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Law and Chaos: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Liz Dye
Legal journalists Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez break down the week's most important courtroom stories, so you can keep on top of this crazy news cycle. Whether it's Texas giving two middle fingers to the Supreme Court, or Donald Trump in all the courts at once, we've got you covered.
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- Today1h 13m
Ep 234 — Holy Grand Jury, Batman!
DOCKET ALERTS: A federal judge in Colorado enjoined the National Science Foundation from shutting down the National Center for Atmospheric Research in Boulder. APA, FTW! The DC Circuit ruled that Pete Hegseth's policy kicking out all trans service members and barring enlistment by anyone who ever had a diagnosis of gender dysphoria is rooted in animus and cannot stand. But the remedy was narrowly cabined to the plaintiffs in this case, and only those who are currency active duty. The Supreme Court let Alabama redraw its Congressional maps while primary voting was already underway and use a racially-discriminatory map in order to squeeze one more Republican seat in Congress out for the 2026 midterms. Doofus of the Day: BATMAN! Eric Batman, some whiny dork in LA who says his Christian faith means that he has to work from home during June lest he be oppressed by a trans flag flying outside his office. The grifters at Liberty Counsel eagerly fundraising off their preposterous trollsuit on Doofus's behalf. MAIN SHOW: The DOJ filed a superseding indictment against the Southern Poverty Law Center. It's meant to remedy the obvious deficiencies in the first indictment, but it actually seems to bolster the SPLC's claim that they were trying to protect informants, not take down donors. Meanwhile, DOJ seems to have leaked a draft version of the new indictment to reporters before presenting it to the grand jurors, potentially violating grand jury secrecy. SPLC moved for a show cause order forcing DOJ to explain "its conduct and why it should not be sanctioned considering the prejudicial consequences at stake here." Back in Chicago, US Attorney Andrew Boutros explained that he wasn't inappropriately trying to voir dire the grand jury. Perish the thought! And how very dare you, sir! He was just advising them that if they didn't think they could convict, they should put their hands up and explain themselves. Ummmmm….. On May 1, NASDAQ implemented major rule changes to the way in which newly-public companies can join the Nasdaq 100 index. University Corporation for Atmospheric Research v. National Science Foundation https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72496922/university-corporation-for-atmospheric-research-v-national-science/ Talbott v. USA [Trans Troops DC Circuit] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69800554/nicolas-talbott-v-usa/ Allen v. Milligan (Alabama redistricting) [Supreme Court stay] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a1314_7m58.pdf SpaceX Prospectus https://www.sec.gov/Archives/edgar/data/1181412/000162828026036936/spaceexplorationtechnologi.htm NASDAQ 100 New Methodology https://indexes.nasdaq.com/docs/Methodology_NDX.pdf Liberty Counsel's press release (Batman v. Los Angeles County) https://lc.org/newsroom/details/260530-
- Yesterday1h 9m
Ep 232 — The Vindictive DOJ
DOCKET ALERTS: Joe Dye begins a series on the second phase of the redistricting wars at his Substack. Multiple states are threatening to tax payouts from Trump's slush fund at 100 percent. The Trump Administration is suing Massachusetts for failing to give "confidential," hard to trace license plates to ICE and CBP. A panel of federal judges in Alabama once again rejected the state's congressional map as an illegal racial gerrymander. The state has appealed to SCOTUS. Don Lemon moved to unseal the grand jury transcript in the Cities Church protest prosecution. He cited the recently unsealed magistrate's docket, showing the government's wild overreach — not to mention incompetence — in its warrant applications, along with the many cases where courts have said the DOJ is currently lawless and entitled to no presumption of regularity. The New York Times had a wild story this week about the Justice Department's total loss of credibility with grand juries, including in Wyoming, where the US Attorney's total violation of grand jury rules led to the dismissal of nine indictments. MAIN SHOW: The US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is reportedly investigating E. Jean Carroll for perjury. In a deposition in 2022, Carroll misspoke and said that her litigation was not being funded by anyone else. She later corrected the record to say that some of her fees were being paid by a nonprofit associated with LinkedIn founder Reid Hoffman. The government is trying to do to that nonprofit what it's done to the Southern Poverty Law Center, alleging that it somehow conspired to hide its activities by getting Carroll to lie under oath. Meanwhile, the SPLC is moving to dismiss its case based on vindictive prosecution. Luckily it has eleventy-seven clips of Trump officials declaring that they're on a revenge mission to take out the civil rights organization. In non-political news, a drag queen named Pattie Gonia is in a trademark dispute with the brand Patagonia. SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Trump is making NDAs great again. How Democrats Can Take Back the Redistricting Wars Pt. 1 https://josephdye.substack.com/p/how-democrats-can-take-back-the-redistricting US v. Massachusetts [Confidential License Plates] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73400637/united-states-v-the-commonwealth-of-massachusetts/ Milligan v. Allen https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/61494291/milligan-v-allen US v. Levy-Armstrong [Cities Church/Don Lemon] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72212459/united-states-v-levy-armstrong/ In re Search Warrant [Cities Church/Don Lemon magistrate docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72323660/in-re-search-w
