Dear listeners,
Just prior to the election, the Trump administration filed a flurry of lawsuits trying to assert control over elections in various states, including California and Alaska. But after the blowout election, the courts have been fairly quiet. Ken and I discuss why the administration wasn’t prepared to undermine the Democratic blowout, and what we should watch for ahead of elections in 2028. We look at James O’Keefe, who got himself into legal trouble because he showed how someone might obtain a ballot in Minnesota through fraudulent representation by making a fraudulent representation of his own. And we discuss how the elections appear to have sparked some (more) turnover at DOJ.
That’s for all listeners this week. Paying subscribers hear our discussion of efforts by Judges Ana Reyes and April Perry to hold the Department of Justice accountable for government misconduct in their courts. Reyes has named former US Attorney Jessie Liu as a special master to look into DOJ’s conduct, while Associate AG Stanley Woodward has threatened that his employees might take the fifth in Perry’s investigation, which he says is outside her authority.
In less weighty news, we look at another case before Judge Perry, this one about the McRib. A group of plaintiffs claim they were defrauded because the McRib doesn’t actually contain rib meat but instead consists of pork shoulder. (Didn’t we go through this when Buffalo Wild Wings got a similar lawsuit over “boneless wings” fraud dismissed? Alas, this case is a little different.) And we look at action in some stupid defamation cases: Trump’s case against the Wall Street Journal is dismissed (with the WSJ editorial board taking a deserved swipe at Paramount and Disney for not litigating like News Corp did) while Kash Patel faces some discovery problems in his lawsuit against The Atlantic.
You can get all of that here:
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
