Law and Chaos

Elon Musk discovers that filing a lawsuit against Sam Altman and sh*tposting about it on social media is a lot more fun than testifying

Alex Jones is back on his BS. He managed to delay a proposed deal to license InfoWars assets to the satirical news outlet The Onion. Again.

The judge presiding over Trump’s shakedown case against the IRS for the wrongful disclosure of his tax returns in 2020 has appointed a whole squad of lawyers to serve as amici. They’ll brief the issue of whether the court has jurisdiction to preside over a case where the president appears to be suing himself.

L&C’s Doofus of the Day is Pete Hegseth.

MAIN SHOW:

James Comey has been indicted again. This time his “crime” is posting a picture of seashells arranged to say “8647.” It is exceptionally stupid, but we will break it down in exceptional detail.

As a companion to our written post, we unpack Wednesday’s Supreme Court decision in Louisiana v. Callais effectively gutting Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act. Subscribers will get a deep dive into what the new districts might look like with Joe Dye.

Finally, we’ll cringe our way through the DOJ’s latest motion in the ballroom case — it’s the most inappropriate, unprofessional thing we’ve ever seen, including from pro se litigants.

Louisiana v. Callais [Supreme Court opinion]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25pdf/24-109_21o3.pdf

The Supreme Court Just Effectively Repealed The Voting Rights Act
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/the-supreme-court-just-effectively

US v. Comey
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73256624/united-states-v-comey

Trump DOJ Pursuing Separate Comey Probe for Classified Leaks
https://news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/trump-doj-pursuing-separate-comey-probe-for-classified-leaks

Trump v. IRS
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service

Live updates from Elon Musk and Sam Altman’s court battle over the future of OpenAI
https://www.theverge.com/tech/917225/sam-altman-elon-musk-openai-lawsuit

National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national/

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Never one to let a good crisis go to waste, Republicans are insisting that the lone gunman at the White House Correspondents Dinner means that Trump can — in fact, must! — build his illegal ballroom. Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche tweeted out a demand for the National Historic Trust to drop its lawsuit. The Trust told him to get bent.

Trump’s shakedown of the IRS hit a snag as a federal judge in Florida said she may not have jurisdiction over a case where the plaintiff and the defendant are the same person — Donald Trump.

And EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin is being so weird at Congress. Is he bad at law, or just lying?

MAIN SHOW:

It’s a courtroom brawl between Elon Musk and Sam Altman over the past and future of AI. Musk claims he was swindled out of seed money by claims that OpenAI would be operated as a non-profit, only to watch the company pivot to a trillion-dollar for-profit enterprise. The jury is empaneled, and the trial begins this week.

The Supreme Court heard oral argument Monday in Chatrie v. US. The case involves law enforcement's use of “geofencing” data to find criminal suspects based on their cell phone location data. Should the government have to get a warrant to collect that info? What should those warrants look like?

Court Side-Eyes Trump's Plan To Sue Himself And Loot The Treasury
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/court-side-eyes-trumps-plan-to-sue

Shuffle Up And Deal [Subscriber Bonus Episode]
https://www.patreon.com/posts/ep-subscriber-up-156633231

Musk v. Altman
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69013420/musk-v-altman

National Trust rejects Trump demand to drop ballroom suit in wake of shooting
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2026/04/27/trump-ballroom-national-trust-lawsuit/

Oral argument in Chatrie v. US [geofencing warrants]
https://www.supremecourt.gov/oral_arguments/argument_transcripts/2025/25-112_o758.pdf

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Capitol police officer Shauni Kerkhoff has sued Glenn Beck’s outfit The Blaze for defamation after they said she “kinda walked like a criminal” – and she’s brought out the big guns. The Trump administration funneled another $1.25 million in taxpayer dollars to campaign stooge Carter Page. The Fifth Circuit hit us with another terrible decision, this one permitting states to force public schools to display the Ten Commandments. We wrote about it on the blog, and it’s even worse than you imagine.
And
And

In the main show, we have an extended interview with electoral maps expert Joe Dye over the Virginia Constitutional Amendment that passed on Tuesday and will replace Virginia’s existing Congressional districts (that are 6 Democratic and 5 Republican) with a new map that is 10-1 Democratic. For now, a Republican judge in Tazewell County has enjoined the amendment.\

SUBSCRIBER BONUS:

We discuss the Trump administration’s bogus indictment of the Southern Poverty Law Center.

