Law and Chaos

Ep 217 — Trump Admin Finds New Ways To Be Racist In Birthright Citizenship Case

The House Judiciary Committee wants to change the US Attorney statute to say what Attorney General Bondi claimed it did in court. This would involve the Senate voluntarily surrendering their power to vote on nominees, so … lotsa luck. Back in New Jersey, prosecutors say they’ll seek superseding indictments in cases with Alina Habba’s name on them, to remove the stink of illegitimacy.The DOJ has quietly settled a trollsuit filed by red states and rightwing trolls, including Robert Kennedy, alleging social media censorship by the Biden administration. The Supreme Court already dropkicked this case once, so the parties agreed to simply declare victory and go home.And Sam Bankman-Fried finds new ways to piss off judges and be sooooo weird, this time with help from his mom.MAIN SHOW:The DOJ settled a bogus lawsuit filed by former national security advisor Mike Flynn. His malicious prosecution claims had already been tossed by a federal judge, but she let him amend his complaint again, and by then Trump was back in the White House. Is this a new template for MAGA criminals to back the truck up to the Treasury and start filling it with taxpayer cash? The January 6 defendants sure seem to think so! We’ll compare a newly filed case by rioters with a suit filed by pardoned Proud Boys.And we’ve got a deep dive into the birthright citizenship case Trump v. Barbara, which will be argued at the Supreme Court this Wednesday.Kennedy v. Bidenhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67089647/kennedy-v-biden/?order_by=descMissouri v. Bidenhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63290154/missouri-v-biden/?order_by=descUS v. Bankman-Friedhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66631292/united-states-v-bankman-friedTarrio v. US [Proud Boys Bivens Suit]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70474277/tarrio-v-united-states-of-americaSullivan v. US [J6ers FTCA Suit]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73101995/sullivan-v-united-states/Flynn v. US [Flynn FTCA]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66930673/flynn-v-united-statesDred Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393 (1857)https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3231372247892780026US v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649 (1898)https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3381955771263111765Indian Citizenship Act of 1924https://www.archives.gov/files/historical-docs/doc-content/images/indian-citizenship-act-1924.pdfIndian Law Scholars’ Amicus Brief [via SCOTUS]https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-365/399370/20260226125541217_Barbara%20Amicus%20Brief.pdfThe Nationality Act of 1940 [student Note]https://www.jstor.org/stable/1335062Trump v. Barbarahttps://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-365.htmlShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep 216 — Zuck and Musk Get Pantsed In Court … Twice

Anthropic got its injunction against the Department of Defense and Pete Hegseth’s designation of the company as a supply chain risk.Elon Musk lost a shareholder class action suit in California over sh*tposts he made when he was trying to get out of buying Twitter. He demands a new trial because the jury made a 420 joke, and everyone knows that only he is allowed to do that. Meanwhile in Texas, X Corp lost a lawsuit against a bunch of Fortune 500 companies for daring to take their business elsewhereTrump housing goon Bill Pulte is back on his BS, trying again to get someone to indict New York Attorney General Letitia James, this time for insurance fraud.Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier is threatening NFL Commissioner Roger Goodell that there will be hell to pay if he doesn’t ditch the Rooney Rule.And Minnesota law enforcement and prosecutors sued the Departments of Justice and Homeland Security for blockading the evidence in the shootings of Renee Good, Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis, and Alex Pretti.MAIN SHOW:The Eighth Circuit joins the Fifth in endorsing ICE’s fakakta interpretation of the mandatory detention statute. Facebook/Meta/Zuckerberg loses in two courts — just like Elon/Twitter! In New Mexico, a jury ordered the company to pay $375 million in lawsuit brought by the state over unfair trade practices. And a jury in California awarded $6 million to a woman who became addicted to social media as a little girl and suffered serious emotional consequences.SUBSCRIBERS:For seven months, the DOJ told a court that ICE had revised its policy on arrests inside courthouses, including immigration courts. Only … they hadn’t. Now a federal judge in New York is on the warpath, and DOJ is trying to make sure that DHS takes the fall.Trump housing chief seeks new DOJ probe of New York AG Letitia Jameshttps://www.ms.now/news/trump-housing-chief-doj-new-york-letitia-james-pulteAnthropic Injunctionhttps://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.134.0.pdfX Corp v. World Federation of Advertisershttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69017972/x-corp-v-world-federation-of-advertisers/ Pampena v Muskhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65412803/giuseppe-pampena-v-elon-rmuskFlorida AG Uthmeier tells NFL to end diversity-promoting ‘Rooney Rule’https://www.orlandosentinel.com/2026/03/26/florida-ag-uthmeier-tells-nfl-to-end-diversity-promoting-rooney-rule/Minnesota v. DOJhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72590076/state-of-minnesota-v-us-department-of-justice/African Communities Together v. Lyonshttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70993525/african-communities-together-v-lyonsAvila v. ICE (8th Cir. mandatory detention) [docket via CourtListener]https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca8.113186/gov.uscourts.ca8.113186.00805482414.3.pdfState of New Mexico v. Meta (NM state investigation of Facebook)https://nmag.gov/wp-content/uploads/2024/01/2023-12-05-NM-v.-Meta-et-al.-COMPLAINT-REDACTED.pdfSmith v. TikTok (CA state lawsuit against social media addiction)https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/social-media-lawsuits-kgm-motion-denied.pdfShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep 215 — DOJ, Why Are You Like This?