- Yesterday48 min
Ep 231 — Abrego Garcia Wins Again
DOCKET ALERTS: Judges in Maine and Wisconsin hand DOJ two more losses as they sue to get access to state voter rolls to check for non-existent election fraud. Associate Attorney General Stan Woodward is back with another batsh*t ballroom filing. DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Attorney D. Hayden Fisher, who filed a bumptious SLAPP suit against locals in Norfolk who dared to disparage a MAGA-coded brewery for perceived anti-LGBTQ+ bias. MAIN SHOW: We'll revisit the implosion of the Broadview 6 prosecution. Turns out, the government's main goal all along was to hide the corruption and misconduct at the heart of this case. And Kilmar Abrego Garcia is free! Judge Waverly Crenshaw dismissed his criminal case on the basis of vindictive prosecution. US v. Bellows [Maine Voter Rolls] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71367730/united-states-v-bellows/ US v. Wisconsin Elections Commission [Wisconsin Voter Rolls] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72055967/united-states-v-wisconsin-elections-commission National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service [Ballroom] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national/ Armed Forces Brewing Co. v. Coplon [Doofus SLAPP suit] https://armedforcesbrewingco.com/wp-content/uploads/2026/05/Complaint-26-5-18-Final.pdf Broadview 6 May 21 Hearing https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/95/75/a403b7674c31b8f5bb0ecae58921/25cr693-usa-v-rabbitt-052126.pdf US v. Rabbit [Broadview 6] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71795281/parties/united-states-v-rabbitt/ United States v. Abrego (TN criminal docket) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70475970/united-states-v-abrego-garcia/?order_by=desc Abrego Garcia v. Noem (MD Civil litigation) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71191591/abrego-garcia-v-noem/?order_by=desc United States v. Carey (DC flag burning) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71223464/united-states-v-carey/ Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
- Yesterday1h 5m
Ep 230 — DOJ Tiptoes Around The Sh*tpile!
DOCKET ALERTS: Congressional Republicans abstain courteously from blessing Trump's ICE/CBP allocation after Trump torpedoes several sitting GOP politicians and demands cash for the ballroom and the $1.8 billion J6 slush fund. They're heading home until June, TYVM. DOJ indicts former Cuban leader Raúl Castro, age 94, for shooting down two flights of dissident exiles dropping leaflets back in 1996. Is this a prelude to Bay of Pigs 2? Officials in Florida and Tennessee discover that the First Amendment applies to everyone, even people who criticize Charlie Kirk. Good thing it's taxpayers picking up the tab for this little life lesson! And Acting AG Todd Blanche adds a codicil to the slush fund settlement granting amnesty to Trump and his kids for past tax crimes — but not future ones! (Don't believe everything you read on the internet.) DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Todd Blanche. MAIN SHOW: Judge Leo Sorokin in Massachusetts sanctions ICE for lying to the court about the time an immigrant detainee left the jurisdiction. This one will make you mad! And the indictment against the "Broadview 6" for protesting outside an ICE detention center implodes after the grand jury transcripts reveal a dumpsterfire of impropriety and potentially sanctionable misconduct by the prosecution. Read this hearing transcript — but not after taking a giant swig of milk! SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Meet the new tariffs! Same as the old tariffs! (Illegal.) And NO the administration can't keep collecting them right now because they're too busy trying to figure out how to refund the last batch of illegal tariffs to figure it out. US v. Perez-Perez [Raul Castro indictment] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/31009891/united-states-v-perez-perez/ Civil Rights Lawyers Secure $485,000 Settlement for FWC Biologist Fired Over Charlie Kirk Social Media Post https://www.aclufl.org/press-releases/civil-rights-lawyers-secure-485000-settlement-for-fwc-biologist-fired-over-charlie-kirk-social-media-post/ He Was Jailed Over a Charlie Kirk Post. The Sheriff Now Owes Him $835,000. https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/20/us/larry-bushart-charlie-kirk-facebook-settlement.html Slush Fund Codicil https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1441216/dl Guevara Peruano v. Wesling [ICE Sanctions] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72181340/guevara-peruano-v-wesling/ Oregon v. Trump [Tarriffs] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72368522/the-state-of-oregon-v-trump/ Broadview 6 May 21 Hearing https://cst.brightspotcdn.com/95/75/a403b7674c31b8f5bb0ecae58921/25cr693-usa-v-rabbitt-052126.pdf US v. Rabbit [Broadview 6] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71795281/parties/united-states-v-rabbitt/
