Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
The fight over Trump's attempt to seize control of state mail-in ballots is headed for the Supreme Court. After a hearing before Judge Indira Talwani, the government didn't wait for a ruling — and it didn't wait for the First Circuit to weigh in either. It immediately demanded that the justices step in. Justice Jackson, who sits over the First Circuit, did not issue an admin stay. She's asked for the states' response by Tuesday.
 
According to ProPublica, ICE Agent Christian Castro has been federally charged with making false statements after shooting Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis in Minnesota in January. Castro was previously charged by state prosecutors with assault, but Texas Gov. Greg Abbott refused to extradite him to Minnesota.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY:
 
Maria Bartiromo has been fired from Fox Business. Apparently she did something worse than losing the network $787 million in a defamation suit.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
Andrew talks midterms with Joe Dye.
 
League of Women Voters v. Trump [Mail-In Ballots]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73133197/league-of-women-voters-of-massachusetts-v-trump/
 
Emergency SCOTUS Petiton re Mail-In Ballots
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26/26A297/422948/20260903154027877_USPS%20Final%20Rule%20Stay%20and%20Appx.pdf
 
Trump's DOJ Blocked Serious ICE Shooting Charge Over Federal Prosecutor's "Strongest Possible" Objections
https://www.propublica.org/article/doj-blocks-charges-ice-agent-minneapolis-julio-cesar-sosa-celis
 
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
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Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

The J. M. Smucker Company notched a win in its trademark dilution case against Trader Joe's over the Uncrustable dupes. A judge in Ohio refused to dismiss the case or transfer it to California. 
 
For the third time, Judge Alvin Hellerstein rejected Trump's attempt to remove his hush money conviction case to federal court from New York State court.
 
The Supreme Court allowed Trump to build his monstrous bunker ballroom.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY: George Santos managed to get himself banned for life by Kalshi after he got caught better on his own attendance at the State of the Union.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
Judge Rita Lin granted summary judgment to Anthropic in its case against the Defense Department. After the company objected to the use of its product for autonomous lethal targeting and mass surveillance of Americans, Pete Hegseth set out to destroy its business. He failed.
 
Judge Indira Talwani refused to stay her own order blocking the Post Office from implementing Trump's demand to seize control of mail-in ballots. 
 
Prosecutors in Minnesota hope to criminalize protest by claiming that an entire network of people engaging in First Amendment-protected protest are responsible if one of them eventually commits a crime. Pursuant to a Trump directive known as NSPM-7, the DOJ instructed operatives to infiltrate and surveil affinity groups espousing "extreme viewpoints on immigration, radical gender ideology, and anti-American sentiment." None of which is a crime! They've charged 15 protesters in Minnesota as part of a conspiracy that includes major unions and the DSA — all of which they've snooped on using administrative warrants from DHS.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
A gestational surrogate from Alaska is trying to steal a sick baby. And Ken Paxton wants to help her do it!
 
J.M. Smucker Co v. Trader Joe's
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71631587/jm-smucker-company-v-trader-joes-company/
 
People of The State of New York v. Trump
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67326478/people-of-the-state-of-new-york-v-trump/
 
Anthropic PBC v. U.S. Department of War
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72379655/anthropic-pbc-v-us-department-of-war
 
US v. Sant [D. Minn. docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73489661/united-states-v-sant/
 
National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation [Supreme Court order]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a203_2b8e.pdf
 
League of Women Voters v. Trump
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73133197/league-of-women-voters-of-massachusetts-v-trump/?
 
NSPM-7
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/
 
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
Washington Post opinion writer Karen Attiah, who was fired for her remarks after the death of Charlie Kirk, has been reinstated to her job after winning in arbitration.
 
Federal Reserve Governor Lisa Cook responded to Trump's latest effort to fire her by pointing out that multiple members of Trump's own cabinet made the same paperwork error she did on a mortgage application, and no one is accusing them of fraud.
 
Judge David Hittner, an 87-year-old Reagan appointee, struck down Texas's drag ban, finding that it would necessarily criminalize a lot of performances that are not obscene … including ones by Dolly Parton.
 
DOOFUS OF THE DAY:
 
Mike Lindell, the crackpot pillow pumper, lost his bid to be the Republican gubernatorial candidate in his home state of Minnesota. And he missed the deadline to pay for a recount. But he's not letting that stop him! He's suing everyone in sight demanding they surrender proof that the entire thing was rigged.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
Florida Republicans are embroiled in a massive corruption scandal involving $10 million in taxpayer dollars for children's prescriptions, laundered through First Lady Casey Desantis's charity, and used for partisan political purposes, including defeating a marijuana legalization referendum. CBS in Miami got the grand jury report.
 