Lots of legal news out of US Agency for Global Media, the parent agency for Voice of America. Judge Royce Lamberth ruled that Kari Lake was never legally appointed CEO of USAGM, and thus her orders shutting the sub-agencies down and firing all the employees were null and void. The government appealed, but in the sloppiest way possible. Now the agency is getting sued again for violating the firewall protecting journalistic independence, forcing the networks to air AI slop praising Trump. But Kari Lake has an answer for that, and it is to call the judge a fatso.Judges in the District of New Jersey have appointed longtime prosecutor Robert Frazer as US Attorney. And so far, Attorney General Bondi hasn’t fired him.Judge Roy Altman, a Trump appointee, seems disinclined to put an end to Trump’s trollsuits right out of the gate. He’s allowing the case against the BBC to proceed to discovery. And he dismissed the complaint against Capital One for tortious debanking, but allowed Trump 90 days to conduct discovery and refile.MAIN SHOW:We’ve got an update on Kilmar Abrego Garcia. The government says it has to send him to Liberia (where he does not agree to go) instead of Costa Rica (where he does agree to go) because Secretary Marco Rubio spent a lot of time negotiating with Liberia to take Abrego, and it would be so embarrassing not to send him there.And we’ll break down the Supreme Court’s recent decision in Olivier v. City of Brandon, a case involving a truly obnoxious street preacher that implicates your right to sue the government.SUBSCRIBER BONUS: The Trump administration is suing Harvard under Title VI, claiming that the school failed to protect Jewish students and must forfeit billions.Widakuswara v. Lake I [DC Circuit]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72521013/patsy-widakuswara-v-kari-lake/Widakuswara v. Lake [Trial Court]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69846584/widakuswara-v-lakeWidakuswara v. Lake II [DC Circuit]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72528662/widakuswara-v-lake/District New Jersey Appointment Orderhttps://www.njd.uscourts.gov/sites/njd/files/STANDINGORDER2026-03.pdfTrump Suit Against Capital One Dismissed But Can Be Refiledhttps://finance.yahoo.com/news/trump-suit-against-capital-one-200454780.html Trump v. BBChttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72040010/trump-v-british-broadcasting-corporationTrump v. Capital Onehttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69853458/the-donald-j-trump-revocable-trust-v-capital-one-naUS v. Harvardhttps://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72520538/unites-states-of-america-v-harvard-university-fellows-and-president/Abrego Garcia v. Noem (habeas petition) [docket via CourtListener]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71191591/abrego-garcia-v-noem/?order_by=descZadvydas v. Davis, 533 U.S. 678 (2001)https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=16478079160883986502Kennedy v. Bremerton School Dist., 597 U.S. _____ (2022)https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/21-418_i425.pdfOlivier v. City of Brandon [US Supreme Court]https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-993_10n2.pdfOlivier v. City of Brandon (Appendix containing ordinance) [US Supreme Court]https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-993/352124/20250314105732247_Olivier%20Pet.%20App.pdfShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep 214 — We Were Gonna Do A Show…And Then We Got High

