Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
Trump's cronies on the Kennedy Center board have come up with a new reason to stonewall discovery in the lawsuit brought by Rep. Joyce Beatty: executive privilege.
 
A federal judge in Virginia dismissed the Trump DOJ's lawsuit challenging Virginia's law providing in-state tuition for undocumented immigrants.
 
Justice Sam Alito says you have to stop being so mean and buy his book.
 
Bari Weiss's fake university in Texas wants to add a fake law school, and they're looking for a dean. Send in your blog post and let their AI agent read it!
 
Election denying weirdos Cleta Mitchell and Tina Peters want Trump to seize the voting machines for "national security."
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Texas AG Ken Paxton has questions about kids' underpants.
 
MAIN SHOW:
The criminal case against Olympic canoeist David Hearn was dismissed, and now he's requesting that the inspectors general of both the Justice Department and the Department of Interior investigate how this abuse of prosecution happened.
 
In Chicago, Marimar Martinez, was shot five times by CBP agents and then charged with assault with a deadly weapon. That case fell apart when it emerged that the agent was lying, and now Martinez has sued DHS under the Federal Tort Claims Act.
 
The successor entity to Dominion Voting Systems is suing Patrick Byrne, AKA "the Overstock dot com weirdo," for defamation. Byrne is represented by Trump's former boarding school roommate, Peter Ticktin. Ticktin just accused Judge Carl Nichols, a Trump appointee, of obstructing justice in the case by enforcing a protective order. What is even happening???? 
 
Beatty v. Trump
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72069932/beatty-v-trump/
 
US v. Commonwealth of Virginia [In-state tuition]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72085714/united-states-v-commonwealth-of-virginia/
 
Ken Paxton kids' underpants
https://www.texasattorneygeneral.gov/news/releases/attorney-general-ken-paxton-launches-investigation-kids-clothing-companies-over-potential-presence
 
Supreme Court Wannabes Head Search Committee For Bari Weiss University Law School Dean
https://abovethelaw.com/2026/10/supreme-court-wannabes-head-search-committee-for-bari-weiss-university-law-school-dean/
 
Hearn IG Request
https://www.democracydefendersfund.org/wp-content/uploads/2026/10/100626_DDF-Request-for-Concurrent-IG-Investigations-Hearn-Arrest-and-Prosecution.pdf
 
Martinez v. US 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74919226/martinez-v-united-states/
 
Liberty Vote Holding v. Byrne [Dominion Voting Systems]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60120428/liberty-vote-holdings-inc-v-byrne/



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Today we're doing something a bit different. We're discussing the excellent book "By the Fire We Carry," by Rebecca Nagle and the fight for Cherokee sovereignty, through the lens of the 2020 Supreme Court cast McGirt v. Oklahoma. 
 
By the Fire We Carry: The Generations-Long Fight for Justice on Native Land
https://bookshop.org/p/books/by-the-fire-we-carry-the-generations-long-fight-for-justice-on-native-land-rebecca-nagle/288762f2ed30e05a
 
McGirt v. Oklahoma
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-9526_9okb.pdf
 
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In Georgia, DOJ celebrates its 26th courtroom loss in the battle to steal state voter rolls.
 
An Arizona appeals court overturned a manslaughter sentence because of an absolutely bonkers use of AI.
 
A judge in DC Superior Court dismissed vandalism charges against Olympic canoeist David Hearn with prejudice.
 
The Justice Department filed an ethics complaint against almost every judge in the District of Minnesota for talking to the New York Times about what it was like to have their orders blatantly disregarded day after day.
 
A judge in Washington ruled that the president has no power to fire US Attorneys installed by judges when there is an unfilled vacancy. The three hat dance is so back, baby!
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: 
 
Revisionist historian Geoff Shepard, a former Nixon aide, is making the rounds at DOJ pitching his hot take: "Watergate As Lawfare." The WSJ reports that there's an appetite inside the Justice Department for the theory that all those guys who went to jail for Nixon were persecuted victims.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
JGG v. Trump, the first major case where the Trump DOJ defied a court order, sending hundreds of men to CECOT in El Salvador, is back at the DC Circuit. This week, the entire court sitting en banc, heard oral argument on the issue of whether Judge James Boasberg has the power to do anything about flagrant contempt of his rulings. Audio here!
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
 
The US Supreme Court, via a 6-3 shadow docket order, stayed two lower court rulings prohibiting the administration from deporting immigrants to third countries without due process, without notice or the opportunity to raise a credible fear or torture or persecution. The New York Times reported that the administration was unable to comply with the court's order to stop, so it immediately ran to the Supreme Court for help, which it got.
 
