Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
This week, the Senate confirmed Jeffrey Kuntz as a judge in the Southern District of Florida, making him the second former Florida state jurist who did Trump a solid in his trollsuit against the Pulitzer Prize Board and got himself promoted to the federal bench. Also this week, the Senate confirmed Matthew Schwartz to the Second Circuit, making him the third of Trump's personal lawyers to be made appellate judges. This is fine!
 
The Trump administration sued Maryland to stop it providing in-state tuition to undocumented students.
 
Trump's media company plans to sell early access to his posts to high-frequency traders. 
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY:
 
Trump's teleprompter operator Gabriel Perez got caught betting on what his boss might say on Kalshi. He's negotiating a settlement with the CFTC, but is apparently still employed at the White House.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche had his confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Wednesday. Any Republican defection will tank his nomination to be permanent AG. He got raked over the coals and forced to sit down with the Epstein survivors, but will probably make it through.
 
The beloved service station Buc-ee's is suing everyone and their mother for trademark infringement. But the Buc-ee Beaver may have bitten off more than he can chew picking a fight with Mickey the Moose.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
 
In December, X/Twitter rolled out new image generation capabilities for its AI Grok, after which users created an avalanche of non-consensual intimate images. The site is facing a class action by minor victims. But it hopes to avoid liability by seeking a ruling from a friendly judge in Texas that the blame lies with the users who generated the images, not the site itself.
 
US v. Maryland [In-state tuition]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73629368/united-states-v-state-of-maryland/
 
White House teleprompter operator made more than $100K betting on Trump's speeches: Sources
https://abcnews.com/US/white-house-teleprompter-operator-made-100k-betting-trumps/story?id=134764573
 
Trump Media to Sell Faster Access to President's Social Posts
https://www.wsj.com/tech/trump-media-to-sell-faster-access-to-presidents-social-posts-7a7054e8
 
xAI LLC v. Harwood
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73616819/xai-llc-v-harwood/
 
Doe v. XAI Corp
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72495765/doe-1-v-xai-corp/
 
Buc-ee's is on a Rampage and No Mascot is Safe, Wall Street Journal
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/buc-ees-is-on-a-rampage-and-no-mascot-is-safe-80b7f03d
 
Buc-ee's, Ltd. v. Coles IP Holdings, LLC [2026 docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72296862/buc-ees-ltd-v-coles-ip-holdings-llc/
 
Buc-ee's, Ltd. v. Panjwani [2015 docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72296862/buc-ees-ltd-v-coles-ip-holdings-llc/



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DOCKET ALERTS:
 
Todd Blanche will appear before the Senate Judiciary Committee this week as it considers his nomination to be Attorney General. Can he advance without Senator Lindsey Graham, his biggest protector?
 
Judge Tim Kelly in DC reluctantly dismissed the charges against several Proud Boys gang members convicted for their roles in the January 6 assault on the Capitol after the Justice Department walked away from the appeal.
 
Twelve states filed an antitrust suit in California to block the merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Patrick Byrne, the former CEO of Overstock.com, who managed to lose a defamation suit against Hunter Biden.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
South Carolina Senator Lindsey Graham passed away this weekend. We'll discuss his failures as a lawyer and the fight to replace him in Congress.
 
Open AI is having a rough week in court. Apple sued it in California under the Defend Trade Secrets Act, alleging that the company stole proprietary information to help it design a new phone-type gadget. And in New York, plaintiffs in a lawsuit accusing Open AI of scraping data in violation of copyright moved for sanctions because of systemic discovery violations.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS: 
 
Trump's "settlement" with the IRS establishing the weaponization compensation fund for J6 criminals was ruled illegal by the court. Judge Kathleen Williams also referred Trump's lawyers, Alejandro Brito and Daniel Epstein, for bar discipline and sent records of this case to the courts considering discipline of Todd Blanche and Stanley Woodward.
 
US v. Nordean [Proud Boys]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59704048/united-states-v-nordean
 
California v. Paramount-Skydance
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73606877/the-state-of-california-v-paramount-skydance-corporation/
 
Biden v. Byrne
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67990012/robert-hunter-biden-v-patrick-m-byrne
 
In re OpenAI 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69879510/in-re-openai-inc-copyright-infringement-litigation
 
Apple v. Liu 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73602437/apple-inc-v-liu/
 
Trump v. IRS [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service/



Show Links:
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Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

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
 
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

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:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
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