Judge Fernando Rodriguez, Jr. rebuffed Minnesota's motion to force Texas Gov. Greg Abbott to extradite ICE agent Christian Castro. Castro shot a man in Minneapolis and then lied about it, including filing a false police report. He was indicted in Minnesota, but Texas refuses to sign an extradition warrant, and now Castro has been released from jail.
 
Judge Cooper held a hearing today on the future of the Kennedy Center, after the board voted again to chisel Trump's name into the marble on the front of the place.
 
Judge Indira Talwani ordered the state plaintiffs to file an amended complaint in their effort to block the Trump administration seizing control of mail-in voting pursuant to Trump's executive order. Last week, the Supreme Court's conservatives blocked Judge Talwani's prior injunction on the theory that the states hadn't yet been harmed when they filed their original complaint.
 
SUBSCRIBER BONUS:
 
Update on Tuesday's hearing in our FOIA suit to get the evidence in the DOJ's ethics complaint against Judge Boasberg.
 
The Washington Post Fired Me. I Fought—and Won My Job Back.
https://karenattiah.substack.com/p/the-washington-post-fired-me-i-foughtand
 
Extragrams LLC v. Paxton [TX drag ban]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67660604/extragrams-llc-v-paxton
 
Walz v. Abbott [S.D. Tex. extradition case; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74662182/walz-v-abbott/
 
Trump v. California [Supreme Court order re: voter lists EO]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/26a124_hgci.pdf
 
League of Women Voters v. Trump [D. Mass. voter list case before Judge Talwani; docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73133197/league-of-women-voters-of-massachusetts-v-trump/
 
Grand jury finds DeSantis administration "misappropriated" $10 million in taxpayer money to Hope Florida
https://www.cbsnews.com/miami/news/grand-jury-report-hope-florida/
 
Res Ipsa Media LLC v. DOJ
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71236135/res-ipsa-media-llc-v-department-of-justice/


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

DESCRIPTION:
 
It's a special episode today. We'll spend the whole show diving into the debacle of eBay, a $50 billion company, launching a harassment campaign against a middle-aged couple in Massachusetts. Come for the corporate bigwigs sending live roaches by mail, stay for the national security kerfuffle. It's a wild story, and it even has a happy ending.
Steiner v. EBay
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/60073359/steiner-v-ebay-inc
US v. Baugh
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/18602070/united-states-v-baugh
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

DOCKET ALERTS:
 
US Attorney Jeanine Pirro wants to leave the door open to re-charging David Hearn for damaging the reflecting pool, although she concedes that literally everything she said in her original indictment was a lie.
 
Pirro is also doing her darnedest to keep a lady locked up for the high crime of spraypainting.
 
Judge Reed O'Connor is trying for a third time to allow manufacturers to sell ghost guns, no matter what the Supreme Court says.
 
We're still waiting on the Supreme Court to say whether Trump can keep building his ballroom, or will have to cease above-ground construction as lower courts have ruled.
 
MAIN SHOW:
 
FCC Chair Brendan Carr is trying to burn down ABC for crimes of woke. But after he demanded that the ten local affiliates owned by the network renew their licenses early — likely a prelude to putting them out of business — ABC's parent company Disney swung into action. They sued the agency for retaliation in violation of the First Amendment.
 
The DOJ's "8647" indictment of James Comey is circling the drain. The government filed its responses to various motions today, and they are … creative! They quote at length from Comey's novel and his appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. 
 
In January, ICE agent Christian Castro shot Minnesota man Julio Cesar Sosa-Celis and then filed a false report claiming that Sosa-Celis attacked him with a snow shovel. The charges against Sosa-Celis were quickly dropped, and in May state officials charged Castro with second-degree assault and one count of falsely reporting a crime and court issued a warrant for his arrest. By then, Castro was in Texas, where Governor Greg Abbott — the Law and Chaos DOOFUS OF THE DAY — has refused to extradite him to Minnesota as mandated by the Constitution's Extradition Clause. And so now Minnesota has sued Texas in federal court. 
 
US v. Hearn Reply In Support of Motion to Dismiss Without Prejudice [via Marcy Wheeler]
https://legacy.www.documentcloud.org/documents/28565563-260818-hearn-dismiss-reply
 
US v. Farris [spraypaint lady]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74650269/united-states-v-farris/
 
Vanderstok v. Blanche [ghost guns]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/64886994/vanderstok-v-garland
 
National Park Service v. National Trust for Historic Preservation [SCOTUS Docket]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/26a203.html
 
ABC v. FCC
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74661956/american-broadcasting-companies-inc-v-federal-communications-commission/
 
US v. Comey [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73256624/united-states-v-comey/?order_by=desc
 
Walz v. Abbott
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/74662182/walz-v-abbott/
 
Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod