Ep 243 — Judgefight – Law and Chaos

DOCKET ALERTS:

As Trump tries to get out of paying E. Jean Carroll what he owes her, his supporters have filed a scandalously irresponsible bar complaint against her lawyer Roberta Kaplan.

US Attorney Andrew Boutros is in hot water with yet another court. The Chicago prosecutor appears to have violated a court order and publicly discussed a sealed case and has to come in and explain himself to the court.

DOOFUS OF THE DAY: Rep. Anna Paulina Luna demands that the GOP investigate the masked dorks from Patriot Front who marched around DC this weekend. She's pretty sure they're really antifa!

MAIN SHOW:

Trump and his allies have engaged in forum shopping for years. They're currently parking all kinds of administrative and criminal cases in Texas, no matter where the "violation" occurred, because they know they can get in front of a handful of friendly judges. Now they're ginning up conflicts between those "friendly" judges and other courts.

Case in point: the Federal Trade Commission is trying to manufacture a case against WPATH, the World Professional Association for Transgender Health, for "consumer fraud" — by which they mean an article summarizing best practices for gender-affirming care. After Chief Judge James Boasberg in DC quashed their subpoenas on the organization, the FTC tried to get Judge Reed O'Connor in Texas to issue identical ones. This provoked rounds of dueling non-suiting motions, until Judge O'Connor backed down and agreed not to start an internecine judicial war.

Meanwhile in Florida, the state sued the Biden administration in 2024 for failing to allow it to bulk-verify voters for citizenship. When Trump came back to the White House, he entered into a settlement — or "settlement" — with Florida and the other plaintiff states promising to check their voter rolls. But then Judge Sparkle Sooknanan in DC enjoined that verification process as a violation of the Privacy Act and the Social Security Act. So now Florida is asking Judge T. Kent Wetherell to force DHS to comply with the "settlement" and violate Judge Sooknanan's order.

SUBSCRIBER BONUS: Obviously Trump's Great American State Fair was a debacle. But was it illegal? (Yes.)

Carroll v. Trump

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/65895581/carroll-v-trump

US v. Torres

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73572960/united-states-v-torres/

Judge orders U.S. Attorney Boutros into court over 'potential violations' of seal order

https://chicago.suntimes.com/politics/2026/07/03/judge-orders-u-s-attorney-boutros-into-court-over-potential-violations-of-seal-order

WPATH v. FTC

https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72295218/world-professional-association-for-transgender-health-v-federal-trade/

FTC v. WPATH

https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.txnd.421590/

Florida v. DHS