Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:

Trump celebrated President’s Day by filing a trademark for Donald J. Trump International Airport — just in time for Florida’s move to rename Palm Beach International Airport in his honor. KA-CHING!

In Colorado, a state judge ruled that throwing prisoners in solitary confinement as a penalty for refusing to work violates the state constitution’s ban on involuntary servitude. It’s a start!

And in Philadelphia, Judge Cynthia Rufe ordered the Trump administration to restore an exhibit on the enslaved people who lived at President’s House under George Washington: “Each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery receives a false account of this country’s history.”

MAIN SHOW:

In Minnesota, Judge Nancy Brasel ordered DHS to grant detainees in “holding rooms” at the Whipple Building in Minneapolis meaningful access to counsel. The ruling bars ICE from removing immigrants from the state for 72 hours after they are originally picked up. We’ll discuss the cracks appearing between DHS, which ignores court orders, and DOJ, which has to show up in court and take the blame for it.

In New York, Judge Lewis Kaplan issued a similar order in September with respect to temporary “holding rooms” on the 9th floor at 26 Federal Plaza in Manhattan, with additional requirements that DHS provide for detainees' hygiene, nutrition, and medical needs. The plaintiffs say ICE has not complied and moved for contempt. The City reports that DHS opened up new temporary detention facilities on the 10th floor, but claims the injunction doesn’t apply there for, uh, REASONS.

And we break down all the ways Republicans are trying to suppress the vote with the SAVE America Act, which solves the nonexistent problem of noncitizens voting illegally by imposing a series of restrictions on citizens registering and voting.

In the subscriber bonus, we discuss a district court’s decision in Massachusetts enjoining the Trump administration from deploying ICE in and around churches.

Trump’s Private Company Files Trademark for ‘President Donald J. Trump International Airport’
https://www.gerbenlaw.com/blog/trumps-private-company-files-trademark-for-president-donald-j-trump-international-airport/

Buried in the budget: Mike Huckabee, Donald Trump and Newsmax
https://jasongarcia.substack.com/p/buried-in-the-budget-mike-huckabee

Mortis v. Polis [Colorado Prison Labor]
https://towardsjustice.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/02/Findings-of-Fact-and-Conclusions-of-Law.pdf

Philadelphia v. Burgum
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72178941/city-of-philadelphia-v-burgum/

Advocates for Human Rights v. DHS [Whipple Building]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72196538/the-advocates-for-human-rights-v-us-department-of-homeland-securit

Barco Mercado v. Noem [26 Federal Plaza]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71065570/barco-mercado-v-noem

ICE Moved Detainees to Previously Undisclosed Floor of 26 Federal Plaza
https://www.thecity.nyc/2026/02/09/26-federal-plaza-jail-conditions-ice-judge-kaplan-ruling/

Text of S.1383, the “SAVE America” Act
https://docs.house.gov/billsthisweek/20260209/RCP_S1383_xml.pdf

New England Synod, Evangelical Lutheran Church in America v. DHS
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70939776/new-england-synod-evangelical-lutheran-church-in-america-v-department-of/

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Docket Alerts:

Exactly zero grand jurors voted to indict the members of Congress who made a video in November reminding active duty service members of their duty to refuse illegal orders. And Judge Richard Leon told Secretary Hegseth to pound “Horsefeathers!” with his attempt to demote Senator Mark Kelly and dock his naval retirement.

The Justice Department hasn’t stopped trying to evade senate confirmation for US Attorneys. Hours after judges in New York exercised their legal right to appoint someone competent to run the office, the Trump administration fired him.

Subscribers will get a deep dive into AG Bondi’s efforts to ONE WEIRD TRICK a “triumvirate” of lawyers into the US Attorney spot.

MAIN SHOW:

Two hundred federal and state agents descended on a Mexican heritage festival in Idaho in October. They leveraged five arrest warrants for illegal gambling into a massive detention operation to brutalize hundreds of families. Now those families are suing under 42 USC § 1983, alleging a conspiracy between the feds and local law enforcement.

In DC, Trump appointee Judge Tim Kelly blocked the administration from taking revenge on inmates whose death sentences were commuted by President Biden by moving them all to Supermax.

After the Fifth Circuit’s terrible ruling last week allowing for indefinite detention of all non-citizens, district court judges are still finding ways to grant habeas petitions.

Back in DC, Judge Ana Reyes barred Secretary Noem from ending temporary protected status for 350,000 Haitians. She also had some frank words about the threats that rain down on judges who rule against the Trump administration – and why they won’t succeed.

Rodriguez v. Porter
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72256071/rodriguez-v-porter/

Taylor v. Trump [Death Row Commutations]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71717101/taylor-v-trump/

Kelly v. Hegseth
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72131361/kelly-v-hegseth/

US v. Naviwala [US Attorney New Jersey]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68269162/united-states-v-naviwala

Cumbe Lema v. De Anda-Ybarra [Texas Habeas]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72210802/cumbe-lema-v-de-anda-ybarra/

Hassen v. Noem [Texas Habeas]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72143519/hassen-v-noem-secretary-us-department-of-homeland-security/

Lesly Miot v. Trump [Haitian TPS]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70965949/lesly-miot-v-trump/

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https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
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In Jeffrey Epstein news: Ghislaine Maxwell showed up for congressional testimony, but says she’s taking the Fifth unless and until she gets a pardon. Bill and Hillary Clinton agreed to testify, averting a vote to refer them to DOJ for contempt of Congress. Paul Weiss managing partner Brad Karp stepped down after his emails to the noted pedophile were published.

Luigi Mangione will not face the death penalty, but will face trial this summer.

