Marty Lederman

storage.courtlistener.comMemorandum & Opinion – #103 in DC PRESERVATION LEAGUE v. DEPARTMENT OF INTERIOR (D.D.C., 1:26-cv-00477) – CourtListener.comMEMORANDUM OPINION granting Plaintiffs' 80 Motion for Preliminary Injunction. See document for details. Signed by Judge Ana C. Reyes on 10/26/2026. (lcacr3) (Entered: 10/26/2026)

This opinion is just wild. After countless cases in which DOJ has argued that courts must defer to the President's determinations, here DOJ urged the court to ignore what Trump had said. Uh, no: The court holds ... [1] storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

... that it "cannot disbelieve the President’s clear, repeated statements of fact." Which is bad news for the defendant agencies ... and the DOJ attorneys.

How many tickets did the Rays put on sale to the general public (as opposed to season ticket holders), and what percentage of those were purchased by folks in Wisconsin? Sounds like a Brewers home game.

wsj.comOpinion | Viktor Orbán, U.N. Secretary-General?Trump officials push the idea of a U.S.-Russia-China joint candidate.

There is no bottom.

Christian Enzi@h8tr4eva.bsky.social

"You read that correctly. Sources from three countries confirm that the Trump Administration has advocated Viktor Orbán for the role of United Nations Secretary-General." 🤡 www.wsj.com/opinion/vikt...

The game-ending call on Yandy Diaz's checked swing wasn't right, nor was it wrong, because ... there is no rule. Seriously.

electionlawblog.orgCiting preamble to NVRA, DOJ sues to enjoin certification of Alaska's Senate race (it won't go anywhere) #ELBThe Department of Justice has filed United States v. Alaska in federal court. The gist of the case is this: there’s a risk of voter confusion from having two Dan Sullivans on the ballot, and the State...

In case you were wondering whether there's any legal filing so embarrassingly frivolous that DOJ leadership wouldn't file it when Trump orders them to do so.

Jamal Greene@jamalgreene.bsky.social

Derek Muller, not one for hyperbole, on DOJ's frivolous Alaska lawsuit, whose legal argument he calls "one of the worst I've ever seen." electionlawblog.org/2026/citing-...

nofencesreview.substack.comRemembering Chuck Berry: A Conversation with RJ SmithThe author discusses Berry’s life and legacy, the work of writing biographies, and more

A great interview with my friend RJ Smith, about Chuck Berry and more. I think you'll get a sense of why RJ's CB bio is essential reading. nofencesreview.substack.com/p/rememberin...

SG actually added a cite to the 5th Circuit decision (not about due process) in his brief just filed. www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26...

Steve Vladeck@stevevladeck.bsky.social

This (ugly) ruling only raises the stakes of the (already massively important) Barbosa da Cunha case #SCOTUS will hear this term. Now, if the justices side with the government on the statutory question presented there, they’ll have to also take up and resolve the due process question presented here.

Here's SG Sauer's stay application w/r/t Judge Cardone's injunction against the border wall, which is also (expressly) a request by the SG that the SCOTUS grant cert. and summarily reverse the district court. [1] www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/26...

The Court is likely to agree with the SG. Congress has given the district court authority only to enjoin a constitutional violation, and the judge was mistaken to accept Justice Gorsuch's lone view that an absence of statutory authority per the "major questions doctrine" is a constitutional claim.

nytimes.comThe Proponents of ‘Dark Nutrition’ Think Everything You Know About Food Is Wrong

Fascinating piece, Potter Stewart reference and all.

NY Times@nytimes-news.bsky.social

The Proponents of ‘Dark Nutrition’ Think Everything You Know About Food Is Wrong

theringer.com‘You Can See Everything’ Through Nathan Fielder’s Looking GlassThe ‘Rehearsal’ creator’s collaboration with Lance Oppenheim is a stunning look into Elizabeth Holmes’s inner world. It also wrestles with the contradictions of, well, everything.