Kerkhoff v. Blaze Media, LLC [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73220023/kerkhoff-v-blaze-media-llc/

“Fifth Circuit Cosplays As Historians So It Can Burn Down The Wall Between Church And State” [lawandchaospod.com]
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/p/fifth-circuit-cosplays-as-historians

Rosado v. Bondi [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72259284/rosado-v-bondi/

Text of Virginia’s Constitutional Amendment
https://www.elections.virginia.gov/election-law/proposed-amendment-for-april-2026-special-election/

Existing Virginia Congressional District Map (6-5 Democratic, drawn by independent commission)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/9/90/Virginia_Congressional_Districts%2C_118th_Congress_%282%29.svg

New Virginia Congressional District Map (10-1 Democratic)
https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/a/a9/Virginia_Congressional_Districts%2C_120th_Congress_%282026_Redistricting_Amendment%29.svg

Judge Hurley’s injunction issued in Tazewell County, Virginia [text via Meidas Touch News]
https://meidasnews.com/news/virginia-judge-voids-redistricting-amendment-invalidates-all-votes-from-tuesdays-special-election

Indictment of Southern Poverty Law Center [via CourtListener]
https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.almd.90264/gov.uscourts.almd.90264.1.0.pdf

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The Onion’s plan to take over Infowars looks to have succeeded at last.

A judge in Rhode Island became the fifth to reject the DOJ’s voter roll grab. But Harmeet Dhillon, head of the DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, is undeterred. Now she’s trying to snatch ballots from Wayne County, Michigan.

Trump’s Justice Department is negotiating with Trump’s lawyers to decide how much taxpayer money to pay Trump for the illegal disclosure of his tax returns in 2020. The statutory max is $1,000 per return. He wants $10 billion.

The DOJ has hired Joe diGenova, a Reagan-era US Attorney, to spice up the grand conspiracy investigation into all Trump’s enemies taking place in Florida under the watchful eye of Judge Aileen Cannon.

And Pennsylvania’s intermediate appellate court rules that the state’s ban on abortion coverage under Medicaid violates both the Pennsylvania Equal Rights Amendment and the state constitution's equal protection provisions.

MAIN SHOW:

FBI Director (for now) Kash Patel is big mad over an article in The Atlantic reporting that his drinking is freaking out everyone around him. He’s rounded up wonderweasel lawyer Jesse Binnall and filed a defamation trollsuit in DC. This will be amazing content, and we are grateful in advance!

And we’ll break down the blockbuster article from the New York Times on Chief Justice Roberts’ invention of the modern shadow docket ten years ago to stop the “emergency” of states being asked to come up with a way to reduce carbon emissions. The Times got the receipts, and they are ugly. So much for Mister Balls and Strikes!

SUBSCRIBERS:

Alan Dershowitz is indulging his humiliation kink at the Supreme Court. He’s asking the justices to overturn the actual malice standard from New York Times v. Sulllivan so he can sue CNN for reporting what he said during Trump’s first impeachment. Are his arguments good? NO. Are they hilarious? HELL YES.

The Onion Has a New Plan to Take Over Infowars
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/20/business/infowars-alex-jones-the-onion.html

US v. Amore [Rhode Island voter rolls]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/71982644/united-states-v-amore

AG Nessel, Governor Whitmer, Secretary Benson Denounce DOJ Demand for 2024 Ballots
https://www.michigan.gov/ag/news/press-releases/2026/04/19/ag-nessel-governor-whitmer-secretary-benson-denounce-doj-demand-for-2024-ballots

Trump v. IRS
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72207870/trump-v-internal-revenue-service/

U.S. Installs a Trump Loyalist to Lead ‘Grand Conspiracy’ Case Into Trump Foes
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/digenova-trump-lawyer-conspiracy.html

Allegheny Reproductive Health Center v. Pennsylvania Department of Human Services
https://www.pacourts.us/assets/opinions/Commonwealth/out/26MD19_4-20-26.pdf?cb=1

