SCOTUS guts what remained of the Voting Rights Act before taking on TPS termination case • It was Alito's decision, but Roberts has sought Wednesday's VRA result for more than 40 years. In the arguments over temporary protected status, however, DOJ might have overstepped.

James Comey posted a picture of seashells by the seashore. Trump's DOJ indicted him for it. • Another Comey indictment in this altogether embarrassing day for DOJ. Also: The Second Circuit creates a circuit split, blocking the Trump admin mandatory detention policy.

SCOTUS majority lets shadow docket order justify tossing out Texas redistricting case ruling • The GOP appointees reversed a 160-page ruling that found Texas's mid-decade redistricting map likely unconstitutional. Also: SCOTUS arguments over geofence warrants.

DOJ jumps into action — to defend Trump's ballroom plan and attack those challenging it • Following the White House Correspondents' Dinner shooting, DOJ's Brett Shumate calls National Trust's ballroom lawsuit "dangerous." And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

DOJ plans to "strengthen" the federal death penalty — but only three people are on death row • DOJ seeks to expand federal methods of execution to include the firing squad. Also: Fifth Circuit rejects challenge to Texas's criminal immigration enforcement law. And: Trump's IRS suit hits a snag.

Another step toward marijuana legalization • Today's rescheduling moves from DOJ follow key action from the Biden administration that made Acting A.G. Blanche's moves possible. And: The latest with Virginia redistricting.

The SPLC indictment, the Klan history behind it, and the ignominy of Todd Blanche • Another dark day for DOJ.

Three rulings in the past week show the scope and breadth of efforts to fight anti-trans attacks • A Montana Supreme Court decision protecting birth certificates, a ruling on Trump's anti-trans prison policies, and final judgment vacating RFK Jr.'s anti-trans "declaration."

The 2016 Supreme Court memos and the mess that John Roberts has made of his court • The New York Times scoop about the Clean Power Plan case SCOTUS memos highlights the conservative justices' brazen disregard for their own rules — both then and now.

Why Justice Sotomayor's apology to Justice Kavanaugh makes sense • There are just nine votes on the court, and each time they cast those votes they’re setting the rules that all of us need to live under for now. Sotomayor knows that.

D.C. Circuit Trump appointees again block contempt inquiry into Alien Enemies Act flights • Rao and Walker hold that Boasberg must "terminate" the contempt inquiry. In an 80-page dissent, Childs makes the case — without saying so directly — for en banc review.

They're so much weaker than they want us to think they are • Orbán's out. J.D. Vance's weekend of shame. And a rant from the man at the White House. Also: The ballroom and the D.C. Circuit. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

The dangers of the Trump admin targeting journalists' sources, with Heidi Kitrosser • The Espionage Act, Kitrosser warns, could become "just another tool that gives the president huge discretion to go after people that he just doesn’t like ...."

Pentagon "in violation of" court order in case over press restrictions, federal judge rules • After some press pass restrictions were blocked, the Pentagon adopted an "interim policy" with similar restrictions. Also: The latest on the Trump admin's mandatory detention policy.

We have the Twenty-Fifth Amendment. Now is the time to use it. • It's past time for Trump to be removed from office. This is a global crisis. It's time for J.D. Vance and the Cabinet to invoke the Twenty-Fifth Amendment.

Pam Bondi is out — and that is a good thing. She was Trump's lawyer, and DOJ paid the price. • Also: Florida will not kill James Duckett this week. And: What's next for conversion therapy bans after Tuesday's SCOTUS decision? Lastly: Law Dork in the media.

Supreme Court likely to reject Trump's effort to end birthright citizenship • As Trump sat on watching, Solicitor General John Sauer faced skeptical questions from almost all of the justices — including all three justices Trump appointed to the high court.

Supreme Court holds that Colorado's conversion therapy ban "censors" talk therapists • Justice Gorsuch wrote for the 8-1 court that the law is presumptively unconstitutional as to talk therapy. Justice Jackson dissented, writing that the “fallout could be catastrophic.“

The birthright citizenship arguments will show what Trump has done to the United States • Trump's executive order to end birthright citizenship is at the Supreme Court on Wednesday. The case will test his anti-immigrant authoritarian project — and the court.

Immigration in the Trump era, with Aaron Reichlin-Melnick • On the birthright citizenship case being heard at the Supreme Court on April 1: "I continue to believe that this is an easy case. The 14th Amendment says what it says."

Eighth Circuit, on a 2-1 vote, sides with Trump admin's mandatory immigration detention policy • The dissent, from a Trump appointee, highlighted the extreme nature of the Trump admin's policy, which has been rejected by district court judges across the country.

Trans West Virginians ask full appeals court to revisit alarming ruling in Medicaid coverage case • "Left to stand, the panel’s reasoning could amount to judicially-endorsed regulation of transgender people’s liberty to be themselves," lawyers for the plaintiffs wrote.

Immigrants ask Fifth Circuit to revisit ruling on “historically unprecedented” mandatory detention policy • A 2-1 panel of the Fifth Circuit sided with the Trump admin — splitting with the vast majority of judges to consider the matter. Now, an attempt to reverse that.

SCOTUS right imagines ways to fight a Mississippi law that allows more people to vote • The right's hypotheticals were a MAGA-infused morning. The decision on whether states can count ballots received after Election Day will likely come down to Roberts and Barrett.

DOJ Civil Rights Division hire resigned from Alabama firm over Facebook post following George Floyd's murder • Daniel Flickinger was one of the DOJ lawyers who sued Harvard on Friday. As recently as last June, he was still fighting in court over the fallout from the 2020 Facebook post.

