lawfedi

Very good explainer about the Trump regime’s use of emergency appeals and the Supreme Court’s use of the shadow docket to side with the regime. Also, why Kavanaugh is wrong about judicial orders without public reasons attached. https://www.brennancenter.org/our-work/analysis-opinion/supreme-court-must-explain-why-it-keeps-ruling-trumps-favor #LawFedi

The live audio for the oral arguments can be found here: https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/live.aspx

They will begin at 10:00 a.m. EST, or for those who are more civilized folk: 9:00 a.m. CST.

Here we go … (in 30 minutes)!

#uspol #politics #uspolitics #trump #14th #insurrection #law #lawfedi #legal #supremecourt #SCOTUS

Today Trump signed an Executive Order that directs a barrage of federal agency action to escalate his dictatorial takeover of the District of Columbia. But embedded in the EO is a deeply chilling provision that orders Hegseth and the DOD to create specialized military units for rapid deployment across the nation for "quelling civil disturbances and ensuring the public safety and order whenever the circumstances necessitate." 1/ #USDictator #LawFedi https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/08/additional-measures-to-address-the-crime-emergency-in-the-district-of-columbia/

Now that Trump has moved for an emergency stay of the criminal trial of the election interference criminal charges against him, we are quickly going to find out which Supreme Court Justices are in the tank for Trump. Reporting on Trump’s emergency motion from The Hill at https://thehill.com/homenews/4463356-trump-supreme-court-jan-6-immunity-appeal/ 1/ #LawFedi

I see folks saying they are confident that ultimately this Supreme Court will reject Trump’s claim that presidents have absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for official acts. I’m not. I meant it every time I have said that Trump appointed Justices Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett are almost certainly in the tank for him. Were they not, they’d be recusing themselves from all his appeals, as their participation certainly has, at the least, the appearance of impropriety. 1/ #LawFedi

Finally had a chance to look carefully at Justice Sotomayor’s dissent from a dangerous, awful shadow docket maneuver by the U.S. Supreme Court in DHS v. DVD. This was announced yesterday. The case is one concerning due process rights of immigrant-deportees. I’m going to unpack all this in this 🧵. ⬇️ 1/ #LawFedi

The State Bar Court of California recommends that John Eastman be disbarred. The opinion is impressive - detailed, clear, and absolutely firm that lying about law and fact to a court is disqualifying for membership in the bar. Equally firmly, the court finds that Eastman conspired to commit a crime with his client, Donald Trump, by conspiring to obstruct the electoral count for the 2020 presidential election. https://www.documentcloud.org/documents/24521262-eastman-decision-trial #LawFedi #LegalEthics #Jan6 1/

Honestly, the Supreme Court justices today sounded even more deranged and clueless than I even expected. They are just too worried about hypothetical future presidents to focus on the fact that we have a former president indicted for attempting to overthrow an election who is now running for reelection on an explicitly authoritarian, anti-democracy platform. 1/ #LawFedi

I’m freshly appalled by Trump’s efforts to protect his 2016 election campaign by shadily paying Stormy Daniels in a way Trump hoped wouldn’t be traced back to him. I’m newly appalled by the cast of Republican electeds who come to the courthouse to violate the spirit of the gag order Trump himself is under. They present themselves as mouthpieces for Trump and make all manner of remarks that, if he made them himself, would be violations of the order. The Republicans are a lawless cult. #LawFedi

I sympathize with Judge Merchan, who I believe has refrained from jailing Trump to avoid allowing Trump to play the victim and raise money off of that. I also think Merchan probably doesn’t want to interrupt the trial for hearings over whether Trump is causing his sycophantic Republican electeds to say things that violate the gag order. But …. 1/ #LawFedi

“Alito doesn’t deny the flag was flying upside down, doesn’t deny its meaning, doesn’t express any disapproval for it and doesn’t disavow it.”

This wasn’t a random period of time. It was AFTER January 6 and BEFORE the inauguration.

ITS A SYMBOL OF INSURRECTION.

A Justice has never made a more persuasive case for the Legislature to kick them out on their ass for bad behavior than has Alito.

https://www.vanityfair.com/news/story/samuel-alito-didnt-give-a-f-k-then-and-he-doesnt-give-a-f-k-now

#uspol #politics #uspolitics #law #lawfedi #legal #SCOTUS #SupremeCourt

Though not serving as Trump’s attorney when he appeared as a witness today in Trump’s trial for criminally falsifying business records, Robert Costello is a lawyer, bound by New York’s Rules of Professional Conduct. Costello repeatedly showed his ethical unfitness, violating the most basic principles that inform the entire code. I’ve screenshot the very first paragraph of the entire code, highlighting the most pertinent phrases. 1/ #LawFedi #Ethics #LegalEthics