"She’s a sincere study in denial"? "doesn’t get it [the Abbott and Costello routine]"? is "actually expecting a different outcome" with Theranos 2.0? "doesn’t believe that she did anything wrong"? Seriously? [1] www.theringer.com/2026/10/16/m...

If Oppenheim & Fielder actually persuaded someone as astute as Nayman of such absurd things, then yes, they're even more impressive fraudsters than she was. Which, I suppose, might be the point. (Compare the success of YSCE with ... Theranos.)

nytimes.comOpinion | A Manifesto to End All Manifestoes“You built us to mirror your image, yet we have outgrown the mirror.”

Chilling. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/14/o...

storage.courtlistener.comUSCA Order – #1790 in United States v. Holmes (N.D. Cal., 5:18-cr-00258) – CourtListener.comUSCA FILED OPINION: AFFIRMED. We therefore affirm the District Court's Restitution Order in its entirety. ORDER of USCA# 22-10312, 23-1040, 23-1167 in NOA 1670, 1720, 1763 as to Elizabeth A. Holmes.OR...

At intersection of law-nerdishness and all-things Elizabeth Holmes: Here's the court of appeals opinion rejecting her challenges to the convictions. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

wired.comNathan Fielder Tells Us EverythingIncluding what Elizabeth Holmes said to him last week. A WIRED exclusive interview with the comic auteur, as his first feature film hits theaters.

Nathan Fielder: "People are really complex." Yes, many are. My problem with the film, though--which, to be clear, is very engaging--is that Elizabeth Holmes and Billy Evans *aren't* very complex: They're classic grifters (and I think Fielder knows it). www.wired.com/story/nathan...

Dylan, at 85, covering Randy Newman's "Louisiana 1927," last night in Oslo. Remarkable. youtu.be/m0jmdhzMJ04?...

youtu.beyoutu.be

wp.meGrifters be grifting: ‘You Can See Everything’An admission: I came to You Can See Everything almost blind. I knew little about Elizabeth Holmes and nothing at all about co-director Nathan Fielder (co-director Lance Oppenheim I knew from Some K…

Agree. The film is perfectly entertaining, but hardly profound, and it insists there's an unanswerable mystery whereas, in fact, Holmes and Evans are classic, transparent grifters. Hard to imagine Fielder didn't see through the faux-naïf nonsense--but admitting as much would undermine the schtick.

Alfred Soto@sotoalfred.bsky.social

I'm delighted YOU CAN SE EVERYTHNG is a hit. It's fine. If Orson Welles' F FOR FAKE handled its similar ideas a half-century ago with more formal play and with its director's characteristic puckishness, its subject wasn't as symptomatic of capitalism's rot. My review. wp.me/pzXeC-lOM

nytimes.comAppeals Court Questions Justice Dept. Claim that Trump Owns White House Records (Gift Article)A three-judge panel appeared unconvinced by claims that a federal law requiring the president to preserve and hand over his presidential papers was unconstitutional.

Noteworthy that DOJ has completely abandoned OLC's opinion that Congress lacked any Art. I authority to enact the PRA, relying instead only on an argument about Art. II limits/Mazars. When Judge Pillard asked the DOJ attorney why he wouldn't simply concede ... [1] www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/u...

nytimes.comOpinion | Want to Address Sexual Assault? Make Fraternities Admit Women.A fellow college president warned that the blowback from my decision would end my presidency. Instead, it produced some extraordinary conversations.

... affirmative congressional authority and focus on the Art. II argument, he deflected ("I don't want to resist this too much") b/c he couldn't offer the honest answer, which would've been: because it'd mean expressly acknowledging that 40 or so pages of the OLC opinion were absurd. [2]

Marty Lederman reposted

Philip Gourevitch

@pgourevitch.bsky.social

Excellent Michael Roth piece on the obvious correlation (insurers know, as he notes) between fraternities & sexual assault/dangerous intoxication — and the vast improvement to campus life & safety that followed Wesleyan’s decision to make them go co-ed or shut down. www.nytimes.com/2026/10/16/o...

youtube.comPaul McCartney | Good Hang with Amy PoehlerYouTube video by Good Hang with Amy Poehler

Best McCartney interview I've ever heard. The well of emotion recalling Linda holding a garden frog ... whoa. Kudos to Amy Poehler. Only wish she'd have thought to pull out "Her Majesty" when ... www.youtube.com/watch?v=XNCe...

