NEW: Judge says Trump admin is overreading #SCOTUS emergency docket precedents. Judge Royce Lamberth (Reagan) pauses 500+ USAGM/VOA layoffs, says agency leaders may be in contempt. Also he's shocked acting head of VOA didn't know she was. w/@kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: Google pays $24.5 million to settle lawsuit Trump filed in 2021 over YouTube ban post #Jan6. $22M of that will go to build the new White House ballroom Trump wants to construct. It was 1 of 3 similar suits legal experts found dubious. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: Trump admin files Freedom of Access to Clinic Entrances Act suit v. socialist/pro-Palestinian groups over alleged violent targeting of Jewish worshippers in NJ. Trump DOJ pledged to curtail use re clinics. Now invokes religious provision. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: State of Oregon & Portland sue to block Trump administration's deployment of 200 Oregon National Guard troops to protect an ICE facility in that city. Governor says Trump may've acted on old videos from 2020 clashes at fed courthouse. w/@kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: State of Oregon sues to block Trump from deploying Oregon National Guard to Portland. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: Eight weeks after Trump fired 3 members of Puerto Rico financial oversight board, White House abruptly offers detailed reasons for the dismissals. Why now? A judge is holding a hearing Monday on legality of the firings. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

NEW: Trump falsely suggested today that rank-and-file FBI agents fomented the Jan. 6 attack that a mob of his supporters unleashed on the Capitol, leaning into conspiracy theories as he accuses a second FBI director of committing crimes w/ @iriesentner.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

OVERNIGHT: Latest filing in challenge to legality of Trump admin's extension of Bill Essayli's appointment as US Attorney in L.A. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... DOJ filing: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

Six reasons why the Trump administration's criminal case against James Comey is likely to fizzle. w/ @kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

Trump administration appeals to #SCOTUS to let him implement stalled executive order ending birthright citizenship. Asks justices to hear the cases 'this Term,' which ends in 9 days. (Probably means next term.) www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

SCOOP: Justice Department asks judge to force nonprofit & reporter to post $50,000 bond to get faster release of classified docs found at Mar-a-Lago. Trump order to seek bonds for early injunctions seeps into #FOIA litigation. www.politico.com/newsletters/...

BREAKING: #SCOTUS, in apparent 6-3 ruling, allows Trump to unilaterally cancel $4B in foreign aid Congress appropriated for this fiscal year. A 'for now' ruling but it's ball game for this $. Court cites 'foreign affairs' backing lean to president here www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

A few Comey Qs: Why would grand jury foreperson sign a 'no bill' indictment? Why would signature page be identical to approved indictment? Why would no-billed indictment have 2 "Count TWO"s? Pros/clerk/juror error? storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: Text of Comey indictment here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... New details: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: Federal grand jury in Alexandria, VA indicts former FBI Director James Comey on 2 felonies, false statements and obstruction, following pressure from Trump & ouster of top prosecutor. w/@kyle www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: Federal grand jury in Alexandria, VA indicts former FBI Director James Comey on 2 felonies, false statements and obstruction, following pressure from Trump & ouster of top prosecutor. w/@kyle www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

NEW: In rare sign of threats and harassment impacting #SCOTUS official business, Justice Amy Coney Barrett says one reason she doesn't detail recusal reasons is some are due to friends/family who could be targeted. "There are costs," Barrett says www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: Judge declines to give jobs back to 8 inspectors general Trump fired without giving cause or explanation required by law. Judge Ana Reyes (Biden) says they might be entitled to back pay but puts case on hold til #SCOTUS rules on FTC firing. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

UPDATE: John Bolton's lawyer, Abbe Lowell, says many of the documents the FBI seized from Bolton's DC office last month were 2 decades old and had been declassified. 'Nothing inappropriate' kept by Bolton, Lowell says www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: FBI reports its search of John Bolton's DC office turned up documents with classified markings, including some pages marked "secret." Details on volume & contents of docs still murky. w/ @kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

FBI Trump/Russia probe agent who sent anti-Trump texts loses suit over his firing. Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Obama appointee, says evidence didn't show Strzok's firing was in response to Trump attacks. She won't say if firing 'appropriate' w/@kyledcheney.bsky.social www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: Judge Amy Berman Jackson, Obama appointee, dismisses former FBI agent Pete Strzok's suit claiming his firing was Trump-inspired and political. Under Biden, US paid Strzok $1.2M over release of texts. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2024/07...

Grant that funded Harvard acetaminophen-autism study White House cited was terminated by Trump administration earlier this but ordered restored by a federal judge, via @abbysgerstein www.thecrimson.com/article/2025...

JUST IN: Alexandria VA Public Schools jumps into litigation over Trump funding restrictions aimed at school policies accommodating trans students. @ACPSk12 asks to join Fairfax appeal & for 4th Cir. to issue injunction. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

JUST IN: Wall Street Journal seeks dismissal of Trump libel suit over article disclosing his alleged birthday note to Epstein. WSJ: 'There is nothing defamatory about a man sending a bawdy letter to his friend' & is consistent w/Trump's reputation. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

BREAKING: #SCOTUS, 6-3, lets Trump sideline Biden appointee Rebecca Slaughter from Federal Trade Commission. #SCOTUS will also hear arguments in December on overruling Humphrey's Executor, case that upheld Congressional limits on firing FTC members Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

JUST IN: Fox wants Newsmax's antitrust suit against Fox sent back to Judge Aileen Cannon in Florida. Newsmax re-filed in Wisconsin fed court after Cannon struck the initial complaint as a 'shotgun pleading.' Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: DOJ adds 2 gun charges to FCC charge in federal case against man accused of shooting up ABC affiliate in Sacramento. Also he allegedly had note mentioning Epstein & opposing Bondi, Patel & Bongino. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

A lot of federal judges I know will be very glad to hear this. GSA cutbacks had resulted in chaotic and opaque decisions that negatively impacted the courts, the judges said. via @jheckmanWFED federalnewsnetwork.com/workforce/20...

JUST IN: Trump admin asks full bench of 5th Circuit to take up Alien Enemies Act case, says 3-judge panel made serious errors in concluding that Trump's invocation of the law was legally defective. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: After 3 days of tumult for US Attorney's Office in EDVA, filing this AM shows Bondi's acting appointee Maggie Cleary in charge. Over weekend Trump said he was appointing/nominating Lindsey Halligan to job. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

HUH?: Red carpet for screening of ABC News documentary "did not include any members of the press," per @THR www.hollywoodreporter.com/movies/movie...

NEW: Trump vents at AG Bondi in a remarkable public lament over the lack of criminal charges against his most prominent adversaries. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

I'm told Maggie Cleary, the new acting US Attorney in EDVA, left her post as deputy commonwealth attorney in Culpeper, VA five days ago on Sept. 15, 2025. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

NEW: Feds seek 30-year sentence for attempted Kavanaugh assassin. Defense proposes 8. Also says their client identifies as transgender and struggles w/gender identity contributed to her mental health issues. www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: US Atty in Alexandria VA, Erik Siebert, resigned today after coming under pressure from Trump to bring criminal charges against NY AG Letitia James. Trump said he lost confidence in Siebert because VA's 2 Dem senators backed him. w/@aaronpellish www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: Fed judge in MN denies relief to female high school athletes challenging league bylaw allowing transgender girls to play contact sports. Trump appointee Eric Tostrud says Title IX doesn't apply. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

JUST IN: 9th Cir. panel, 2-1, refuses to block Illston order requiring disclosure of Trump admin agency reorg plans. But she's told to reconsider layoffs injunction which #SCOTUS already blocked. Maj: Fletcher/Rawlinson (Clinton). Dissent: Ikuta (GWB) cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

JUST IN: Fed judge in RI bars enforcement of Trump anti-'gender ideology' exec ord against a group of National Endowment for the Arts grantees. Judge William Smith (GWBush) says 'zero explanation' of how NEA will apply policy it adopted. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

BREAKING: Fed judge strikes Trump's libel suit v. NYT. Judge Steven Merryday (GHWB appointee) says suit 'unmistakably & inexcusably' violates court rules. 'A complaint is...not a protected platform to rage against an adversary.' Trump can refile. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST IN: Bitter exchange as 2nd Circuit denies DOJ's en banc petition on Ozturk/Madhawi, even though no one publicly dissented. Menashi/Park think courts must stay out of immigration detention & stay decisions aren't precedent. Nathan & 5 others would keep powder dry for merits

JUST IN: @DWStweets @RepTimBurchett introduce bill to overturn court rulings that victims rights law does not apply to out-of-court settlement of criminal liability. Jeffrey Epstein victims were found to have no right to sue for being sidelined. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2021/08...

JUST IN: Chief Justice John Roberts has set Thursday 4PM deadline for Fed member Lisa Cook's lawyers to respond to DOJ bid to carry out Trump's firing of her. Roberts did not (now) grant DOJ's request for an administrative stay to take Cook out. Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: Late last night a federal judge in San Francisco granted TRO to 20 states + DC blocking a Trump administration demand for recipient data from SNAP, the former food stamp program. Judge Maxine Chesney (Clinton). Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

JUST IN: In SEC suit over Elon Musk's alleged failure to file required forms as he amassed Twitter stock, Musk's lawyers argue case should be moved to Texas or New York, despite his recent #DOGE work in DC. Doc: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: Trump-appointed judge extends halt on administration attempt to transfer 100s of Guatemalan kids to their home country. Judge Timothy Kelly says claim families asked for their return 'crumbled like a house of cards.' w/@kyledcheney www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

JUST IN: #SCOTUS to hear arguments Nov. 5 on Trump Liberation Day tariffs. Doc: www.supremecourt.gov/oral_argumen... Earlier: www.politico.com/news/2025/09...

BREAKING: Judge issues preliminary injunction barring Trump administration from returning unaccompanied minors to Guatemala. Trump appointee Timothy Kelly says administration's 'explanation crumbled like a house of cards.' Doc: ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...

JUST IN: Boston fed judge (Casper/Obama) turns down Trump admin bid to dismiss suit CA & blue states brought over Trump executive order seeking to require documentary proof of citizenship for voting. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...

This is an archived government report that found that “Since 1990, far-right extremists have committed far more ideologically motivated homicides than far-left or radical Islamist extremists.” It existed yesterday and is gone today.