Welcome to Court Watch #193. This week was filled with surprises. Be it the U.S. government staffer allegedly sidegigging for a terrorist organization, or a purported gun trafficker who thought pointing a weapon at a police memorial while wearing a ‘Cop Killer’ jacket would go legally well for him, or even a federal judge finding the President’s chief criminal prosecutorial priority is actually unconstitutional.
But we have one more surprise, this week Court Watch’s Peter Beck was awarded the David Burnham Legacy Grant to examine “the Justice Department’s shutdown of civil rights investigations into local law enforcement and carceral facilities.” We couldn’t be prouder of all of Peter’s reporting accomplishments since starting with Court Watch a few years ago. We’ll have more to say about the plan for that story series in the coming months, but feel free to reply to this email if you have any tips or leads that we should run down.
The Docket Roundup
A Department of Energy employee is accused of helping the Houthis with bombs and drones. The entire criminal affidavit is an absolute ride.
The Chicago Cubs got swept this week on the field but take heart fans (and one pontiff), they won in the courts against a neighboring bar.
A federal judge dismissed charges against a Florida woman accused of voting illegally because she wasn’t a citizen and issued a sweeping opinion that the actual criminal statute is unconstitutional. Given the Administration's intense focus on these cases, expect an immediate appeal.
The White House’s public statements about shutting down a Justice Department program may have hurt the department’s courtroom argument that it didn’t shut down the program.
The alleged January 6th pipebomber was indicted again.
Keeping on the topic, a former FBI agent who was fired shortly after discussing the January 6th pipebomber case on a podcast is suing Patel.
The tea won’t stop flowing in the “Broadview Six” case, now featuring UChicago Law Professor William Baude.
On a related note, prosecutors are trying to admit geofence evidence into the October 7th case out of Louisiana despite the Supreme Court ruling it unconstitutional this summer. It is an interesting anomaly that so many of these cases are coming from Louisiana.
A judge will hear oral arguments next week over whether Matt Taibbi has to pay attorneys’ fees in a defamation case he lost to journalist Eoin Higgins. There’s a public access line for the media reporters who want in on the drama.
Things are getting interesting in a case over whether Florida Governor Ron DeSantis can designate the Council on American Islamic Relations as a terrorist organization. Also, CAIR's national office filed its own lawsuit late last night.
Another week, another pardoned January 6th defendant suing the government (More than a dozen so far). The law firm in the second case is building a record of filing J6 civil complaints.
The Justice Department announced that an “elite team” of FBI and HSI agents successfully helped transport 18 men from Haiti to face charges for President Jovenel Moise’s assassination in 2021. We wrote about the assassination in January and how it wound up as a federal court case.
Senator Marsha Blackburn sued former Special Counsel Jack Smith, arguing that Smith was unlawfully appointed and that he is liable for purported investigative missteps as a private citizen.
Your pro se of the week is against the conservative site The Gateway Pundit.
A threat case targeting a fashion show took a dark turn.
There’s keeping a low profile, and then there’s whatever this alleged illicit gun dealer is doing, like wearing a jacket that states “Mobile AL. Cop Killer.”
We imagine it must be a little awkward when a detained client’s FaceTime call with his mother goes viral on a pro-Hezbollah Telegram channel.
This threat case from North Alabama will be a colorful one to read aloud in court.
One Florida man allegedly went at his mailman with a baseball bat.
DOJ says the Trump Institute of Peace isn’t planning on being a thing soon but admits maybe, just maybe, your honor, they kicked the tires on the idea a few months ago.
A judge sentenced a man who tried to take a fishing boat manned by an undercover FBI employee from Connecticut to Syria in order to join ISIS in 2019 to 92 months in prison. DOJ wanted 150 months.
Prosecutors quietly dropped a charge in the case of an alleged ISIS supporter from the Bronx after one of our favorite defense attorneys threw a heater of a motion.
The FBI arrested a Georgia man for an antisemitic threat against Secretary Pete Hegseth.
Judge Liman would like pro bono lawyers to hit his line and take on a denaturalization case.
An Alaska National Guardsman said the local police department where he works retaliated against him for deploying on an emergency mission.
This order, out of a case involving the Trump administration’s attempts to place anti-DEI restrictions on grants under the Violence Against Women Act, caught our eye. “The Court’s review of the record and the parties’ arguments reveal that Defendants’ issuance of the Conditions violated the APA. Specifically, Defendants’ lackluster—and at times nonexistent— explanation of their decision to impose the Conditions on the grantees demonstrates that they have violated the APA’s prohibition on engaging in arbitrary and capricious agency action,” Judge Melissa Dubose wrote.
New First Amendment case law regarding threats just dropped in the Western District of Texas.
The song of the week for middle-aged dads is understandably this. It is admittedly good. But if you want something that hasn’t hit the zeitgeist, try this other song of the week; give it till the 40-second mark at least. And because your world needs more music, give Bob’s new song some love.
CBP charged a Moroccan man after the crew of a shipping vessel reportedly found him stowed away under a cargo crane.
A Philadelphia firefighter was indicted for allegedly abusing the city’s payroll system to approve more than $100,000 in fake overtime.
According to this judge’s footnote, the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California has apparently adopted a policy of simply not showing up to court in immigration habeas petitions it won’t oppose.
Harvard will not go down without a fight in a case brought against the university by the Trump administration’s Equal Employment Opportunity Commission.
A bit of a different vibe than originally reported. A man in the Northern District of Texas pleaded guilty to threatening a suicide attack in “a personal dispute,” but the Department of Justice’s initial press release cast his statements filmed on TikTok as threats against all Americans.
Happy FOIA week to all who celebrate. A judge ruled the Justice Department has to turn over an Office of Legal Counsel memo examining the constitutionality of military strikes on suspected drug boats.
Some DMV teenagers aren’t going to get their fake IDs.
If you’re missing mail in Arlington, “Slugga Franklin” might be the reason why.
The anti-human trafficking nonprofit Hope for Justice sued a former development manager, accusing him of taking its donor list to his next gig.
Edward Snowden and a filmmaker who made a documentary about him were sued under the <checks notes> Justice Against Sponsors of Terrorism Act.
The SEC says an AI tool advertised to investors as “fully regulated” by the SEC was in fact not.
Three prison pro se litigants want a judge to sign off on letting them learn the horrors of electronic filing.
A judge ended a consent decree with the Oakland Police Department after 23 years of monitoring, the longest-ever federal oversight of a local law enforcement agency.
“15 apples” a day does not keep the Department of Health and Human Services Inspector General’s Office away.
Thanks for reading.