US v. Raffensperger [Georgia voter rolls]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72193752/united-states-v-raffensperger/
 
Arizona court says judge wrongly allowed AI-generated victim video
https://www.reuters.com/legal/government/arizona-court-says-judge-wrongly-allowed-ai-generated-victim-video-2026-09-30/
 
Hearn Dismissal Order
https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/28713072-hearn-dismissal/
 
Decades After Watergate, Justice Department Reviews Whether Nixon Got a Raw Deal
https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/decades-after-watergate-justice-department-reviews-whether-nixon-got-a-raw-deal-8e25380f
 
Rogoff v. Trump [Three hat dance]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73647676/rogoff-v-trump/
 
In re: Donald Trump / J.G.G. v. Trump [Oral argument audio]
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4A1BwFh_lYg
 
In re: Donald Trump / J.G.G. v. Trump [DC Circuit docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72029089/in-re-donald-trump/
 
JGG v. Trump [District Court docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/?order_by=desc
 
DHS v. D.V.D. [Supreme Court order; third country renditions]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/092926zr2_1a7d.pdf
 
DHS v. D.V.D. [1st Circuit order; third country renditions]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca1.53896/gov.uscourts.ca1.53896.00108510897.0.pdf
 
D.V.D. v. DHS [trial court D. Mass. order; third country renditions]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282404/gov.uscourts.mad.282404.242.0.pdf
 
"Trump Administration Scrambles to Stop Third-Country Deportations After Court Ruling," New York Times, Sep. 24, 2026.
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/24/us/politics/trump-third-country-deportations.html
 
Show Links:
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Congratulations to now-former FBI director Andrew Bailey, who resigned this morning and got out of the way of whatever scandal is coming down the pike.
 
On Friday, a jury ordered Apple to pay $5.7 billion to a company called Taction for infringing its haptic patents.
 
The White House is still blocking CNN, MSNOW, and Politico from the Oval Office and excluding CNN from pool duties. Does that violate Judge Kelly's TRO?
 
Dua Lipa is suing Samsung for $15 million after the company used her photo on packaging for televisions without paying for it.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Kansas Senator Roger Marshall is very hot for us all to know that he didn't sue his obstetrics patient for $50. He sued her for $3,400, and got her locked up over it. And he's sending a cease and desist letter to his opponent Adam Hamilton for making an ad about it — that'll shut 'em up!
 
MAIN SHOW:
The Trump administration is back on its "pocket rescission" BS, purporting to cancel $1 billion of congressional allocations by waiting until the end of the session and shouting "MAKE ME!"
 
A guy who calls himself the "OnlyFans lawyer" has filed a dozen lawsuits in DC on behalf of January 6 rioters. They want reparations under the Federal Tort Claims Act, now that the slush fund is DOA. 
 
The Supreme Court finally put an end to the shenanigans in Missouri, ensuring that the state will not be able to switch out its maps and squeeze out another Republican seat in Congress. But the Supreme Court also stayed a DC court injunction, paving the way for red states to use borked DHS immigration data to try and kick registered voters off of its voter rolls, if only one-by-one.
 
And Donald Trump is using your taxpayer dollars to run ads urging everyone to love him. That's definitely not legal under the GAO's standards for what counts as "publicity or propaganda."



Taction Technology, Inc. v. Apple Inc.
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/59854908/taction-technology-inc-v-apple-inc
 
CNN v. Trump 
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74823502/cable-news-network-inc-v-trump
 
Dua Lipa v. Samsung
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73319650/dua-lipa-v-samsung-electronics-america-inc/
 
White House "Pocket Rescission" Announcement
https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2026/09/president-trump-takes-historic-action-to-eliminate-wasteful-and-harmful-spending/
 
People Not Politicians v. Onder [Supreme Court Missouri map order]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a388_q86b.pdf
 
Department of Homeland Security v. League of Women Voters [Supreme Court SAVE order]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a308_pok0.pdf
 
Congressional Letter to the White House re: ads
https://www.appropriations.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/260924_letter_to_wh_re_trump_ad.pdf
 
White House "PSA" Announcement
https://www.whitehouse.gov/releases/2026/09/presidential-public-service-announcements-are-nothing-new/
 
Public Law 118-47 (Section 715 on propaganda)
https://www.congress.gov/bill/118th-congress/house-bill/2882/text
 
GAO Decision, "Executive Agencies—Communications about the 2019 Fourth of July Events on the National Mall," B-331262
https://www.gao.gov/products/b-331262



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DOCKET ALERTS:
 
ProPublica published a bombshell story about Senator Susan Collins (R-ME), who was allegedly the subject of an FBI corruption investigation until Trump killed it.
 
The Department of Homeland Security is still looking for the vote fraud. In July, they announced that they found over 250,000 illegally-registered voters in four states. By August, that number declined to just under 16,000. And on a zoom call with local election officials in Nevada, it dropped to 185. But it's probably actually zero.
 
The Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and Democratic Governors Association filed a lawsuit to try and stop DHS and the FBI from sending armed guards to polling stations to intimidate voters.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY:
Our doofus of the day is Sheri Mecklenburg, the veteran prosecutor who broke DOJ norms (and possibly the law) to get the indictment in the Broadview Six case. Mecklenburg moved to intervene as a party on the grounds that if she doesn't get to represent herself, her former boss is definitely going to continue to throw her under the bus. She's not wrong.
 
MAIN SHOW:
Donald Trump tried to ban MSNOW, CNN, and Politico from the White House press pool. He lost in front of one of his own appointees, as Judge Tim Kelly in DC entered a temporary restraining order requiring the White House to reinstate the previously-confiscated "hard passes" and let the reporters back in.
 
In Missouri, the 8th Circuit continues to try and overrule both the US and Missouri state Supreme Courts by requiring the state to use a Trump-approved super-gerrymandered map from 2025 instead of the already very gerrymandered map already in place. We're waiting to see what Brett Kavanaugh will do. (The petitioners filed a truly excellent motion for clarification and reply brief.)
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
Trump had his nonsense lawsuit against the Des Moines Register and pollster Ann Selzer dismissed in state court for failure to state a claim, because the news isn't a consumer product. It's a great ruling from a very conservative judge.



The FBI Anti-Corruption Squad Was Circling Susan Collins — Until Trump Got in the Way
https://www.propublica.org/article/fbi-susan-collins-navatek-campaign-donations-investigation
 
F.B.I. Shut Down Inquiry Into Top Ally of Senator Susan Collins
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/09/22/us/politics/fbi-susan-collins-donor.html
 
Trump officials touted a voter fraud bombshell. Their data hasn't proved it [CNN]
https://www.cnn.com/2026/08/21/politics/markwayne-mullin-voter-fraud-nevada
 
DSCC v. ICE [lawsuit to stop stationing armed guards at polling places; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74842896/dscc-v-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement/
 
US v. Rabbit [Chicago 6 sanctions; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71795281/united-states-v-rabbitt/?order_by=desc
 
CNN v. Trump [press passes in DC; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74823502/cable-news-network-inc-v-trump/?filed_after=&filed_before=&entry_gte=&entry_lte=&order_by=desc
 
People Not Politicians v. Onder [Supreme Court docket]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26a388.html
 
Von Glahn v. Hoskins [Missouri Supreme Court Sep. 3, 2026 opinion]
https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=239229
 
Missouri Supreme Court Sep. 10, 2026 contempt order
https://www.courts.mo.gov/file.jsp?id=239429
 
Onder v. Missouri [8th Circuit docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74780310/congressman-robert-onder-v-state-of-missouri/
 
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