Federal judge slows Voice of America return-to-work order; 70 people due back each week • Judge Royce Lamberth issued the order on Friday night, eliminating the Monday morning deadline he had set for the Trump admin to bring all affected employees back to work.

Appeals court set to review a key, harsh Trump administration deportation policy this spring • The First Circuit stayed a lower court ruling over third country removals, but also set quick merits review. Also: A mid-week legal round up. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

SCOTUS takes up cases over efforts to end protections for immigrants from Syria, Haiti • DHS Sec. Noem's efforts to end temporary protected status designations for those from Syria and Haiti will remain blocked for now — an important win for those challenging Noem.

DOJ is barely even a functional law firm at this point. Each day there is more proof. • Jeanine Pirro's effort to subpoena the Fed hit a wall. At the same time, DOJ was also forced to "clarify" arguments made in court about the Pentagon's new press policy.

A sharp warning in an ordinary news release: "President Trump’s Justice Department" • Attorney General Pam Bondi has made clear since day one her view that DOJ's lawyers are "his lawyers." On Thursday, DOJ went further, claiming it's "Trump's Justice Department."

Former military lawyers say use of JAG lawyers in Minnesota violates the Posse Comitatus Act • Although recent litigation has focused on troop deployments to American cities, a new challenge in Minnesota looks at DOJ's use of JAG lawyers in non-military cases.

Trump admin effort to claim Kari Lake had power over Voice of America was illegal, judge rules • "The Court declines Lake’s invitation to do such violence to the statutory and constitutional scheme," Judge Lamberth ruled on Saturday. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

Alabama is set to kill Sonny Burton on Thursday. Governor Kay Ivey must stop it. • Sonny Burton did not kill anyone, but Alabama put him on death row and his execution is scheduled to be carried out this week — unless Ivey grants clemency or courts intervene.

Here's the Law Dork filing you can't access on PACER. All of this refugee case's filings should be online. • A magistrate judge denied Law Dork's request for online access to the docket in a significant refugee rights case in Minnesota. Law Dork's lawyers filed their objection on Tuesday.

SCOTUS conservatives block California gender-identity student protections, N.Y. map change • The two Monday night orders were issued over the objections of the three liberal justices.

DOJ to drop its appeals of losses in the law firm order cases, per WSJ. What does it mean? • And: The Supreme Court heard arguments Monday over a federal law banning firearm possession by users of illegal drugs.

Federal judge blocks new DHS policy that would allow arrest of thousands of legal refugees • "The new policy turns the refugees’ American Dream into a dystopian nightmare," Judge Tunheim wrote.

Federal prison officials face civil contempt hearing, as ICE is threatened with criminal contempt • Orders from two Republican judicial appointees Thursday show greater willingness to push back with increasingly harsh tools in the face of continued Trump admin lawlessness.

Breaking: Trans inmate's lawyers claim "egregious retaliation" in violation of court order • Trans woman involved in a lawsuit challenging anti-trans policies says federal prison official told her on Feb. 22: “I don’t give a fuck what that judge says, I do what I want.”

SCOTUS rejects private prison company GEO Group's attempt at avoiding accountability • A long-delayed lawsuit challenging GEO Group's treatment of people in immigration detention can proceed again. A unanimous decision that matters — especially now.

Maine immigration observers sue over Trump admin "domestic terrorist watchlist" threats • The First Amendment lawsuit will seek class-action relief. Also: The Supreme Court will be hearing an important climate case next term. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

Supreme Court, on a 6-3 vote, blocks Trump's IEEPA tariffs • Chief Justice John Roberts found that there actually are structural limits on the president's powers.

Trump admin issues new policy aimed at ending transgender-related care in federal prisons • "It's a really dangerous policy,” an ACLU lawyer representing trans people in federal prison suing the Trump administration tells Law Dork of the new Bureau of Prisons policy.

Exclusive: Senior DHS officials double down on arresting and detaining refugees in new memo • Hours after DOJ filed the new memo in court in Minnesota, a magistrate judge denied Law Dork's request for greater public access in the case — including remote electronic docket access.

SCOTUS changed the rules for bringing cases to the court because John Roberts won't sell his stocks • Roberts and Alito are the only two justices who own individual stocks. Also: A new lawsuit challenges the Trump admin's removal of the Pride flag at the Stonewall Monument.

A Presidents' Day lesson from Philadelphia • “Each person who visits the President’s House and does not learn of the realities of founding-era slavery receives a false account of this country’s history,“ Judge Cynthia Rufe wrote.

The Trump admin argument that masks "are for officer safety reasons" is actually an admission • Tom Homan highlights how secrecy aims to block accountability, the immoral lawlessness at the core of the Trump administration. And, for paid subscribers: Closing my tabs.

Exclusive: DHS based its newest refugee attack on a Trump proclamation that stated it would not apply to refugees • New documents filed in a key refugee case in Minnesota shed light on a broad, aggressive plan to review all refugees admitted since the start of the Biden administration.

The D.C. District Court strikes back • Three judges issued three rulings protecting constitutional rights in cases relating to Trump admin actions against federal inmates, Alien Enemies Act deportees, and Sen. Mark Kelly.

Opening up the Trump admin's attack on Minnesota refugees to greater public scrutiny • On Tuesday, Law Dork, with Public Justice, filed a motion to improve access to a key court case challenging ICE's new effort to detain thousands of law-abiding refugees.