On DOGE’s watch, federal spending did not go down at all. It went up. But is still led to cuts that closed offices, canceled programs and deprived people of food, medicine and other aid. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/23/u...

Trump: "Tell me what you think of my 'Master of Ceremony' abilities. If really good, would you like me to leave the Presidency in order to make “hosting” a full time job?"

BREAKING: WATCH the full 60 Minutes CECOT segment here. This was sent to me anonymously. It appears to be the segment CBS' Bari Weiss killed. www.muellershewrote.com/p/watch-the-...

Full story about what's going on at CBS News: www.cnn.com/2025/12/21/m...

Russ Vought set out to ensure a second Trump term would not be hampered by checks and balances: “I don’t want President Trump having to lose a moment of time having fights in the Oval Office about whether something is legal or doable or moral.” (Published October w/ @newyorker.com)

Explosive charges, a drone operator, armored car and full swat team, malinois K-9 unit, and a house with kids.

JUST IN: As deadline nears, Trump administration appeals judge's ruling blocking attempt to cut off Harvard's federal funding. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

A Chicago story — a 23-year-old U.S. citizen on his way home from the gym who ended up handcuffed by immigration agents — was in my report yesterday on 100 days of Kavanaugh stops: www.lawdork.com/p/100-days-o...

Also tonight: Judge Jia Cobb rules that ICE’s policy since June requiring Democratic lawmakers to give a week’s notice in order to enter and inspect ICE facilities likely violates a 5 year old provision in the annual DHS appropriation prohibiting that very thing. Blocks entry requirements.

BREAKING MS NOW: FBI deputy director Dan Bongino has quietly told confidants he plans to formally leave his job early in the new year and will not be returning to headquarters to work this month, according to eight people briefed on his account. www.ms.now/news/bongino...

Hi from the Boston Federal Courthouse for summary judgment in Guerrero Orelanna v. Hyde before Judge Saris. I'm not sure this was my most recent thread on this case: bsky.app/profile/john... this is about mandatory detention, but limited to the Boston ICE field office area.

Just in: A DC circuit panel allows the combined National Guard force in DC to remain pending appeal. Millett, an Obama appointee, wrote the opinion joined by Katsas and Rao. Finds that D.C.’s status provides fewer layers of protections, without the usual state law, and gov likely to succeed.

Incredible to see this and think about how the footage not only survived but also surfaced.

JUST IN: Judge Leon said he’s unlikely to order construction on Trump’s ballroom halted on an emergency basis. But warns the government he will hold them to submitting the plans to the National Capital Planning Commission and the Commission of Fine Arts by the end of the month.

The 1st Circuit rules that the OBBB provision defunding Planned Parenthood is not unlawful punishment/Congress has broad discretion to direct Medicaid funding to and away from certain organizations based on their services. PP released a report in Nov. saying the law has wreaked havoc on its budget.

Amazing reporting from @katiemangan.bsky.social and @peterelkind.bsky.social www.chronicle.com/article/the-... previously unreported documents and interviews... reveals the extent to which the government violated legal and procedural norms to gin up its case against the institution

In addition, the scores of people victimized by any of the dozens of convicted white collar criminals pardoned so far this year, who cut across all demographics

It's hard to know exactly what will happen now, given how unprecedented this is. But Trump and Miller envisioned this as a test of their ability to spread fear of lawless state terror. For now, the lower courts are admirably defending the rule of law. 5/5 newrepublic.com/article/2043...

While previous administrations have included the ultrarich, the wealth held by this group is larger than even the first Trump administration, previously the wealthiest in U.S. history. Here’s who they are.

SCOOP I spoke to the leader of a doxing-for-hire group who showed me how it took just minutes for them to get sensitive personal data from Big Tech companies—with virtually no pushback www.wired.com/story/doxers...

Instacart got caught running real-time price experiments on shoppers — same groceries, different prices. Workers know this game well: Instacart’s algorithm does the same thing to their pay. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/09/b...

I don't love making broad predictions but I feel this one in my bones

Only a quarter of Americans trust statistical agencies to keep their information confidential. That still feels like too many Americans.

Just in: Oregon Judge blocks the government from arresting demonstrators protesting outside a DHS/ICE building in Eugene, Ore. Says the arrest and citation of activists Chloe Longworth and Anna Lardner for “unusual noise” likely violated First Amendment rights and chilled speech generally.

New hate read just dropped. depthperceptionbyll.substack.com/p/seamus-hug...

