#199: Antifa Can Keep Its Guns

A December 22nd hearing has been set to decide if the Western District of Virginia's U.S. Attorney/Maybe Not U.S. Attorney can stay U.S. Attorney/Maybe Not U.S. Attorney. 

It appears New York federal prosecutors and law enforcement tried to be sneaky (editor’s note: creative?) in a terrorism case and got caught by a defense attorney who has never been one to freely give the U.S. government even an inch. As a general rule, we’ll read any hearing transcript of Ms. Shroff in a courtroom but you should stay for the classic line from counsel, “I don’t need the court to sign off on criticizing the government. I am perfectly able to criticize the government…” 

A man who allegedly threatened FBI agents investigating January 6th sued the Department of Justice and the U.S. Pardon Attorney for not applying the J6 pardons to him.

The Administration's decision to ease restrictions on short barrel rifles and not prosecute those types of cases resulted in federal prosecutors moving to dismiss the gun charges against two defendants they previously argued were possibly planning to kill law enforcement and were antifa supporters. From an outsider perspective, it’s fun mental gymnastics to try to square the allegations in the government’s search warrant and the press release when they were arrested with the dismissal motion. 

Prosecutors didn’t hold back in a sentencing memo of a former FBI supervisor who pleaded guilty to possessing and seeking out child abuse images in Virginia (“Shortly before his arrest, the defendant photographed young girls walking to school while he sat inside his FBI-issued vehicle.”) The government asked for a 262-month sentence, at the top of the sentencing guidelines.

The U.S. government sued Lyft for discriminating against riders with disabilities. About half way down the complaint, Judge David Tatel becomes an example of said discrimination, which gives us an opening to highlight this story about training his guide dog. 

An Iranian family of lawful permanent residents has sued the Trump Administration in an effort to find out what it may have told the Iranian government about them. 

For our fellow terrorism nerds, the Ninth Circuit handed down an order reversing the material support conviction of a man who was allegedly inspired by ISIS and whose peers committed a 2015 ISIS-inspired attack on a controversial art contest in Texas.

There’s a new gun rights case to watch in the Fourth Circuit challenging a Maryland law restricting firearms at places of worship and assemblies of more than 100 people.

A district judge in Louisiana reversed a federal magistrate’s decision that allowed the release of a man who allegedly sent funds to Hamas. The order lays out new details from the case.

Prosecutors expect a crowd for the sentencing hearing of a man who pleaded guilty to plotting to kill a Sikh dissident on behalf of the Indian government.

The Fourth Circuit held that the government couldn’t demand extensive LinkedIn records from accounts held by journalists as part of a leak investigation.

Charging 10 cents in PACER fees for this?

The Archbishop of St. Louis has to attend a mediation hearing over whether ICE unduly prevents priests from ministering at an immigration detention center.

A purported member of the True Crime Community was charged with threatening President Trump via an Instagram account named “fascistlarper02.”

Prosecutors accused a Georgia man of leaving a threatening antisemitic voicemail for Flock.

For our secret dormant court fans, come hear about the tale of the U.S. Court for Berlin and the only trial with U.S. rules and procedures to ever happen on the European continent (which later got its own movie, starring Martin Sheen and Sean Penn).

There was a lot of talk about shareholder suits this week, so how about one from Pinterest.

The FBI arrested a man for allegedly groping the woman he sat next to on a flight from San Juan to D.C. 

Our favorite read of the week was a man in Maryland who reportedly tried to double down after customs stopped a shipment from Malaysia by offering a CBP officer a $5,000 bribe on the back of a business card.

This motion from a drug case gives a first of its kind detailed rundown of the investigation into Sky CC, an encrypted messaging app that European law enforcement cracked.

A pro se plaintiff is trying to teach JPMorgan’s BigLaw lawyers the concept of time management. 

Speaking of pro se plaintiffs, an Oregon man who identifies himself as “Trump Genius” lost to Anthony Fauci and the federal government.

An anonymous woman sued four Twitter accounts that the woman says falsely identified her as one of Jeffrey Epstein’s romantic partners.

Judge Reyes is back with another golf course order. There were no Lorax references this time.

With the release of his new album this morning, your song of the week includes a healthy use of horns. If that’s not your vibe, listen to a cover of a song that somehow eclipses the original, which was already a banger. 

Instead of exiled royalty, scammers are now apparently impersonating the illegitimate children of Brazilian politicians.

A 34-year-old California man pleaded guilty to attempting to provide money to ISIS. Also, a 21-year-old was sentenced in Idaho to 18 years for planning a mass shooting at a church in the name of ISIS.

A Fifth Circuit judge had some fun in a tequila trademark case.

An employee sued Apple for gender discrimination and allegedly allowing a hostile workplace environment.

In this week’s worst of humanity, there’s a class action lawsuit against a children’s hospital over a pediatric urologist who allegedly possessed child abuse materials.

A Minneapolis woman who was reportedly detained on her way to a doctor’s appointment for a TBI during Operation Metro Surge sued ICE.

Be careful what video game ads you click on X and Discord; they might have malware embedded in them.

Judge McMahon writes a Hezbollah commander “is entitled to nothing more, but also nothing less” in the Metropolitan Detention Center. His defense attorney’s efforts to relieve some of his restrictions at the jail might be a little awkward now that prosecutors say he helped orchestrate a plot to attack U.S. bombers based in the U.K. from the jail.

A magistrate judge sided with prosecutors on a whole bunch of defense motions in the Oct. 7th terrorist case in Louisiana we wrote about previously. 

The feds say a man in South Texas helped orchestrate a $2.6 million money laundering operation.

President Trump’s defamation case against the BBC can proceed, though a judge dismissed several counts.

Local law enforcement in Alabama reportedly pulled over a man driving around with an AK-47 after he threatened a hospital, fire station, police department, and school, which went into lockdown, on Facebook.