- Yesterday57 min
Ep 229 — Judicial Warfare
DOCKET ALERTS: The Supreme Court stayed a lower court decision out of Texas banning doctors from dispensing the abortion drug mifepristone. The Colorado Supreme Court barred Children's Hospital from cutting gender-affirming care, calling it a denial of treatment on the basis of sex and gender identity. The DOJ is suing the DC Bar to stop it disciplining upstanding government lawyers like Ed Martin and Jeff Clark. The case has been assigned to Judge Richard Leon!!! Elon Musk lost his lawsuit against Sam Altman and OpenAI. MAIN SHOW: The DOJ's effort to harass trans kids and their medical providers is escalating into a judicial crisis as Judge Reed O'Connor in the Northern District of Texas purports to bar Rhode Island Hospital from seeking redress in any other court or from "aiding and abetting" anyone else in seeking redress. Meanwhile in Rhode Island, Judge Mary McElroy says the Hospital does not have to comply. Trump purports to "settle" his lawsuit against the IRS over the 2020 disclosure of his tax returns by establishing a $1.8 billion slush fund for the "victims of weaponization" of the DOJ under Biden. Is that legal? (No.) Danco Labs v. Louisiana [US Supreme Court - mifepristone] https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/25a1207_21p3.pdf Boe v. Children's Hospital Colorado [Colorado Supreme Court - gender affirming care] https://www.coloradojudicial.gov/system/files/opinions-2026-05/26SA66.pdf US v. Fox [DOJ sues DC Bar] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73338949/united-states-v-fox/?order_by=desc In Re: Administrative Subpoena 25-1431-032 [Texas action] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73276712/in-re-administrative-subpoena-25-1431-032/ In Re: Motion to Quash Administrative Subpoena to Rhode Island Hospital [Rhode Island action] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73290254/in-re-motion-to-quash-administrative-subpoena-to-rhode-island-hospital/ Trump v. IRS [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service/ DOJ Notice of Settlement - administration of "Anti-Weaponization Fund" https://www.justice.gov/opa/media/1441086/dl OLC Memorandum, "Availability of Judgement Fund in Cases Not Involving a Money Judgment Claim" https://www.justice.gov/file/151086/dl?inline Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
- Yesterday1h 5m
Ep 228 — Gerrymanders For Me But Not For Thee
DOCKET ALERTS: As Trump rants at "Neil and Amy" for betraying him in the IEEPA tariffs case, the next tariff battle is already taking shape. Reuters legal reporters analyzed court stats in Minnesota and proved that federal prosecutions cratered during the immigration surge. So much for "cleaning up" crime. Doofus of the Day: Pete Hegseth, who is vowing to put Senator Mark Kelly in jail … again. Judge Melissa Dubose referred the head of the Civil Division at the US Attorney's Office for Rhode Island for possible sanctions due to lack of candor. Chief Judge John McConnell appointed a special counsel to review. Justice Alito extended the stay in the mifepristone case until Thursday. MAIN SHOW: The Virginia Supreme Court struck down the Democratic gerrymander on a technicality. Now the state's legislators have filed a longshot emergency application for stay at the Supreme Court. And FCC Chair Brendan Carr is lying about the equal time rule as an excuse to go after the ladies at The View. Oregon v. Trump [Tariffs] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72368522/the-state-of-oregon-v-trump Trump vowed to fight crime in Minneapolis. Prosecutions plunged https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/how-trumps-minneapolis-immigration-blitz-hobbled-federal-crime-fighting-2026-05-07/ Gomez v. Nessinger [Rhode Island Attorney Sanctions] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73235898/gomez-v-nessinger/ Mifepristone SCOTUS Docket https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25a1208.html Scott v. McDougle (Virginia Supreme Court) https://www.vacourts.gov/static/opinions/opnscvwp/1260127.pdf Scott v. McDougle [US Supreme Court petition for stay] https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25A1240/408563/20260511151941216_25A%20Application%20for%20Stay.pdf FCC Petition by KTRK-TV (The View) https://www.fcc.gov/ecfs/document/10507899614175/1 FCC Chair Brandon Carr letter (DA 26-68) https://docs.fcc.gov/public/attachments/DA-26-68A1.pdf Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
- Yesterday1h 4m
Ep 227 — Presumption of Irregularity
DESCRIPTION: Kash Patel is not as think as you drunk he is … again. And if you tell someone about it, he'll strap you to a polygraph. The DC Circuit seems likely to side with Senator Mark Kelly in his lawsuit against Pete Hegseth for trying to steal his pension. The DOJ subpoenaed a hospital in Rhode Island for medical records of kids receiving gender affirming care. While the parties were negotiating, the DOJ filed a petition to enforce in Texas, which their hand-picked Judge Reed O'Connor instantly granted. Now the hospital has appealed to the Fifth Circuit (ughhh) and the Rhode Island Child Advocate has filed a motion to quash in the District of Rhode Island. Our Doofus of the Day is Chief Justice John Roberts. It won't always be someone on the Supreme Court, but when you stand up in front of hundreds of lawyers to whine about how unfair it is that people think your obviously political Supreme Court is political, how could we resist? MAIN SHOW: The 11th Circuit has joined two other circuit courts of appeal in ruling that the Trump administration cannot use the mandatory detention provisions of the Immigration and Naturalization Act to hold any immigrant, anywhere in the US, for any length of time and with no opportunity for a bond hearing. The DOJ is so desperate to hire lawyers that they're offering signing bonuses and tipping current employees with "retention incentive allowances" to keep them from fleeing. Turns out, competent lawyers don't like harassing trans kids for sport and indicting Democratic politicians on spurious grounds. Judge Coleen McMahon ruled that DOGE illegally dismantled the National Endowment for the Humanities when the bros fed the grantee database into ChatGPT with an instruction to find grants were "DEI." The Southern Poverty Law Center says the government's public lies about the case — lookin' at you, Todd Blanche — are so egregious that the court should hand over the grand jury transcript. Judges in Rhode Island and Texas are dueling over the DOJ's subpoena for the medical record for transgender minors. READING LIST: How Professional Wrestling Prepared Linda McMahon for Trump's Cabinet Kash Patel's Personalized Bourbon Stash https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/05/kash-patel-fbi-bourbon/687066/ Kash Patel ordered polygraphs of more than two dozen members of his team, sources tell MS NOW https://www.ms.now/news/kash-patel-ordered-polygraphs-of-more-than-two-dozen-members-of-his-team-sources-tell-ms-now DOJ Offers Lawyers $25,000 Signing Bonuses as Hiring Lags https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/doj-offe
- Yesterday56 min
Ep 226 — SCOTUS and Louisiana Go Mask Off
DOCKET ALERTS: Sadly, recurring L&C segment "Justin Baldoni Teaches CivPro" is canceled. He and Blake Lively settled their civil suit today. Now we'll just have to rely on Trump and his minions to show us how law does not work. The DOJ subpoenaed a Rhode Island hospital for patient records on gender affirming care. When the hospital failed to respond (oh no!), the DOJ moved to enforce the subpoena … in Texas, before a hand-picked conservative jurist. Judge Reed O'Connor granted the motion, and now the hospital is seeking to block the demand in a Rhode Island federal court. Trump says the War Powers Resolution doesn't count because of the ceasefire. He's full of s***. Law and Chaos's first inaugural Doofus of the Day is Justice Neil Gorsuch, who went on Fox News to hawk his book and tell us all about the Christian Founding Fathers. MAIN SHOW: On Friday the Fifth Circuit purported to ban the abortion drug mifepristone nationwide based on a letter from HHS Secretary Robert "Bear Carcass" Kennedy implying that the dispensing protocol had been arbitrarily decided. On Monday, the Supreme Court stayed that order temporarily. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche and Alina Habba — what even is her job these days??? — both appeared on TV and undermined the Comey seashells case. Democratic candidate Lindsay Garcia and a local voter have sued Louisiana Gov. Jeff Landry over his executive order that suspends that state's primary elections – but only for the US House of Representatives races. And for subscribers: US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro is ready to pick up the slack for Justin Baldoni. Today she'll teach us how Munsinwear vacatur doesn't work. In Re: Administrative Subpoena 25-1431-032 [Texas action] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73276712/in-re-administrative-subpoena-25-1431-032/ In Re: Motion to Quash Administrative Subpoena to Rhode Island Hospital [Rhode Island action] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73290254/in-re-motion-to-quash-administrative-subpoena-to-rhode-island-hospital/ US v. Russotto https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70649950/united-states-v-russotto/ Collins v. Landry (Louisiana elections lawsuit) [Docket via CourtListener] https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/2026-Executive-Orders/JML-Exective-Order-26-038.pdf Executive Order 26-038 (order suspending elections) https://gov.louisiana.gov/assets/2026-Executive-Orders/JML-Exective-Order-26-038.pdf Louisiana v. FDA (5th Cir) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73207799/state-of-louisiana-v-fda/ Louisiana v. FDA (W.D. La. trial court) [docket via CourtListener] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.lawd.213952/ Sec. Kennedy Letter re: Mifepristone <a href= "https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap
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About Law and Chaos
Legal journalists Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez break down the week's most important courtroom stories, so you can keep on top of this crazy news cycle. Whether it's Texas giving two middle fingers to the Supreme Court, or Donald Trump in all the courts at once, we've got you covered.
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