Ep 173 — Justice Barrett Isn’t Mad, She’s Just Disappointed That You Keep Saying SCOTUS Is Broken

The Justice Department continues to be a sh*tshow, with the indictment of James Comey already hitting the skids. Whodathunk that putting Trump’s personal insurance lawyer in charges of criminal prosecutions would work out badly! Justice Amy Coney Barrett heads to Fox News to flog her book and express her disappointment that we are all being so mean about the shadow docket. Please do not let up! And Trump’s efforts to flood the streets of blue states with troops makes its way through the courts.   Links:   US v. Kevontae Stewart https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71380817/united-states-v-stewart/   Alex Jones SCOTUS Docket https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-268.html   Justice Barrett Fox Interview https://www.foxnews.com/video/6382650913112   Federal Judges, Warning of ‘Judicial Crisis,’ Fault Supreme Court’s Emergency Orders https://www.nytimes.com/2025/10/11/us/politics/judicial-crisis-supreme-court-trump.html   Illinois v. Trump [District Court] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71559895/state-of-illinois-v-trump   Illinois v. Trump [Seventh Circuit] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71608106/state-of-illinois-v-donald-j-trump/   Oregon v. Trump https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71481149/state-of-oregon-v-trump/?order_by=desc   US v. Comey https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71459120/united-states-v-comey/?order_by=desc   Illinois v. FEMA (D. R.I.) [docket via CourtListener] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.59597/   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

Liz and Andrew talk to Professor Eric Segall of Georgia state University College of Lawl. He teaches federal courts and constitutional law I and II, and is the author of the books Originalism as Faith and Supreme Myths: Why the Supreme Court is not a Court and its Justices are not Judges. How can one teach ConLaw when the Supreme Court is burning down precedent? We’ll find out!   Links:   How the Hell To Teach Constitutional Law in 2025: Twenty Questions and No Answers https://www.dorfonlaw.org/2025/08/how-hell-to-teach-constitutional-law-in.html   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

The government may be shut down, but ICE is not. We’ll compare Trump’s efforts to deploy the National Guard in LA, DC, Portland, and Chicago. In better news, Alex Jones looks to be at the end of the road with his plot to use bankruptcy to shield his company from the Sandy Hook parents. And we have breaking news in Law and Chaos’s FOIA suit against the DOJ. Plus for subscribers: Was Lindsey Halligan lawfully appointed as US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia? Asking for James Comey.   Links:   Res Ipsa Media v. DOJ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71236135/res-ipsa-media-llc-v-department-of-justice/   First Circuit Birthright Citizenship Ruling https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca1.52521/gov.uscourts.ca1.52521.00108348619.0.pdf   Oregon v. Trump https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71481149/state-of-oregon-v-trump/   Newsom v. Trump (N.D. Cal.) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70496361/newsom-v-trump   Newsom v. Trump (Ninth Circuit) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/70527602/newsom-et-al-v-trump-et-al   Alex Jones Bankruptcy https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66583024/alexander-e-jones-and-official-committee-of-unsecured-creditors/   DOJ FY 2026 Contingency Plan https://www.justice.gov/jmd/media/1377216/dl   National Review - Lindsey Halligan - Alito 1986 memo https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.njd.578930/gov.uscourts.njd.578930.61.1.pdf   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

Mike Lindell is having a bad day in court, and Alex Jones is about to. The Supreme Court decides that Trump can steal Congress’s power over the budget, Constitution be damned. And Justin Baldoni returns to teach us all how NOT to do civil procedure.   Links:   Oregon v. Trump Docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71481149/state-of-oregon-v-trump   Smartmatic v. Lindell Docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/62605230/smartmatic-usa-corp-v-lindell   Alex Jones Bankruptcy Docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/66583024/alexander-e-jones-and-official-committee-of-unsecured-creditors   YouTube to Pay $24.5 Million to Settle Lawsuit Brought by Trump https://www.wsj.com/us-news/law/youtube-to-pay-24-5-million-to-settle-lawsuit-brought-by-trump-808f6823   Lively v. Wayfarer https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/?order_by=desc   SCOTUS ruling in State v. AIDS Vaccine Coalition motion for stay https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/24pdf/25a269_bp7c.pdf   AIDS Vaccine Coalition v. State (trial court docket) [Docket via CourtListener] https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333.145.0_4.pdf   White House “pocket rescission” announcement (Aug. 29, 2025) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/08/historic-pocket-rescission-package-eliminates-woke-weaponized-and-wasteful-spending/   Impoundment Control Act of 1974 https://www.govinfo.gov/content/pkg/CPRT-114HPRT96107/pdf/CPRT-114HPRT96107.pdf   GAO opinion on Ukraine impoundment https://www.gao.gov/assets/710/703909.pdf   GAO Opinion Letter B-330330 (December 10, 2018) https://www.gao.gov/products/b-330330   White House EO Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terrorist Organization https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/   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  

After Trump appoints his lackey Lindsey Halligan US Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, he finally gets his indictment of former FBI Director James Comey. But will it stand in front of a real judge? We break down the grand jury process, and why they say a grand jury will indict a ham sandwich. And for subscribers, Andrew and Liz explain how the DOJ’s internet brain poisoning is jeopardizing the Luigi Mangione prosecution.   Links:   US v. Comey https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71459120/united-states-v-comey/   Hook v. Rave (D. S.D.) [docket via CourtListener] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71428718/hook-v-rave/   US v. Mangione [District Docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69486519/united-states-v-mangione/    Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

Domestically, Tom Homan takes bribes and Republicans just don’t care. Internationally, the Trump administration is engaged in international war crimes by murdering foreign civilians, and… Republicans still just don’t care. Learn why this is an Article I Constitutional crisis with guest Brian Finucane.   Links: Brian Finucane, International Crisis Group https://www.crisisgroup.org/who-we-are/people/brian-finucane   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

The Trump administration goes mask-off with its attack on Jimmy Kimmel. If you’d told us the Man Show guy would become a First Amendment avatar … we’d never have believed you. Meanwhile, the Justice Department has torched its cred with all the judges, even the FedSoc ones! But Lisa Cook is still a Fed governor!   Links:   SCOTUS Docket Lisa Cook https://www.supremecourt.gov/Search.aspx?FileName=/docket/docketfiles/html/public\25a312.html   Barco Mercado v. Noem https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71065570/barco-mercado-v-noem/   L.G.M.L. v. Noem https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71240524/lgml-v-noem   Trump tries to stick up The New York Times with a water gun https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-lawsuit-new-york-times-15-billion   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

The Department of Homeland Security has decreed that we will all learn what chain refoulement is … by watching them try to rendition wave after wave of immigrants. Andrew and Liz will explain how that’s totally illegal. Plus, Newsmax is suing Fox News, again.   Links:   Newsmax v. Fox [Wisconsin Docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71323347/newsmax-broadcasting-llc-v-fox-corporation   Newsmax v. Fox [Florida Docket] https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71258079/newsmax-broadcasting-llc-v-fox-corporation   Biden v. Byrne https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67990012/robert-hunter-biden-v-patrick-m-byrne   Comey v. DOJ https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71348216/comey-v-united-states-department-of-justice   American Federation Of Government Employees, AFL-CIO v. United States Office of Personnel Management https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69655364/american-federation-of-government-employees-afl-cio-v-united-states/   D.A. v. Noem https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71323714/da-v-noem   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

District and Circuit Court judges are in more or less open revolt over the Supreme Court’s abuse of the shadow docket. Perhaps Justice Gorsuch shouldn’t have implied that they were all stupid and insubordinate for failing to read his mind! The Trump administration insists it’s very cool and very legal to deport immigrant children in the middle of the night so long as it’s Health and Human Services doing the deporting. Will Judge Tim Kelly agree? And Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni are back to teach us civil procedure. Sanctions, anyone?   Links:   Ronny Jackson v. Weber (CA Sec State) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71235529/jackson-v-weber/   Kash Patel Makes FBI Great Again By Getting It Sued https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/kash-patel-makes-fbi-great-again   Alex Jones SCOTUS Cert Petition Docket https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-268.html   Judge Ho “Denny’s” Order https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca5.224134/gov.uscourts.ca5.224134.25.1.pdf   First Circuit Order, Rhode Island v. Trump https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.rid.59257/gov.uscourts.rid.59257.79.0.pdf   Judges, desperate for guidance, plead with Supreme Court justices: ‘Write an opinion’ https://www.politico.com/news/2025/09/11/supreme-court-emergency-rulings-judges-00558058   L.G.M.L. v. Noem https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71240524/lgml-v-noem   Lively v. Wayfarer Studios LLC https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69510553/lively-v-wayfarer-studios-llc/?order_by=desc   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod  

The Supreme Court used the shadow docket to legalize racial profiling, although only Justice Kavanaugh was dumb enough to admit it out loud. It also overturned Humphrey’s Executor, but this time even Kav wouldn’t cop to it. Meanwhile at the White House, Office of Management and Budget Director Russ Vought discovers ONE WEIRD trick to steal Congress’s power of the purse. And the Second Circuit confirms, Alina Habba is still very bad at her job.   Links:   White House Prayer Executive Order https://www.whitehouse.gov/america250/america-prays/   SCOTUS Shadow Docket Order Trump v. Slaughter https://www.supremecourt.gov/orders/courtorders/090825zr_4f15.pdf   Second Circuit Order Carroll v. Trump 1 https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.ca2.e508a4b2-feae-4592-a6dc-d30f9ed35bb6/gov.uscourts.ca2.e508a4b2-feae-4592-a6dc-d30f9ed35bb6.134.1_1.pdf   SCOTUS Docket Trump v. Vasquez Perdomo https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25a169.html   White House “pocket rescission” announcement (Aug. 29, 2025) https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefings-statements/2025/08/historic-pocket-rescission-package-eliminates-woke-weaponized-and-wasteful-spending/   AIDS Vaccine Coalition v. State https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333/gov.uscourts.dcd.277333.145.0_4.pdf   Show Links: https://www.lawandchaospod.com/ BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod Threads: @LawAndChaosPod Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod