching extreme right-wing outcomes, all by the exact same 6-3 margin, and using contradictory legal "reasoning" to get there. The Supreme Court prevented victims of human rights abuses from suing the US company Cisco, while permitting Exxon Mobil to sue the Cuban government.
 
US v. Song [antifa protestors, docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71912958/united-states-v-arnold/
 
California v. Trump [post office injunction, docket via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.298518/
 
Exxon Mobil v. Corporation CIMEX [Supreme Court suits against Cuba]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-699_f204.pdf
 
Cisco Systems v. Doe [Supreme Court human rights suits]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-856_kjfm.pdf
 
Landor v. Louisiana Dep't of Corrections [Supreme Court Rastafarian religious liberty]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/23-1197_h3ci.pdf
 
Blanche v. Lau [Supreme Court lawful permanent residents]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-429_h3ci.pdf
 
Mullin v. Al Otro Lado [Supreme Court asylum applications]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-5_86qd.pdf
 
Mullin v. Doe [Supreme Court TPS]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25-1083_f204.pdf
 
US v. Southern Poverty Law Center [criminal indictment of SPLC; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73223865/united-states-v-southern-poverty-law-center-inc/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc



Show Links:
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BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod