of
Justice
This
is
what
happens
when
flooding
the
zone
meets
Friday
news
dump.
Two
of
DC’s
most
infamous
distraction
techniques
came
together
over
the
last
24
hours,
putting
a
strain
on
any
legal
analyst
trying
to
flag
and
explain
what’s
going
on.
Trump
is
suing
the
federal
government
to
get
$10
billion
in
taxpayer
dollars
over
the
“perfect”
leaked
tax
records
that
Trump
himself
promised
to
disclose
publicly.
After
breaching
his
promise
and
being
proven
a
liar,
he
realized
that
he
can
just
sue
his
own
government.
Will
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
honor
her
oath
to
the
country
and
tell
him
“no
way,
we’ll
see
you
in
court!”
While
I
haven’t
checked
out
Polymarket
yet,
my
guess
is
that
the
“no”
contract
is
trading
right
around
the
Browns
Super
Bowl
chances.
It’s
not
a
great
look
for
an
already
deeply
unpopular
regime.
But
when
life
gives
you
a
lemon…
directly
disobey
multiple
federal
courts
finding
no
legal
basis
for
a
lawful
arrest.
Don
Lemon,
in
this
case.
Abbe
Lowell
released
a
statement
on
behalf
of
his
client,
announcing
that
federal
agents
had
arrested
the
journalist
in
Los
Angeles
while
he
was
covering
the
Grammy
awards.
The
DOJ
has
been
trying
—
and
spectacularly
failing
—
to
arrest
Lemon
for
a
while
now.
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
keeps
tweeting
about
Lemon’s
role
in
a
“coordinated
attack”
on
a
January
18th
service
at
Cities
Church
in
St.
Paul.
In
reality,
protesters
disrupted
the
service
to
call
out
pastor
David
Easterwood
—
who
moonlights
as
the
leader
of
the
local
ICE
field
office.
Lemon
did
not
participate
in
the
protest,
but
did
livestream
the
event
as
a
journalist.
The
arrest
is
at
once
shocking
and
completely
unsurprising.
Shocking
because
the
DOJ’s
attempt
to
contrive
any
legal
justification
to
arrest
Lemon
already
earned
a
thorough
and
absolute
ass-kicking
in
federal
court.
When
federal
prosecutors
initially
sought
arrest
warrants
for
Lemon
and
four
others,
Magistrate
Judge
Douglas
Micko
took
one
look
at
their
evidence
and
laughed
them
out
of
court,
refusing
to
sign
the
warrants
for
lack
of
probable
cause.
Unwilling
to
accept
this
loss,
the
DOJ
first
tried
to
convince
Chief
Judge
Patrick
Schiltz
to
overrule
the
magistrate
judge
and,
when
he
raised
concerns
that
this
would
be,
you
know,
baseless
and
possibly
illegal,
the
DOJ
ducked
out
of
a
scheduled
hearing
and
tried
to
convince
the
Eighth
Circuit
to
issue
a
writ
of
mandamus
ordering
the
judge
to
issue
the
warrant.
The
appellate
panel
did
not
issue
the
writ
and
the
DOJ
dropped
the
request.
But
the
whole
episode
did
give
us
an
entertaining
right-wing
social
media
slapfight.
This
should
have
marked
the
end
of
a
troubling
campaign
to
punish
a
journalist
for
journalisming,
but
what
this
DOJ
lacks
in
professionalism
and
legal
acumen
they
more
than
make
up
for
in
creativity.
Unable
to
secure
a
warrant,
Attorney
General
Pam
Bondi
announced
that
she
directed
federal
agents
to
arrest
the
journalists.
What
does
that
mean?
Who
knows?
Though
it
would
suggest
that
the
government
went
behind
the
backs
of
all
the
judges
and
found
a
grand
jury
willing
to
indict
a
ham
sandwich
(not
the
easiest
task
for
them
these
days)
based
on
the
paucity
of
facts
that
left
multiple
federal
judges
unimpressed.
