Dear listeners,
Afroman has won his legal battle with the sheriff’s deputies who raided his house in 2022 and then became unwitting stars of his music videos mocking them. Several of the deputies, including “Officer Poundcake,” sued for misappropriation of their likenesses, defamation, and other torts. But a jury sided with Afroman, agreeing that his songs about the officers were social commentary and that his statements about them, however juvenile, were insults rather than literal factual claims of having, for example, slept with one of their wives.
This week, for all listeners, we recap the Afroman trial and also look at a rough hearing for AUSAs in New Jersey, as the Trump administration decides it will hire candidates straight out of law school to work in US Attorneys’ offices.
For paying subscribers, there’s much more:
Judge James Boasberg’s order quashing subpoenas to the Federal Reserve, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s choice to appeal that order, and Boasberg’s other order requiring the disclosure of grand jury no-bills.
Capitol pipe bomber defendant Brian Cole, who has made his anticipated claim that the president’s pardon of January 6 rioters also applies to him (even though this seems to go against the plain language of the pardon, which applies only to those “convicted” of offenses related to January 6.)
Sam Bankman-Fried’s mom, who got slapped down for trying to have ex-parte communications with the judge overseeing his case; Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded Prof. Barbara Fried that she might be a lawyer, but she’s not her son’s lawyer, at least not in this case.
Defendants convicted of terrorism-related offenses in Texas over an anti-ICE action where they set off fireworks and one defendant shot a law enforcement officer in the neck; as Ken notes, despite the rhetoric on both sides, this trial was never really about whether ‘Antifa’ constitutes a terror organization.
More hot hot administrative procedure action, with Judge Brian Murphy issuing a preliminary injunction against the new, laxer child vaccination guidelines from Robert F. Kennedy Jr’.s Department of Health and Human Services.
And dog-fashion magazine Dogue, which is being sued by Condé Nast for infringing the Vogue trademark.
If you want to get all that, go ahead and hit the button below:
We hope you enjoy the episode,
Josh