U.S. District Judge Jed Rakoff (SDNY) on cryptocurrency, a “seeming racket.” This is a super primer and a sobering alert from an in-the-legal-trenches expert. @nybooks.com @uscourts.bsky.social

“Behind that policy was a quieter goal: to ensure survivors did not end up in the U.S. judicial system, where court cases could force the administration to show evidence justifying President Trump’s military campaign in the region.” Wild evasion.

The first paragraph of Judge Breyer‘s opinion granting an injunction in the California National Guard case is a banger.

“The Founders designed our government to be a system of checks and balances. Defendants, however, make clear that the only check they want is a blank one.”

Sec. Hegseth rolled out the U.S. military’s new AI platform, GenAi.Mil, with a link to an empty website. trib.al/tbCJAkT Predictably, the platform can’t actually be accessed from external networks, but the wonky rollout triggered eyerolls across the internet.

DC Cir., 2-1, holds that district court gave too little deference to Sec. Hegseth's determination that banning trans people from the military advances combat rediness, unit cohesion, and cost control. Stays the PI. Trump judges Katsas, Rao in the majority. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Earlier today, Judge Dabney Friedrich declined to order the Trump admin to return a 16-year-old unaccompanied minor who was deported to Guatemala in May along with his father. Echoes of the case before Judge Kelly in Sept. in which he blocked the removal of hundreds of children under HHS custody

Great research here

Not only excellent reporting, this is the clearest and most plainly stated article I've seen in the mainstream media so far, mincing no words and pointing out every single one of the Trump admin's canards and misdirections. As one of the quoted experts says, it's murder, full stop.

SCOTUS scholar @LeahLitman.bsky.social on the implications of the powers the Roberts Court appears primed to hand Trump — for example, in air travel. Full interview at All Rise News www.allrisenews.com/p/trumps-fir...

Same headline. Seven years apart. 🤡 @politico.com www.politico.com/news/2025/12...

Trump hung up on a ProPublica reporter after being asked whether his Florida mortgages were similar to those of others he had accused of fraud. 🤔

JUST IN: National Defense Authorization Act language released today authorizes Supreme Court marshal to protect former and retired justices. Congress is still stiffing lower federal courts on additional security funds. #SCOTUS #NDAA

Genuinely chilling

NEW: Judge in Florida unseals Epstein grand jury docs pursuant to the law passed in November. The bill Trump signed gives DOJ until Dec. 19 to turn over remaining records in their possession.

#BREAKING: Over dissents from the three democratic appointees, #SCOTUS puts Texas's new House maps back into effect for (and, presumably, through) the 2026 midterms. The three Democratic appointees, in an opinion by Justice Kagan, dissent. I'll post the ruling shortly.

Quite breathtaking story - military grade drones at Dublin airport which flew on the path Zelensky's plane took. The drones reached the flight path of his plane exactly the time it should have been there, but just missed it because Zelensky arrived ahead of schedule:

The New York Times sued the Pentagon on Thursday, arguing that the Defense Department infringed on the constitutional rights of its journalists by imposing a set of new restrictions on reporting about the military. Read more: nyti.ms/44CRJZY

NEW: The commutation Trump issued to David Gentile wipes away all further fines & restitution. Gentile had been sentenced to 7 years for his role in a $1.6B scheme that defrauded thousands of investors. Prosecutors had been seeking $15.5M in forfeiture. www.justice.gov/pardon/media...

Overnight, Judge Howell ruled warrantless stops in D.C. have been greatly overused, adding that guidance handed down by Stephen Miller and others essentially encouraged random stops without any regard to probable cause. w/ @ashleyahn88.bsky.social

NEW: NEW: The Trump administration is launching an intensive immigration enforcement operation primarily targeting hundreds of undocumented Somali immigrants in the Minneapolis region, according to an official with knowledge and documents obtained by the NYT. www.nytimes.com/2025/12/02/u...

Alt hed: Trump admin finds a Boasberg ruling it likes. Via @zjmontague.bsky.social www.nytimes.com/2025/12/01/u...

I am going to remind u now of my 2019 scoop: www.thedailybeast.com/fox-and-frie...

SCOOP: Dan Richman, a key figure in the now-dismissed case against James Comey, has filed suit over the gov't's handling of data seized from his devices. He says his constitutional rights were violated — and seeks to block DOJ from further use of the materials. open.substack.com/pub/annabowe...

In JGG (the original Alien Tort Claims Act case), Judge Boasberg orders submissions on "how the Court's inquiry regarding a potential contempt referral should proceed, including names of possible witnesses and dates for hearings," by tomorrow close of business.