Main Show:

The Trump administration is trying to magic away Steve Bannon’s contempt of Congress conviction with an assist from SCOTUS. It’s called a GVR, and it’s filthy.

The DOJ sued in state court to get Fulton County’s 2020 ballots. They sued in federal court. And then they got a criminal warrant and just took them. Now Georgia election officials are suing to get their ballots back.

What is going on with that Tulsi Gabbard whistleblower report?

The Fifth Circuit greenlights ICE’s batcrap insane legal theory that the government must hold immigrants in detention indefinitely without a hearing. Should the challengers petition for en banc review, or go straight to SCOTUS?

And for subscribers, we’ll break down FCC Chair Brendan Carr’s threat to investigate the ladies at The View for daring to interview Texas Senate candidate James Talarico — a known Democrat!

Bannon Rule 48(a) Motion to Dismiss
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.237437/gov.uscourts.dcd.237437.207.0.pdf

Bannon Cert Petition
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-453/395803/20260209141144273_25-453_Bannon_cert_resp_file.pdf

US v. Alexander [DOJ civil suit to see Fulton County ballots]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028229/united-states-v-alexander/

Pitts v. US [Fulton County suit to recover ballots]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72247417/pitts-v-united-states/

NSA detected foreign intelligence phone call about a person close to Trump
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/feb/07/nsa-foreign-intelligence-trump-whistleblower

Whistle-Blower Report Involved Intelligence About a Trump Contact
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/07/us/politics/whistle-blower-gabbard-trump.html

Buenrostro Mendez v. Bondi
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71870107/buenrostro-mendez-v-bondi/

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Andrew flies solo on today’s show, which… coincidentally features a bunch of law from the 1980s. Learn how a 1981 advertisement for a soon-to-be defunct video game system shaped the law of copyright into what it is today after Atari sued Magnavox to pull a Pac-Man clone off the shelves.

In the second story, we talk about the death of antitrust law. What once broke up the phone company’s monopoly is now so defanged that just two companies control almost all of the components that go into your PC. Oh, and the phone company basically reassembled itself.

The computer graphics monopoly set us on the path where computer are rented, not owned. And taking advantage of that was a company that targeted teenagers who want the latest and greatest gaming rig (but can’t afford it). Learn about the consumer fraud lawsuit, potential settlement, and the future of computers. Have we gone backwards since the 1980s? (Yes.)

Check out the independent reporting of Steve Burke at GamersNexus.

Atari, Inc. v. North American Philips Consumer Electronics Corp., 672 F.2d 607 (1982)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16433139020722034724

Burns v. Fragile, Inc. [docket via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.454102/

Steve Burke, GamersNexus YouTube channel
https://www.youtube.com/@GamersNexus

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
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DOCKET ALERTS:

We bid a fond goodbye to Ed Martin … well, fond-ish.

Liam Ramos, the little boy kidnapped by ICE in Minneapolis along with his father is back home after a judge in Texas granted his habeas petition. Read the scathing order here.

Judge Jia Cobb re-imposed a temporary restraining order barring DHS from excluding legislators from immigrant detention facilities.

Two immigrant rights groups challenged ICE’s homebrew arrest warrants.

The Trump administration finally got that perp walk of Don Lemon. Two weeks ago, a federal magistrate refused to issue an arrest warrant for Lemon, Minnesota journalist Georgia Fort, and three others who were present at the MLK Day protest at a church whose pastor David Easterbrook is an ICE supervisor. Now a grand jury has indicted all eight of the DOJ’s original targets.

Chief Judge Jeffrey Sutton of the Sixth Circuit dropkicked the DOJ’s judicial ethics complaint against Chief Judge James Boasberg of the US District Court in DC. The complaint is based on leaked notes from a closed judicial conference in March, which Law and Chaos is suing to kick loose under FOIA. The Signalgate administration says it has no idea how this judicial record wound up on its servers.

Liz and Andrew sound off on Chief Justice Roberts forcing SCOTUS employees to sign NDAs.

Donald Trump sues the IRS — it’s like suing himself, but you get to foot the bill.

And we ponder whether Trump can legally burn down the Kennedy Center Make the Kennedy Center Great Again.

Plus for subscribers: Andrew’s got a deep dive into the Death on the High Seas Act and the lawsuit filed by survivors of two men murdered in the Caribbean boat strikes.

Justice Dept. demotes Ed Martin, stripping Trump ally of most authority
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/02/02/ed-martin-demoted-justice-department

Liam Ramos Habeas Order
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492/gov.uscourts.txwd.1172886492.9.0_3.pdf

TRO Enjoining DHS from Excluding Legislators From Immigration Facilities
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.283200/gov.uscourts.dcd.283200.52.0.pdf

The Perp Walk Is The Point
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/the-perp-walk-is-the-point

US v. Armstrong [Don Lemon Indictment]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mnd.231103/gov.uscourts.mnd.231103.39.0_1.pdf

DOJ Attacks Judge, Claims Judicial Immunity For Itself
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/doj-attacks-judge-using-leaked-doc

Judge Sutton Dismissed DOJ Complaint Re Judge Boasberg
https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/internet/judicial_complaints/files/2025/06-25-90173(Chad.MO.pdf

Res Ipsa Media v. DOJ [L&C FOIA suit]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71236135/res-ipsa-media-llc-v-department-of-justice

How the Supreme Court Secretly Made Itself Even More Secretive
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/02/02/us/supreme-court-nondisclosure-agreements.html

Trump v. IRS
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.706172/gov.uscourts.flsd.706172.1.0_4.pdf

Boat Strike Complaint
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.294916/gov.uscourts.mad.294916.1.0_1.pdf

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