I feel like we typically see these sorts of completely outraged opinions from federal judges a couple times a year across the whole country, maybe a little more often in last few years. Now, in cases stemming from Trump's immigration crackdown, judges are ringing the alarm bell several times a week.

"Journalists scrutinize power. It’s job no. 1 & we can’t have a Supreme Court-sized exception [to that]," per @jodikantor.bsky.social. 💯 We're pleased to see newsrooms investing more resources into coverage of the most powerful, least accountable part of our gov't www.politico.com/news/magazin....

Justice Barrett didn't have a sudden revelation about the existence of ayahuasca during #SCOTUS args. y'day. She looked at Justice Kagan after her "is that real" question & Kagan nodded. Unless you were there, you'd never know bc #SCOTUS still bans cameras 👎 www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen....

Did you know that if you don't talk about the climate crisis, the problem magically goes away? Seems to be the thinking in the federal judiciary these days.

Trump administration realizes it cannot defend the indefensible extortion orders against law firms. www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

A Republican-appointed state supreme court justice is criticizing President Trump's "lapdog" comment following the U.S. Supreme Court's tariffs ruling. "That’s not helpful to anybody," N.D. Supreme Court Justice Daniel Crothers said.

And it's about to get worse — start following 25-756 at SCOTUS

Coming to the shadow docket in late spring!

From @ms.now: "Fix the Court’s efforts are appreciated here. They also shouldn’t be needed. [...] Gabe Roth, acknowledged as much in announcing the audio [FTC] obtained & posted. 'This is not hard: the Court should livestream the audio of opinion announcements [...] as it does for oral arguments.'"

The pileup of blatantly unlawful conduct by the government in this case is astonishing, as is the fact that the Supreme Court allowed the govt to go forward with this program in a shadow docket ruling

Exciting news! We've exclusively obtained & posted the missing Supreme Court opinion announcement audio from last term fixthecourt.com/2026/02/the-... #SCOTUS

Only four members of SCOTUS are in attendance tonight: Roberts, Barrett, Kav, and Kagan.

We filed a misconduct complaint today against E.D. Mich. Judge Ludington fixthecourt.com/wp-content/u.... It's one thing to get arrested for drunk driving, removeable on its own, & another to keep doing your job — a position of public trust — for almost 5 months as if nothing happened.

Big announcement coming tomorrow from Fix the Court!

Former Massachusetts federal Judge Mark Wolf, who said he stepped down from the bench last year to freely raise concerns about President Donald Trump, created a stressful culture for his chambers staff, according to seven former employees.

Per J. Kavanaugh's dissent, the U.S. "may be required to refund billions of dollars to importers who paid the tariffs, even though some importers may have already passed on costs to consumers or others." Some? May? Importers passed on 96% (!) of tariffs' costs www.investopedia.com/americans-ha...

BREAKING: SUPREME COURT STRIKES DOWN TRUMP TARIFFS "The President asserts the extraordinary power to unilaterally impose tariffs of unlimited amount, duration, and scope...he must identify clear congressional authorization to exercise it." www.courthousenews.com/supreme-cour...

Cannot unsee the Chief Justice in a BabyBjörn

"If I were in my 30s or 40s with young children at home & thinking about going on the federal bench, 1 of the factors [to consider] is we may be exposing ourselves to possible violence" —W.D. Wash. Judge Coughenour @melissaquinn97.bsky.social @jakemrosen.bsky.social www.cbsnews.com/news/threats...

So SCOTUS, with its fabricated-out-of-thin-air immunity doctrine, has actually made American presidents less accountable than LITERAL royalty.

Judge Xinis DENIES our motion to require livestreams of Abrego Garcia proceedings, saying a press/overflow room is enough & states, WITHOUT ANY EVIDENCE to back it up, that there are "security risks associated with the kind of unfettered 'livestream' that Fix the Court requests." (1/2)

Our fiscal year ends in 10 days! (Weird timing? Yes! But not our call.) If you appreciate our work to make the judiciary more open & accountable & our leadership in the court reform movement, please consider supporting us with a donation ➡️ fixthecourt.com/donate.

NEW: DOJ told a judge in New Jersey that it had violated court orders about 54 times between Dec. 5 and this week — the latest accounting of a phenomenon that used to be rare and is now rampant. www.politico.com/news/2026/02...

Before Fix the Court, we had the Coalition for Court Transparency, a single-issue group that pushed federal courts to livestream hearings. Today, all fed. appeals courts livestream their arguments docs.google.com/spreadsheets.... Not bad! Our ad from Feb. 17, 2014: youtube.com/watch?v=x8xd....

