Law and Chaos

The Fifth Circuit is crossing out laws just for sport. This time it’s a 140-year-old ban on making homebrew hooch, because YOLO.

Trump’s lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal and Rupert Murdoch over an article describing his creepy birthday card to Jeffrey Epstein was dismissed. But … that dismissal was without prejudice, so he can take another swing at it. The trollsuit against the BBC is still limping along.

Deputy General Counsel at the Department of Education Josh Kleinfeld makes an interesting pitch to George Mason’s Antonin Scalia Law School, which is currently under investigation by … the Department of Education.

And Trump’s ballroom blitz takes a tumble in court.

MAIN SHOW:

Trump discovers one weird trick to make the Presidential Records Act disappear. All he has to do is order the Office of Legal Counsel to come up with a memo saying it’s unconstitutional and — hey, presto! — he can steal or shred or delete any document he likes.

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Are we the pirates now?

Trump v. Murdoch
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70843413/trump-v-murdoch

Trump v. BBC
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72040010/trump-v-british-broadcasting-corporation

Fifth Circuit Home Distillers Ruling
https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/24/24-10760-CV0.pdf

Trump Admin Lawyer Applies To Be Law School Dean, Suggests It Might Help Investigations Go Away
https://abovethelaw.com/2026/04/trump-admin-lawyer-applies-to-be-law-school-dean-suggests-it-might-help-investigations-go-away/

Ballroom Blitz Blocked
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/ballroom-blitz-blocked

National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73127510/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-v-nps

April 1, 2026 OLC Memorandum on the Presidential Records Act
https://www.justice.gov/olc/media/1434131/dl

Judicial Watch v. NARA (“Socks Case”), 845 F.Supp.2d 288 (DC Cir. 2012)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=15818036517066124081

Trump v. Mazars, 591 US 848 (2020)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=2096461232780826445

Nixon v. Administrator of General Svcs. et al., 433 US 425 (1977)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=11884364268460571560

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Judge Brian Murphy blocked termination of TPS for 5,000 Ethiopians.

DHS Secretary Markwayne Mullin will continue Noem’s tradition of announcing his intention to violate the law in advance, so as to give litigants a heads up.

Michael Avenatti moves to a halfway house, remains a full-way non-lawyer.

And Democrats overperformed in Tuesday’s special elections.

MAIN SHOW:

Crazytimes continue at the DOJ as Trump’s goons jockey to replace Pam Bondi. Acting AG Todd Blanche is professing his love for Trump at the podium. US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro can’t indict a ham sandwich, and juries are telling her to take a hike. Politico says Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, is in the running for the top job. She’s currently trying to indict January 6 Committee witness Cassidy Hutchinson for perjury — which has exactly nothing to do with civil rights. And Dhillon’s office keeps losing when she sues states demanding they turn over their voter rolls.

Will Republicans invoke the 25th Amendment to remove Trump from office? (No.) But the fact that we’re asking the question shows how far we’ve come.

And in Tennessee, Kilmar Abrego Garcia is trying to get his human smuggling case dismissed on grounds of vindictive prosecution. Both the government and Garcia filed their briefs this week. The government claims that prosecution started with an article in the local paper, the Tennessee Star. Which is weird because the case was reopened in Baltimore the week before the article was published — and DHS is actually the source of the reporting!

Blanche Steals Bondi's Brown Nose
https://lawandchaospod.substack.com/p/blanche-steals-bondis-brown-nose

Justice Dept.’s Civil Rights Division Is Investigating Star Witness Against Trump
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/07/us/doj-cassidy-hutchinson-investigation-trump.html

Kilmar Abrego Garcia [TN criminal docket]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.104622/

2022 TN Traffic Stop of Kilmar Abrego Garcia Was Day Three of Trip That Originated in Houston, Took Detour to St. Louis, Crossed Trafficking Hubs and Areas with MS-13
https://tennesseestar.com/justice/2022-tn-traffic-stop-of-kilmar-abrego-garcia-was-day-three-of-trip-that-originated-in-houston-took-detour-to-st-louis-crossed-trafficking-hubs-and-areas-with-ms-13/tpappert/2025/04/21/

