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Serious Trouble: Daily Summaries Delivered
by Josh Barro and Ken White
An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White.
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- 4 days ago39 min
A Vouch Too Far
This week: the grand jury transcripts from the Broadview Six case show an array of embarrassing misconduct by AUSAs from the office of the US Attorney for the Northern District of Illinois. As Ken describes, these are things that AUSAs are very clearly taught not to do. And yet.Also this week: a couple of new flavors of AI hallucination trouble in the courts; Donald Trump’s legal team that’s suing the BBC for him isn’t doing such a good job; Matt Taibbi filed another dumb lawsuit and lost; Ken Paxton’s old lawyer endorses against him (unethical or just imprudent?); the Trump-Kennedy Center lost a lawsuit against a performer who canceled a scheduled performance; two ways being a mess can sometimes help you in court; and Judge Richard! Leon! says there’s no Trump slush fund to enjoin, for now! But he will keep watching! So don’t try any funny business!No paywall in this episode; it is available to all subscribers. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
- 1 weeks ago24 min
This Shrek Film Was Not In Theaters
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThis week’s Serious Trouble comes to you live from a perch overlooking the soon-to-be-built Trump National Championship Golf Links at East Potomac Park by Donald J. Trump. Or, maybe — as I looked over the federally administered national parkland along the Potomac River, I was looking at a suite of projects where the president’s “just do things” approach has faced intermittent trouble in court. For example: Trump’s name has been ordered down off the Kennedy Center, which is once again just the Kennedy Center. We discuss challenges to his “anti-weaponization fund," and the status of various lawsuits aimed at stopping the fund and the ripeness and standing challenges they face. And we look at the “you fucking dingus” doctrine — the extent to which Trump’s most cartoonish actions cause judges to hunt for ways to respond to them.That’s for free subscribers. Paying subscribers also get:* Alexis Wilkins vs. MS NOW, and the George Costanza theory of actual malice.* The junior lawyer leading the James Comey seashell prosecution steps down (as lawyers flee the government more broadly) while a judge in another case rules that “8647” is not a true threat.* Trump really doesn’t want to pay tariff refunds, and Ilya Somin argues the tariff cases show how CASA has created a mess.* A CIA official gets indicted for lying on his resume, but really for stealing tens of millions of dollars worth of gold that he was somehow able to order to his office.* George Santos appears to be under investigation for insider trading in a prediction market about George Santos. * A gadfly blogger in Ohio is arrested for texting an image to a state senator that apparently depicts Shrek masturbating. Is that a crime?
- 2 weeks ago22 min
Court Officers Behaving Badly
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThe ‘Broadview Six’ case was one of the Trump administration’s prominent prosecutions of anti-ICE protesters. Federal prosecutors in Chicago brought felony charges to fanfare, then curiously dropped them, keeping only misdemeanor counts. Now we know why: they engaged in egregious misconduct to obtain the felony indictments, which they then sought to conceal from the judge, who is not amused.For all subscribers, we discuss that and US Attorney Andrew Boutros, who issued a weird memo promising reform, and the news that his office is apparently running a criminal investigation into E. Jean Carroll, examining whether she lied in a deposition hundreds of miles from Chicago.For paying subscribers (upgrade your subscription now at serioustrouble.show) this week, there’s also:* Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s big and unusual win on vindictive prosecution, which is already inspiring the Southern Poverty Law Center.* A sordid case involving an Eleventh Circuit judge whose sofa cushion required forensic testing after clerks asserted she was noisily carrying on an affair in chambers.* A free speech win for West Point faculty.* An interesting new insider trading case involving Polymarket.* A probably-too-clever motion attacking the “anti-weaponization fund,” and* More bad news for ex-JP Morgan banker Chirayu Rana.
- 3 weeks ago30 min
The No-Judgment Fund
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showDonald Trump has announced a new $1.776 billion “anti-weaponization fund” to be doled out as he sees fit to “victims” of the “weaponization” of the Justice Department. It's financed from the Judgment Fund, a strange legal creature — it’s a permanent, unlimited appropriation the federal government can use to pay judgments and settlements. But like… doesn’t that have to be for real lawsuits with plausible claims that could win in court? Also: an ex-AUSA has been criminally charged for sending herself electronic copies of confidential reports about the findings from Jack Smith’s documents investigation into the president. She gave the files names like “bundt cake recipe."That’s for free subscribers. Paying subscribers get our discussions about:* An ICE agent facing state criminal charges in Minnesota.* Elon Musk losing in his civil trial against Sam Altman, and the complex set of circumstances that led the presiding judge to seek an advisory verdict from the jury before disposing of the case herself.* A counterclaim from Lorna Hajdini in the JP Morgan saga.* Chud the Builder, unfortunately (in part because of his whiny lawyer).* Trouble for timeshare billionaire Stephen Cloobeck — Eric Swalwell’s onetime benefactor — and Cloobeck’s ex-Penthouse Pet fiancée, Adva Lavie, a.k.a. “Mia Ventura.”* Rep. Max Miller, who apparently has the worst luck with women, is suing his ex-wife for defamation, saying she’s making up lies about him being abusive, just like his ex-girlfriend before her, whom he also sued for defamation when she called him abusive.* And Clavicular pleads no-contest to shooting a dead alligator, is sentenced to non-livestreamed community service — and gets brutally mogged by Judge Marcus Bach-Armas, a total chad who used to be in-house counsel for the Miami Dolphins.