Patel v. The Atlantic Monthly Group
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73213220/patel-v-the-atlantic-monthly-group-llc/

The FBI Director Is MIA
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/2026/04/kash-patel-fbi-director-drinking-absences/686839/

“The Shadow Papers: The Inside Story of Five Days That Remade the Supreme Court,” New York Times, April 18, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/2026/04/18/us/politics/supreme-court-shadow-docket.html

“Read the Supreme Court’s Shadow Papers,” New York Times, April 18, 2026
https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2026/04/18/us/politics/supreme-court-shadow-docket-papers.html

Dersh at SCOTUS
https://www.supremecourt.gov/search.aspx?filename=/docket/docketfiles/html/public/25-770.html

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod
See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

The lady who wore a penis costume to a No Kings protest in Fairhope, Alabama was acquitted of disturbing the peace.

DNI Tulsi Gabbard referred the Ukraine Whistleblower and former Intelligence Community Inspector General to the DOJ for criminal prosecution. Crime: TBD.

US Attorney for DC Jeanine Pirro continues to harass the Federal Reserve. This time she sent prosecutors to bang on the door demanding to inspect the ongoing renovations.

The Trump administration uses the threat of administrative sanctions to force changes it can’t get from Congress or the courts. The Justice Department extorted $17 million from IBM — which just so happens to have billions of dollars in government contracts! — for committing DEI “fraud.” And the FTC forced brand advisers to agree not to “discriminate” against conservative media outlets.

On a more positive note, a judge in Maryland continues to block the ICE facility being constructed in the state, and Judge Richard Leon put the kibosh on Trump’s ballroom … again.

MAIN SHOW:

A jury slapped Live Nation and Ticket Master in the antitrust lawsuit filed in New York. The feds noped out two days into trial, but the states who picked up the baton and ran with it. The jurors found the company liable on all counts. We talk about the ins and outs of the decision and some pending legal questions still waiting for resolution.

We also break down a new lawsuit brought by a lawful resident of Maine with no criminal record who was seized by ICE during “Operation Catch of the Day” and brutalized. Can he sue under the Maine Civil Rights Act? And if so, is this a path forward for blue states to fill the gap left by inadequate federal laws?

Penis costume protester prevails in court
https://www.courthousenews.com/penis-costume-protester-prevails-in-court/

Tulsi’s “Criminal Referral” of the Ukraine Whistleblower and ICIG
https://www.dni.gov/index.php/newsroom/press-releases/press-releases-2026/4154-pr-06-26

Prosecutors from Jeanine Pirro's office tried to access Federal Reserve headquarters, but were turned away
https://www.cbsnews.com/news/prosecutors-jeanine-pirro-office-visit-federal-reserve-headquarters-jerome-powell/

Justice Department settles with IBM over alleged DEI practices
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2026/04/16/justice-department-settles-with-ibm-over-alleged-dei-practices/

Ad firms settle with Trump FTC over claims they boycotted conservative media
https://arstechnica.com/tech-policy/2026/04/ad-firms-settle-with-trump-ftc-over-claims-they-boycotted-conservative-media

Maryland v. Mullin
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72313096/state-of-maryland-v-mullin

National Trust for Historic Preservation v. National Park Service
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/72028010/national-trust-for-historic-preservation-in-the-united-states-v-national

US v. LiveNation [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/68557723/united-states-of-america-v-live-nation-entertainment-inc/?order_by=desc&page=1

Carvajal-Munoz v. Ravencamp [docket via CourtListener]
https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/73186770/carvajal-munoz-v-ravencamp/

Maine Civil Rights Act, 5 M.R.S. 4682
https://legislature.maine.gov/statutes/5/title5sec4682.html

“State Law, the Westfall Act, and the Nature of the Bivens Question,” [2013 U. Penn. L. Rev.]
https://scholarship.law.georgetown.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1976&context=facpub

Show Links:
https://www.lawandchaospod.com/
BlueSky: @LawAndChaosPod
Threads: @LawAndChaosPod
Twitter: @LawAndChaosPod

See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.