African Communities Together v. Noem [TPS for Ethiopians]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72178312/african-communities-together-v-noem/

Mullin weighs using airport customs as leverage against sanctuary cities
https://www.foxnews.com/politics/mullin-weighs-using-airport-customs-leverage-against-sanctuary-cities

Judge Jeanine’s Big Audition
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/judge-jeanine-pirro-attorney-general-trump-jerome-powell.html

Inside the battle to be Trump’s next attorney general
​​https://www.politico.com/news/2026/04/09/trump-attorney-general-blanche-dhillion-pirro-00864988

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Pam Bondi is GTFO! But the mess she leaves will take a generation to repair.

The Supreme Court paved the way to disappear Steve Bannon’s conviction for contempt of Congress.

Trump commands the NCAA to quit being woke. He also has thoughts about the transfer portal.

MAIN SHOW:

Judge Richard Leon! Preliminarily enjoins! Trump’s tackyass ballroom! Administration files ridiculous appeal!

Justin Baldoni is back to teach us CivPro. This time, he’s largely prevailing on his motion for judgment on the pleadings, as Judge Liman dismisses ten of Blake Lively’s 13 counts. Turns out, she never signed her contract, and the contract established that she was an employee, not an independent contractor. Since independent contractors can’t sue for discrimination under Title VII, her harassment claims are out. And the contract had a choice of law provision that agreed to abide by California law. No contract … no automatic California law.

And of course we’ll break down the Supreme Court’s birthright decision hearing. So many clips!

SCOTUS Orders List April 6, 2026
https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/040626zor_5iek.pdf

Trump Executive Order to De-Woke the NCAA
https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2026/04/urgent-national-action-to-save-college-sports/

National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service [Ballroom trial docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national/

National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service [Ballroom appeal docket]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73127510/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-v-nps/

Lively v. Wayfarer
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/?order_by=desc

Blake Lively’s (unsigned) Actor Loan-Out Agreement [Exhibit 263]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.nysd.634304/gov.uscourts.nysd.634304.964.121.pdf

Birthright Citizenship SCOTUS Transcript
https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2025/25-365_l6gn.pdf

Birthright Citizenship SCOTUS Audio
https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/audio/2025/25-365

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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. Biden
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67089647/kennedy-v-biden/?order_by=desc

Missouri v. Biden
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63290154/missouri-v-biden/?order_by=desc

US v. Bankman-Fried
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66631292/united-states-v-bankman-fried

Tarrio v. US [Proud Boys Bivens Suit]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70474277/tarrio-v-united-states-of-america

Sullivan 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-states

Dred Scott v. Sandford, 60 US 393 (1857)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3231372247892780026

US v. Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649 (1898)
https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=3381955771263111765

Indian Citizenship Act of 1924
https://www.archives.gov/files/historical-docs/doc-content/images/indian-citizenship-act-1924.pdf

Indian Law Scholars’ Amicus Brief [via SCOTUS]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-365/399370/20260226125541217_Barbara%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf

The Nationality Act of 1940 [student Note]
https://www.jstor.org/stable/1335062

Trump v. Barbara
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-365.html

Show Links:
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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 elsewhere

Trump 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.

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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 James
https://www.ms.now/news/trump-housing-chief-doj-new-york-letitia-james-pulte

Anthropic Injunction
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.cand.465515/gov.uscourts.cand.465515.134.0.pdf

X Corp v. World Federation of Advertisers
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69017972/x-corp-v-world-federation-of-advertisers/

Pampena v Musk
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65412803/giuseppe-pampena-v-elon-rmusk

Florida 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. DOJ
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72590076/state-of-minnesota-v-us-department-of-justice/

African Communities Together v. Lyons
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70993525/african-communities-together-v-lyons

Avila v. ICE (8th Cir. mandatory detention) [docket via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca8.113186/gov.uscourts.ca8.113186.00805482414.3.pdf

State 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.pdf

Smith v. TikTok (CA state lawsuit against social media addiction)
https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/social-media-lawsuits-kgm-motion-denied.pdf

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