FOR REFERENCE: Justices' individual stock ownership, i.e., not including mutual funds or blended funds, 2010-2026: docs.google.com/spreadsheets...

Our fiscal year ends Feb. 28. Give a gift today to show your support of what we do! FixTheCourt.com/Donate

More people should be applauding Law Dork, I always say. Thanks, @fixthecourt.com! fixthecourt.com/2026/02/ftc-...

New: Federal judges may advocate for greater security and defend colleagues against "illegitimate" attacks and criticism that risk undermining judicial independence or the rule of law, according to a new judicial ethics opinion. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

Just like the FJC wants them to

New ethics advisory opinion just dropped, & it's a...good one? CC: @uscourts.bsky.social

48 out of 50 states require their judges & justices to file annual disclosures. We've been pushing the last 2 to join the rest, & news out of Utah indicates we're getting close to that being 49 of 50. More below👇

Lots of new #SCOTUS events just added to our tracker! After a slow start to 2026, we're now in the "regular amount of galavanting" range: fixthecourt.com/2026/02/2026....

Likely-historic photo by NBC News of all the Epstein victims asked to raise their hands if they've not yet been asked to meet with the DOJ as Bondi testifies in foreground

New: A federal judge has acknowledged the environment in her chambers "resulted in an abusive workplace," following a misconduct complaint by a former clerk. A group says the jurist is Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, who is overseeing SCOTUS lawyer Tom Goldstein's trial. www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

The order did not identify the judge in question but two sources familiar with the process told NPR it is U.S. District Judge Lydia Kay Griggsby, a Biden appointee. n.pr/45XFzM1

When liberals assert the judiciary needs stronger ethics rules bc duh, it shrugs. When conservatives assert that a chapter on climate science in a judiciary reference manual hurts their oil & gas buds' feelings, it caves. Says all you need to know abt the 3rd branch www.reuters.com/legal/govern...

For today's bonus issue of "One First," I wrote about Monday's @nytimes.com scoop regarding Chief Justice Roberts having clerks and other employees sign non-disclosure agreements, and why #SCOTUS's transparency problems run far deeper and wider than just NDAs: www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-207-...

"'I don’t know that there’s going to be a lot of people excited about giving [judges] an increase [for security funding],' Rep. Jim Jordan (R-Ohio), who chairs the House Judiciary Committee, told Punchbowl" last year punchbowl.news/article/wash.... Well, you just did, and it's about damn time.

Spotted by @fixthecourt.com The author of the Fox News story defending Justice Alito has a pending cert petition at SCOTUS (Skinner v. Louisiana 25-1)

Tomorrow, the Oversight Committee will hear testimony from family members of Renee Good. We'll be streaming across Instagram, Facebook, and YouTube at 3:00 PM EST.

Prediction: The Supreme Court Records Act will be coming back with a vengeance soon!

Let's speak plainly. In a legitimate criminal cases, political appointees don't have to first hollow out U.S. Attorney offices of objecting career prosecutors with integrity; federal judges don't kill the cases at the cradle, and the government doesn't fight tooth and nail to revive them.

D. Minn. Judge Menendez says at start of this a.m.'s hearing on legality of ICE operations in Twin Cities that it's a "case of extreme importance to everyone," & yet the only people who can listen live are credentialed media members. We'll work to change that www.courtlistener.com/docket/72132....

GOP Governor of Oklahoma "What we're seeing on TV, it's causing deep concerns over federal tactics and accountability…We believe in federalism and state rights, and nobody likes feds coming into their state...Is it to deport every single non- U.S. citizen? I don't think that's what Americans want.”

“Please get the truth out about our son.” Read and share the statement from the parents of Alex Pretti, the VA ICU nurse who was shot and killed by border patrol.

Yes, the GOP controls Congress. That's why it's key to show Congress COULD stop the madness. And it's not just the DHS bill. Congress could repeal the prior multi-year $75b for DHS; set up a special investigative committee (cf. Watergate); amend the Insurrection Act; etc.

JUST IN: In a new lawsuit, Minnesota officials say DHS mishandled evidence from today's crime scene and made "astonishing" law enforcement decisions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: US judge temporarily blocks review of material seized from Washington Post reporter reut.rs/4jUthK4

Our live audio request for the Jan. 28 TRO hearing in Kelly v. Hegseth courtlistener.com/docket/72131... has been DENIED by Judge Leon. FTC plans to have staff (Cortez) in the courtroom, with coverage on FixTheCourt.com the next day.