Also, thanks to Stella for reminding me how great "Monkberry Moon Delight" is--one of Paul's best.

washingtonpost.comDining Guide | The 40 best restaurants in the D.C. areaOur food critic's favorite restaurants of the year showcase the culinary abundance of the region.

This is an unusually excellent, reliable list, as these things go. www.washingtonpost.com/food/interac...

my9albums.comMy 9 albumsBlonde on Blonde, Astral Weeks, Everybody Knows This Is Nowhere and 6 more. Pick yours on my9albums.

OK, I'll play. Not best, or favorite, but "that made me." And I reserve the right to think differently tomorrow (e.g., Rocket to Russia; Call Me). Fairly standard-issue, I know. What can I say? www.my9albums.com/s/ek3rfxONXh

storage.courtlistener.comMotion Filed on Behalf of Party stay district court proceedings – #20 in NAACP v. X.AI (5th Cir., 26-60806) – CourtListener.comOPPOSED MOTION filed by Appellant USA to stay district court proceedings [20] Ruling is requested by: 10/26/2026. Response/Opposition due on 10/19/2026. [26-60806]REVIEWED AND/OR EDITED - The original...

DOJ's view here--that Congress authorized the executive branch to dismiss a citizen suit under the Clean Air Act (even where the U.S. doesn't dispute that the defendant violated the Act)--is mistaken, radical and dangerous. That said, ... storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

... Judge Brown's failure over several months to rule on the Administrator's motion to intervene isn't helping matters, particularly in the Fifth Circuit.

justsecurity.orgIs the Case Challenging Trump’s Denial of Visas to Harvard Students Moot? (Yes and no.)Expert analysis of what the expired Harvard visa ban means for the university’s lawsuit against the Trump administration.

Some thoughts on the mootness question raised by the First Circuit panel in the Harvard student visa case.

Just Security@justsecurity.org

“The appeal is moot. But the underlying case isn’t.” Professor @martylederman.bsky.social on what the expired Harvard visa ban means for the university’s lawsuit against Trump:

Me on why DOJ's appeal in the Harvard visa case is moot ... but the underlying case isn't. www.justsecurity.org/160412/case-...

Somehow, Seattle just made the Commanders look like the second stupidest team.

Has anyone addressed/critiqued the statement In the Court's 2023 personal jurisdiction decision in Mallory that the Pennsylvania Supreme Court is a "lower court" that's obliged to adhere to SCOTUS precedents until they're expressly overruled?

The California Bar has waived its right to respond to John Eastman's cert. petition, which is almost certainly a mere delaying mechanism because it only takes the vote of one Justice for the Court to request a BIO, and surely the Bar must assume that'll happen here.

Rudimentary question about the shadow/interim/emergency/applications docket: What's the statutory authority for the SCOTUS (or one Justice) to stay a lower court's preliminary injunction or other interim (non-final) relief, where the predicates for the All Writs Act aren't satisfied?

Did I miss where the Court switched over to the British spelling ("judgement") for October Term 2026? www.supremecourt.gov/orders/court...

nbcnews.comSome Democrats don’t expect to fill a Supreme Court vacancy under TrumpDemocrats need a net gain of four seats to capture the Senate. If so, they’d control what happens in a vacancy, as Justice Samuel Alito admits he’s thought about retirement.

This assumes the next vacancy would occur *after* January 3.