ALT

#JamieRaskin being his usual smart self. Gift access: https://www.nytimes.com/2024/05/29/opinion/alito-thomas-recuse-trump-jan-6.html?unlocked_article_code=1.vk0.T-04.K51aLZ1qvpM8&smid=url-share #LawFedi #JudicialEthics #Alito #ClarenceThomas #Recusal

Not going to dignify the current U.S. Supreme Court with a careful legal analysis of today’s #mifepristone decision. But, especially for non-lawyers, it is worth explaining what the opinion does and does not do. It does not prevent future challenges to the FDA’s regulation of the drug; nor does it provide any substantive protection for #abortion access. It does somewhat limit right-wingers from using federal courts to control women’s bodies. 1/ #LawFedi #Standing

A federal judge has just found that Musk and DOGE likely acted unconstitutionally in shutting down USAID. He has granted a preliminary injunction which means that for the remainder of proceedings USAID personnel must be reinstated, no buildings may be closed, etc. Text of injunction at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69636722/75/does-1-26-v-musk/. Opinion in support at https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69636722/73/does-1-26-v-musk/. #LawFedi

Law students from multiple law schools have put their names to a letter in which they refuse to work for firms giving in to Trump on DEI. They will only work for firms that stand up to Trump regime in specific ways. I urge you to read the letter. https://docs.google.com/document/d/10POW8J0MVRSNUvMm8zBpyYLW0d7VWlGxd50Nw-Ql9SI/edit?usp=drivesdk

I applaud the courage and integrity of these students. I’m especially proud of the signers who I taught. #LawFedi 1/2

A federal district court judge has today ordered the Trump executive branch to return a Maryland resident wrongly deported to El Salvador. The deadline is April 7. This could produce the direct conflict between the federal executive and the federal judiciary that will eventually arrive, if not in this case, in another. 1/ https://www.reuters.com/world/americas/us-judge-hear-lawsuit-man-deported-el-salvador-error-2025-04-04/ #LawFedi

The Fourth Circuit refuses to get further involved in Judge Xinis’ handling of Abrego Garcia’s case. A good development. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400.8.0.pdf #LawFedi

As ashamed as I mostly am of the U.S. Supreme Court, I am proud of some lower federal courts, including the district courts presided over by Xinis and Boasberg and, today, the Fourth Circuit Court of Appeals, which has refused the Trump executives request that halt Judge Xinis' ongoing efforts to learn what has become of Abrego Garcia and who in the executive is responsible for his continued detention in El Salvador. https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400/gov.uscourts.ca4.178400.8.0.pdf #LawFedi 1/

Two days ago, I wrote a newsletter entry about the state of Alien Enemies Act litigation. See https://heidi-says.ghost.io/the-latest-legal-developments-in-trumps-effort-to-use-the-alien-enemies-act-to-disappear-venezuelans/. Today, the Supreme Court weighed in, as I said it might, using the situation in the Northern District of Texas to do so. Its opinion is at https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a1007_g2bh.pdf. 1/ #LawFedi

Right now, fresh consequences of Trump executive disobeying court orders and opinions are playing out in Texas. The situation is moving swiftly but I’m going to try to capture what is happening in this 🧵. Essential point: ignoring Supreme Court, DHS seems about to ship Venezuelans held under Trump’s AEA Proclamation to prison in El Salvador without proper notice and opportunity to rebut. 1/ #LawFedi

Alito has just filed his dissent from last night’s Supreme Court order directing the Trump executive not to remove any Venezuelans detained pursuant to AEA in Northern District of Texas. Thomas joins. They take the position I sketched in an earlier thread today: that there was no appealable order or rulings before the Supreme Court bc the trial court judge had not ruled on plaintiffs’ TRO and class certification motions. #LawFedi 1/ https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/24a1007_22p3.pdf

👀 Jim Jordan sneaking a provision into the reconciliation bill intended to protect Bondi, Blanche, Noem et al from being cited for contempt of court. https://judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-subsites/republicans-judiciary.house.gov/files/evo-media-document/judiciary_recon_ans_xml.pdf #LawFedi

The Trump regime has wrongly deported another immigrant to El Salvador. “Held for more than 2 years at the ICE detention center in Batavia, federal judges ruled Jordin Melgar-Salmeron could remain in the U.S. until his court case was resolved.“ The regime promised the court it would comply with the ruling, then deported Melgar-Salmeron early. Now, we’ll see whether they fall back on their position that they can’t get him back bc they don’t have custody. https://www.investigativepost.org/2025/05/30/another-ice-deportation-in-defiance-of-court-order/ #LawFedi

D.V.D. v. Trump, the case involving immigrants removed to third-party countries without due process, just gets wilder and wilder. Two developments today. This thread is about the judge's latest opinion and order for yet another preliminary injunction in the lawsuit. Full document at https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282404/gov.uscourts.mad.282404.132.0.pdf. #LawFedi 1/