Law and Chaos

An ICE whistleblower reveals a secret memo where DHS lawyers say agents can arrest people in their homes without a warrant. The Fourth Amendment says otherwise! And the Supreme Court’s conservatives were extremely unimpressed with Trump’s plan to fire Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook on Truth Social. We’ll break down Wednesday’s oral argument in detail but first, we’ve got approximately one million ...

DOCKET ALERTS (Dun dun DUNNNN):

Former Special Counsel Jack Smith testified before the House Judiciary Committee. Watch it for yourself here.

The Justice Department arrested three people in relation to the protest on January 18 at Cities Church in St. Paul. Nothing has appeared on the docket, but the DOJ claims to have charged them under the Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act of 1994, meant to protect women seeking abortion care.

The Eighth Circuit administratively stayed District Judge Katherine Menendez’s preliminary injunction barring DHS goons from brutalizing protesters.

A jury in Chicago took just three hours to acquit a man of trying to hire someone to murder CBP’s head thug Greg Bovino. Don’t drunk text!

Donald Trump’s latest trollsuit targets JP Morgan Chase and its CEO Jamie Dimon. It’s filed in state court in Miami and seeks $5 billion for tortious debanking.

Washington Post reporter Hannah Natanson secured a standstill order barring the government from looking at the computers and hard drives it seized from her house in Virginia as part of its investigation into classified leaks by government contractor Aurelio Luis Perez-Lugones.

The Fifth Circuit, sitting en banc, reheard a challenge to Louisiana’s HB71, which required every public school classroom to display the Ten Commandments. Background here.

Judge Paul Engelmayer rebuffed a request by Reps. Thomas Massie and Ro Khanna to enforce the Epstein Files Transparency Act and order the government to disclose all materials on Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell. Remember this next time you hear some rightwing pundit railing against “activist judges.”

And we bid a fond farewell to Lindsey Halligan, who finally quit trying to pass herself off as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia. Well … fond-ish. After getting benchslapped by a federal judge and seeing her job posted online by the chief judge in EDVA, she finally took the hint.

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Breaking! The president is bugf*** insane! But first … docket alerts. Dun-dun-DUNNNNN.

We’ve reached the “yelling at chestnuts for being lazy” stage of the presidency, as Trump barks out ever-nuttier orders.

Meanwhile in Texas, Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk managed to moot the appeal of an LGBTQ+ student group at West Texas A&M which sued in 2023 to enjoin their school’s ban on drag shows. All he had to do was rush out an opinion in 48 hours saying that drag shows are not expressive conduct covered by the First Amendment. And lie about Fifth Circuit precedent!

TG we have at least one good legal development, this time out of Minnesota!

For the main show, we’ll break down the legal implications of Elon Musk building a chatbot in his own abusive troll image. Will the Take It Down Act put a stop to AI generation of deepfake CSAM and NCII?

Meanwhile over at the Department of Homeland Security, Secretary Kristi Noem and her minions are a wee smidge confused about the Fourth Amendment. If you can even believe it! But even a blind squirrel gets a nut once in a while. DHS wins a round against legislators seeking to inspect ICE detention facilities thanks to some creative accounting. But the victory may be short-lived.]

And subscribers will get another visit with that Overstock.com weirdo Patrick Byrne, who managed to lose a defamation case against the most defamation-proof defendant in America. Guest starring: Stefanie Lambert.

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The Trump administration’s war on Minnesota continues, and now the president is threatening to invoke the Insurrection Act. Clearly he thinks that is synonymous with declaring THE PURGE. But he’s wrong, and we’ll tell you why. Plus we’ve got good news(!) on California redistricting, green energy, and voting rights.

Links:

Tangipa v. Newsom [CA gerrymander]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cacd.994285

The Atlantic Monthly v. Google [Google ad antitrust]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72135468/the-atlantic-monthly-group-llc-v-google-llc/

US v. Oregon [DOJ demands OR voter rolls]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71363789/united-states-v-state-of-oregon/

US v. Weber [DOJ demands CA voter rolls]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71452580/united-states-v-shirley-weber

Minnesota v. USDA
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72074911/state-of-minnesota-v-united-states-department-of-agriculture/

Minnesota v. Noem
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72132615/state-of-minnesota-v-noem/?order_by=desc

Tincher v. Noem
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72047643/tincher-v-noem/

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Markets are freaked out about the DOJ’s threats to Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. And so are we! We’ve got a deep dive into a court order barring Trump from adding an extra-legal proof of citizenship requirement to voter registration forms and a breakdown of Illinois and Minnesota’s respective lawsuits against ICE and CBP. And for subscribers, we’ll explain why JD Vance’s claim that “Every president, Democrat or Republican, believes the War Powers Act is fundamentally a fake and unconstitutional law,” is utter BS.

Links:

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

Neguse v. ICE
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70964222/neguse-v-us-immigration-and-customs-enforcement

New York v. Burgum [Nichols]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72126766/state-of-new-york-v-burgum/

New York v. Burgum [Lamberth]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72126847/state-of-new-york-v-burgum/

Federal prosecutor in Virginia fired after refusing to lead Comey case
https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jan/12/us-attorney-virginia-fired-j

Trump DOJ fires prosecutor who declined to pursue James Comey case
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-doj-fires-prosecutor-who-declined-to-pursue-james-comey-case

Washington v. Trump [Election EO]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69845185/state-of-washington-v-trump/

Illinois v. DHS
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72131845/state-of-illinois-v-department-of-homeland-security/

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Congressional Republicans defect to support two Democratic resolutions. It’s not exactly a show of spine — maybe a vertebrae — but is it the beginning of something? Yet another US Attorney gets disqualified, this time in New York. Meanwhile Judges in Virginia wonder how it’s remotely ethical for Lindsey Halligan to present herself in court filings as a US Attorney. The DOJ is violating the Epstein Files Transparency Act. And what legal recourse is there for the family of Renee Good, who was executed by ICE officers in Minneapolis. Plus for subscribers: Dominion tries to get Mike Lindell and Patrick Byrne to STFU long enough to wind down their litigation.

Links:
War Powers Resolution
https://www.kaine.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/dav25m71.pdf

Massachusetts v. NIH [Indirect Costs]
https://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/files/opnfiles/25-1343P-01A.pdf

American Hospital Association v. HHS [Drug Rebates]
https://www.ca1.uscourts.gov/sites/ca1/files/opnfiles/25-2236O-01A.pdf

In Re Grand Jury Subpoenas to the Office of the New York State Attorney General v. US [Disqualification US Atty NDNY]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71844954/in-re-grand-jury-subpoenas-to-the-office-of-the-new-york-state-attorney

US v. Jefferson [Halligan signature challenge]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.vaed.586310

US v. Comey [4th Circuit appeal]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72065969/united-states-v-james-comey-jr/?order_by=desc

US v. James [4th Circuit appeal]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72065734/united-states-v-letitia-james/?order_by=desc

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