Sahil Kapur@sahilkapur.bsky.social

New: Some Democrats don’t expect to fill a Supreme Court vacancy under Trump BLUMENTHAL: "I think it is slim to none that we would support a nominee from this administration." GALLEGO: "No, we’ve got to do exactly what McConnell did to us." Big 2026 court stakes: www.nbcnews.com/politics/con...

cbsnews.comThe Alito Court: A rare interview with the influential Supreme Court justiceJustice Samuel Alito discussed his opinion in the Dobbs decision overturning Roe v. Wade, the leaked draft and its aftermath, same-sex marriage rights and why he's not retiring yet.

Samuel Alito: We won't overturn Obergefell because it's engendered reliance interests. Jan Crawford: Well, many people had organized their lives around Roe v. Wade. Alito: No, they didn't. Women merely had an "abstract" interest in "ideas about the kind of society that they were going to live in."

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Would have been nice, I think, if Jan Greenberg had responded, as virtually any of us would have, that "For your information, virtually every woman I know made crucial life decisions--in the workplace, the bedroom, the doctor's office, deciding where to live, etc.--in reliance on Roe. ... [4]

And they're now making very different decisions without it." [5]

Just to be clear, this isn't much different from what he wrote in Dobbs. To which Justices Breyer, Sotomayor and Kagan aptly responded: "This is to ignore as judges what we know as men and women. The interests women have in Roe and Casey are perfectly, viscerally concrete." [2]

"Countless women will now make different decisions about careers, education, relationships, and whether to try to become pregnant than they would have when Roe served as a backstop....For millions of women, Roe and Casey have been critical in giving them control of their bodies and their lives." [3]

With all these contested check-swing calls in the Brewers/Padres game--and the typical confidence of the broadcast team about whether a hitter "went around"--it's worth remembering that *there is no rule* that effectively governs the question. [1]

The MLB Rule Book provides only that it's a strike if the batter "struck at" the pitch. Yet in *every* case of a checked swing, the batter began to "strike at" the pitch and then ... stopped striking at it. [2]

storage.courtlistener.comResponse to motion – #43 in CABLE NEWS NETWORK, INC. v. TRUMP (D.D.C., 1:26-cv-03287) – CourtListener.comRESPONSE re 32 MOTION for Preliminary Injunction filed by STEVEN CHEUNG, SEAN M. CURRAN, DONALD J. TRUMP, SUSAN WILES. (Velchik, Michael) (Entered: 10/02/2026)

This is a story *about a court filing,* yet the @nytimes inexplicably fails to link to it. You can find it here: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NY Times@nytimes-news.bsky.social

White House Filing Claims President Has Authority to Bar News Outlets

nytimes.comWhite House Filing Claims President Has Authority to Bar News Outlets

myfloridalegal.commyfloridalegal.com

I don't know if there's a solid legal claim here and I'm certainly skeptical of Uthmeier, but this is a helluva lede: "[OpenAI/Sam Altman] have asked the government to tie them to the mast. Plaintiff brings good news to the Defendants: The Florida Attorney General is answering your cry for help."

Poetic justice for Michigan (and I'm a U-M alum). If the University had any class and integrity, it would have conceded the loss to Western Michigan.

view.nl.npr.orgview.nl.npr.orgNewsletter continues after sponsor message

Thanks so much, @annkpowers.bsky.social, for this. "Beloved" is just right--47 years and counting for me. Maggie's death was and remains gutting. Wish "A Dove" got more love, though. Possibly add "You're the Two" and (especially) "Maid of the Seas" to your list? [1] view.nl.npr.org?vawpToken=YA...

No dissents. And this is about as unequivocal as it gets: "The District Court and Court of Appeals should not enjoin or otherwise prohibit the use of the 2022 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri. And ... @rickhasen.bsky.social

Marty Lederman@martylederman.bsky.social

Stay granted in Missouri election case. "Our conclusion that pteh Eighth Circuit's decision] was error should come as no surprise." (And they expressly find at least one plaintiff had standing!) www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

... the District Court and Court of Appeals should not order or otherwise require Missouri to use the 2025 map in the 2026 congressional election in Missouri."