- May 15, 202617 min
'Advice of Counsel' Does Not Apply to Advice from Licensed Airboat Captains
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThe lurid JP Morgan sex case has gotten more interesting: apparently, the bank offered a $1 million settlement to the banker who wanted an eight-figure settlement related to the lurid sex-harassment allegations he has made against a senior colleague. Something is weird here. Also this week:The Justice Department wants to stand in as the defendant in the case where E. Jean Carroll won a large judgment for comments Donald Trump made about her during his first presidential term, which would defeat her claim, since the government cannot be liable for defamation, the DOJ is also suing the DC Bar to stop professional discipline for Jeffrey ‘Oil Spill’ Clark, and no, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro does not need to recuse herself from Cole Allen’s case merely because she was present at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.That’s for all listeners this week. Upgrade to hear about much more:* Another Trump tariff effort gets struck down because the Court of International Trade decided to actually form a view on what constitutes a balance-of-payments crisis.* ABC fighting back against the Federal Communications Commission, urged on by the commission’s lone Democratic member (and Ken explains why they’re even bothering to fight at the agency level before going to court.)* The fight over the Lincoln Memorial reflecting pool, or “more aesthetic standing bullshit,” as Ken’s notes describe it.* Richard Murdaugh’s remarkable win in court (for now).* A silly lawsuit against Matt Damon, and* A misdo charge for Clav, who says he was merely following the guidance of a licensed airboat captain when he shot a (possibly already dead) alligator.
- May 7, 202623 min
Don't Use the Public Chatbot Lawyer
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThere's a lot of stupid litigation to cover this week, starting with the lawsuit so many of you asked us about. An ex-banker who has made salacious allegations against a former JP Morgan colleague, but how credible are they? And what can you do if you are a bank or a banker and someone makes preposterous allegations against you in a legal filing, which is privileged against defamation claims?Also this week: Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni have settled, with no exchange of funds between the two sides, but that doesn't mean it wasn't expensive. Matt Taibbi lost his dumb lawsuit against Eoin Higgins. A Michigan defendant who made way more threatening-sounding comments than James Comey ever did nonetheless enjoys First Amendment protection (but will have to seek relief in state court if prosecutors go after him again). Does Cole Allen belong on suicide watch? DOJ apologizes to a federal judge for not telling her a detained migrant in her court was wanted for murder (she released the migrant and then DHS attacked her for releasing an accused murderer). The FTC surrenders in its fight against Media Matters. The DOJ seeks to memory-hole the Jerome Powell subpoenas (which would perhaps make it easier to reissue them later). Gavin Newsom is getting further than we expected with a kinda dumb defamation lawsuit against Fox News. And preservationists try to stop Donald Trump from tearing up the East Potomac Park golf course to build a championship-style course.Visit serioustrouble.show to upgrade your subscription and hear full episodes.
- May 1, 202621 min
I'm Still Mad He Put Martha Stewart In Prison
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThis week Ken and Josh discuss the James Comey indictment, this time, purportedly for threatening the president with seashells. They also discuss the criminal complaint against would-be assassin Cole Tomas Allen and Maurene Comey’s lawsuit over her firing for being James Comey’s daughter.That’s this week’s free show. Paying subscribers also get:* Jeanine Pirro’s screw-up that has resulted in Trump getting less influence at the Federal Reserve than he’d probably have if she’d just played it cool.* A wrench in Trump’s plan to have the IRS pay him a big settlement.* Roy Moore and Diddy have something additional in common — they both are failures at defamation litigation.* A well-deserved spanking for Sam Bankman-Fried.* The SPLC, fighting back.* An apology to Elon Musk from the busybodies at the California Coastal Commission, and* An apology from Sullivan & Cromwell for AI hallucinations in a filing.Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.
- Apr 24, 202621 min
This Episode Contains No Administrative Procedure Act Coverage
This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.showThis week Ken and Josh discuss several big defamation suits. The Atlantic has reported that Kash Patel is often drunk and derelict in his duties as FBI Director. But Patel says he’s only guilty of working really hard, and he’s suing the Atlantic. He’s got a theory he says is a “slam dunk” — The Atlantic defamed him with actual malice because he denied the accusations against him but they printed him anyway. That theory didn’t work for Trump against The Wall Street Journal and it didn’t work for Patel against Frank Figliuzzi Jr., who accused him of being a nightclub rat on Morning Joe, but maybe it will work this time? (It won’t).Also, his lawyer did something incompetent — shocker.And more formidably, former Capitol Police officer Shauni Kerkhoff is suing The Blaze and two of its “journalists” for accusing her of being the Capitol Hill pipe bomber, on the basis of a shoddy “gait analysis” alleging that her limp matched the way the bomber walked on surveillance video. Proving actual malice is hard — as a police officer, Kerkhoff is treated as a public figure in the coverage of her work — but the journalists’ persistence with their accusations even after Brian Cole was arrested for the bombings strengthens her case. She also has very real defamation lawyers: Clare Locke, the firm that got the huge settlement out of Fox for Dominion Voting Systems.That defamation coverage is for all listeners this week. In the full premium episode, there’s also:* Even more defamation coverage, with Laura Loomer losing at summary judgment in her lawsuit against Bill Maher, and Megan Thee Stallion failing to obtain a court order instructing Milagro Cooper to stop talking about her.* A preliminary injunction telling Apple and Facebook to restore anti-ICE resources they took off the internet at the government’s behest.* The SPLC indictment.* A settlement for Carter Page.* A Sam Bankman-Fried update.* And a court ruling that says it’s legal to be a huge dick in Alabama.Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.
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