We’ve got two deep dives for you today, each with a lot of laughs (and almost no Donald Trump)!First, we break down the lawsuit brought by seven police officers against rapper Afroman for hurting their feelings, which ended in a total victory for the defense. It’s still legal to make fun of cops in America! We dissect the claims, discuss what it means to sue for false light invasion of privacy and unreasonable publicity. And then we break down the audio of closing arguments and how each side went about persuading an all-white jury in deep red rural Ohio.Then, we discuss the ongoing shenanigans in the US Attorney’s Office for the District of New Jersey, where the Trump administration has installed a “triumvirate” of lawyers to run the office rather than just submit a nominee to the Senate. Things came to a head when the government botched a prosecution for child sexual abuse materials and tried to plow ahead anyway. Judge Zahid Quraishi summoned the DOJ lawyer responsible to appear in court and… it did not go well.And for subscribers, we have a bonus that dives even deeper into the mess the Trump administration has gotten into in New Jersey because it refuses to back down and just do the normal thing.Cooley v. Foreman [Afroman lawsuit]https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/23721423-afroman-lawsuit/United States v. Villafane (D.N.J. settlement) [docket via CourtListener]https://www.courtlistener.com/profile/docket-alerts/“Lemon Pound Cake” [via OGAfroman YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9xxK5yyecRo“Why You Disconnecting My Video Camera?” [via OGAfroman YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ISe3IVBBbyU&list=OLAK5uy_noWRXtUiSWHo7cMRoI34uqhSRSDpIFtqY&index=3“Licc’em Low Lisa” [via OGAfroman YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wWQxSV8CK8“Randy Walters is a Son of a Bitch” [via OGAfroman YouTube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4AiuqQpB1UShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Ep 213 — As DOJ Implodes, Judiciary Shows Signs Of Life

The Supreme Court rebuffed the Trump Administration’s “emergency” request to revoke temporary protected status for half a million Haitian and Syrian nationals. It granted cert before judgment and set oral argument for April.The DOJ dropped charges against Jay Carey, a veteran who burned a flag in Lafayette Park to protest Trump’s executive order purporting to ban flag-burning.In Massachusetts, Judge Brian Murphy blocked HHS Secretary Kennedy’s attempt to rewrite the child and adult vaccine schedules.And the Justice Department keeps lowering the bar in an effort to get lawyers willing to sign on to burn down their reputations in service of the Trump agenda.MAIN SHOW:We discuss US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro’s crashout over the implosion of her retaliatory investigation into Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell. Judge Boasberg quashed the subpoenas, saying that there was no reason at all to think Powell committed a crime.The Judicial Conference is making it slightly easier for criminal defendants to secure representation. They’re also going to war with the General Services Administration, the world’s worst landlord.The Live Nation trial continues, without the government. Andrew’s got a deep dive into the Tunney Act and a similar antitrust case blown up by the Trump DOJ under pressure from well-connected lobbyists. These people made us agree with Laura Loomer — RUDE!TPS Cert Before Judgmenthttps://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/031626zr1_5h25.pdfUS v. Carey [Flag burning]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71223464/united-states-v-careyAmerican Academy of Pediatrics v. Kennedy [Vaccines]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70722326/american-academy-of-pediatrics-v-kennedy/Judiciary Says Courthouses Are in Crisis, Seeks Real Property Authorityhttps://www.uscourts.gov/data-news/judiciary-news/2026/02/24/judiciary-says-courthouses-are-crisis-seeks-real-property-authorityUS judiciary approves new public defender office focused on US Supreme Court advocacyhttps://www.reuters.com/legal/government/us-judiciary-approves-new-public-defender-office-focused-us-supreme-court-2026-03-10DOJ to Allow Hiring of US Prosecutors Straight Out of Law Schoolhttps://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-to-allow-hiring-of-us-prosecutors-straight-out-of-law-schoolLaw School Tells Students, ‘You MUST Be Aligned Politically With President Trump,’ For Summer Jobhttps://abovethelaw.com/2026/03/law-school-tells-students-you-must-be-aligned-politically-with-president-trump-for-summer-job/Jeanine Pirro Crashes Outhttps://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/jeanine-pirro-crashes-outIn re Grand Jury Subpoenas [Jerome Powell]https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72490330/in-re-grand-jury-subpoenasThe Rule of Law Versus the Rule of Lobbyists [Roger Alford]https://assets.bwbx.io/documents/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/rqWZHzWNbqZc/v0Proposal to Give Judiciary Real Property Authorityhttps://www.uscourts.gov/sites/default/files/document/judiciary-real-property-authority-legislative-package.pdfShow Links:https://www.lawandchaospod.com/BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPodThreads: @LawAndChaosPodTwitter: @LawAndChaosPodSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.