Welcome to Court Watch #183. Before we dive into the dockets for the week, we’re expanding a bit for Court Watch. First, we launched a consulting arm for those who need individualized research support or PACER training (oh hey newsrooms!) about how to use the U.S. court records system. Inquiries about hiring our expertise can be made here.
Second, our friends/benevolent hosting overlords at beehiiv rolled out a new feature for our site called Community. Think of it as a slack-like channel for the Court Watch. As stories develop in-between the Friday roundups, we use that to post breaking court record news in that free channel. We already broke a few stories that went national through it in the last 24 hours, though we were mostly posting to an empty room. Let’s change that. If you’re an assignment editor or reporter, you probably want to join. If you’re in the private sector, think of it like our free version of this. In that Community, we also set up a channel for paid subscribers to ask us any questions you may have about finding a docket or document. And you can direct message us to alert us to the typo in our ninth bullet below. You can access the slack(ish) channel here.
If it’s easier to keep up with, here are some step-by-step directions on how to make the channel an app on your phone for ease of use. We’ll be rolling out more channels and features in the coming days but drop us a line if there’s something you’d love for us to add.
The Docket Roundup
A woman was indicted in Louisiana for giving a public official a bottle of Patron Silver Tequila, a $100 visa gift card, and the promise of a couple thousand dollars to help get a person out of immigration detention.
On Wednesday, some clerk or judge in the Eastern District of Virginia federal court system unlocked 58 dockets that should have been automatically unsealed in 2025. We see you and appreciate you.
Speaking of which, a search warrant in the Southern District of Texas was unsealed quickly after it was filed, something that has not happened in that district for years. We appreciate the U.S. Attorney's office transparency when it comes to search warrant filings. We look forward to citing their actions in future unsealing motions in that district and assume they’ll happily join us in our pleadings.
Apple sued OpenAI, alleging two former employees stole trade secret information on their way out.
A congressional candidate in Florida who posted a bizarre online video this week in his Marine uniform about how the President was the antichrist was charged with threatening the President. Side note, we think this may be the first time anyone’s ever caught a federal charge because a journalist asked the Secret Service for comment.
A federal judge ordered the the U.S. government to stop using aggressive force against journalists.
Judge Faruqui, with a particularly clear-eyed opening about how antiquated adoption laws are in more than a dozen states, orders the unsealing of birth records for a 72 year old man who wants to know who his birth parents were.
It’s a bit unusual for a terror suspect to win part of a motion for a bill of particulars, but a man accused of being part of the October 7th attack did this week.
One man in Georgia combined his reported love of antisemitism and anti-gay setiments into his hatred of Flock video cameras.
We like to think that the FBI agent had a fun time repeatedly explaining slang to a federal judge.
A former chief operating officer of the Office of the Director of National Intelligence agreed to pay $20,000 for violating her post-employment agreement by contacting an employee at the office about a government contract bid.
Anyone up for a story about international cocaine trafficking involving the Hell’s Angels?
A former Afghan general and lawmaker was extradited to the U.S. to face drug trafficking charges.
The eight men accused of plotting to attack the UFC event at the White House were indicted by an Ohio grand jury.
This case about a fraudulent deed comes out swinging: “Does a grandfather know the names of his grandchildren? Is perjury acceptable?”
The Ninth Circuit upheld a district court judge’s order issuing a preliminary injunction on a Department of Treasury anti-money laundering rule that required banks located near the border to spend copious amounts of time on paperwork.
Judge Kathleen Williams had some words for the administration about its settlement between President Trump and the IRS.
We’re not money laundering experts, but moving more than hundreds of million dollars through an IT company clearly raised some eyebrows for law enforcement
The government’s case in the Abbey Gate bombing prosecution may be in trouble (again).
Arizona federal court system was down this morning so we can’t link directly to the court document, but we’d be remiss if we didn't note a local gun store there is accused of thousands of straw purchases.
Virginia Giuffre’s father sued Penguin RandomHouse over allegations made about him in her book, which recounted her abuse by Jeffrey Epstein.
The photographer who captured Tupac Shakur’s shooting says Complex Magazine plagiarized his picture of it.
An anti-Islamism conservative think tank appears to have had a pandemic fraud whistleblower case against it dismissed by this administration.
Let’s see if writing “I DO NOT CONSENT TO BE GOVERNED BY THE UNITED STATES” turns out well.
The Department of Homeland Security was sued over a $1.8 million fine it reportedly imposed on an undocumented parent for seeking refuge in the U.S. with their minor child.
Speaking of which, a whistleblower says he was unduly pushed out of DHS by Corey Lewandowski.
The Justice Department announced the extradition of the leader of a transnational human smuggling ring.
A dual U.S. and Iranian citizen was convicted after a nearly three-week jury trial of violating sanctions to export electronics to Iran.
Watch out for those toilets at the Waffle House, a new lawsuit says.
Mahmoud Khalil sued the Heritage Foundation, invoking the KKK Act of 1871.
A pro se plaintiff who identifies himself as “Trump Genius” blessed us with 1,200 pages of exhibits.
The D.C. Circuit said a federal judge didn’t have the power to block the U.S. Postal Service from making logistical changes that could have slowed down mail-in voting in the run-up to the 2020 election.
We’re simple folk. If you put a guy on a tractor in 2026 and make a song that sounds like it’s from the 1980s, we’re gonna automatically make it the song of the week.
A nonprofit media organization says the FCC is moving too slowly on applications to contest local Fox News stations’ broadcasting licenses.
There’s an old-fashioned gold smuggling case brewing in Illinois.
The FBI says a former San Jose State University student drew racist and bigoted graffiti in bathrooms around campus as a hoax, trying to pin it on conservatives. A footnote notes that the alleged individual’s TikTok bio says he's “100% woke.”
A foreign national pleaded guilty to returning to the U.S. after already being arrested and deported this year.
Citing <checks notes> Trump v. CASA, K-Pop performers are seeking a multi-district injunction against selling bootleg shirts outside of concerts.
Prosecutors aren’t seeking prison time in the case of a man who voted in the 2020 election in both Pennsylvania and Florida. Meanwhile, a judge denied the defense’s motion for a new trial.
The feds want to look for drugs in a van that was involved in a fatal shooting by ICE agents.
A D.C. judge declined to grant emergency relief to the World Professional Association for Transgender Health after it petitioned the court to block the FTC and several states’ enforcement action over allegations that the association engaged in unfair or deceptive advertising.
There’s a money laundering case out of Massachusetts.
OFAC, India, and a demand for $275 million are all in this pro se case in New York.
A 64-year-old former advisor to the Federal Reserve Board of Governors was sentenced to 38 months in prison for sharing “restricted information” with Chinese intelligence operatives.
The alleged January 6th pipe bomber’s lawyers are continuing to press claims that a former Capitol Police officer is the actual culprit.
Shark Tank’s Kevin O’Leary was sued over data center defamation.
An interesting challenge to Tennessee’s death row process, which was filed in D.C., fell short.
(whispers) A particularly clever media lawyer may wait till they file the sealed documents in the Trump/Capital One debanking lawsuit and then file a motion for consideration to unseal because it's of public interest.
There was an attempted arson at a Philadelphia mosque.
If you made it this far, come nerd out with us over at Lawfare about the implications of a major terrorism appellate ruling.
Thanks for reading.