As
Marcy
Wheeler
notes,
Abbe
Lowell
is
almost
certainly
going
to
get
a
look
at
those
transcripts:
Even
for
this
administration,
it’s
a
wild
act
of
defiance.
And
defiance
is
the
accurate
term.
Don’t
fall
for
the
vapid
commentary
from
Trump’s
dumbest
cheerleaders:
The
media
aren’t
reporting
that
dad
said
yes…
after
mom
told
me
no!
Look,
it’s
one
thing
to
go
to
a
grand
jury
from
jump
and
another
to
do
it
explicitly
because
multiple
judges
told
you
that
you’ve
shown
up
in
court
with
nothing
but
your
genitals
in
your
hands.
Grand
juries
enjoy
considerable
deference,
but
if
there’s
ever
a
case
to
yeet
an
indictment,
it’s
when
the
DOJ
—
having
lost
in
three
successive
courts
—
takes
the
same
thin
gruel
of
evidence
to
a
grand
jury
to
snow
them
into
accepting
evidence
already
judicially
determined
to
fall
short
of
muster.
In
any
event,
having
defied
the
judges,
agents
descended
on
the
journalists.
In
the
case
of
Minnesota-based
journalist
Georgia
Fort,
masked
law
enforcement
showed
up
at
her
door.
As
many
have
noted,
a
masked
man
knocking
on
the
door
and
pretending
to
be
a
cop
is
exactly
how
Melissa
Hortman
and
her
husband
were
murdered.
Which
should
prompt
another
conversation
about
what
it
means
to
the
rule
of
law
to
have
law
enforcement
running
around
like
Temu
Batman.
The
HBO
continuation
of
Watchmen
made
a
world-building
point
out
of
cops
wearing
masks
because
the
very
notion
would
signal
to
the
audience
that
the
setting
was
a
dystopian
and
fascist
hell.
Now
it’s
every
day.
Bondi
later
released
a
video
claiming
that
these
charges
are
about
protecting
the
right
to
worship,
an
outrageous
claim
to
make
given
that
ICE
has
used
church
services
as
a
hunting
ground
for
months.
Meanwhile
the
White
House
exercised
its
traditional
restraint,
posting
the
picture
of
a
black
journalist
with
a
chain
emoji.
As
a
reminder,
there
are
handcuff
emojis…
the
White
House
decided
to
go
with
chains.
While
all
this
is
going
on,
you
might
have
missed
that
the
DOJ
has
got
another
grand
jury
cooking,
and
based
on
this
subpoena,
they
appear
to
be
looking
into
criminal
charges
against
the
Mayor
of
Minneapolis.
Noted
bleeding
heart
liberal
Antonin
Scalia
already
drove
a
stake
through
the
heart
of
this
possible
charge.
In
Printz
v.
United
States
Scalia
explained
the
federal
government
cannot
“commandeer”
state
and
local
law
enforcement
to
do
its
bidding.
The
case
dealt
with
the
Brady
Act’s
requirement
that
local
sheriffs
conduct
background
checks
on
gun
purchases,
but
Scalia’s
reasoning
was
broader:
states
have
a
“residuary
and
inviolable
sovereignty”
and
the
feds
can’t
just
“impress
into
its
service…
the
police
officers
of
the
50
States.”
There’s
a
whole
lot
of
James
Madison
cheerleading
about
protecting
against
tyranny,
but
the
point
is
local
law
enforcement
doesn’t
have
to
give
ICE
jack
squat.
Even
for
an
administration
committed
to
distraction,
this
seems
like
a
lot
to
drop
in
one
day.
It’s
almost
as
though
there
might
be
more
to
this…
That’s
Deputy
AG
Todd
Blanche,
taking
the
stage
to
announce
the
release
of
the
Epstein
files!
Several
weeks
late
and
several
pages
short.
The
release
withholds
tons
of
material,
which
Blanche
brushes
off
as
irrelevant…
trust
us!
As
the
above
clip
suggests,
he
also
suggests
that
the
release
will
do
what
it
can
to
hide
the
names
of
the
abusers.
That
has
not
gone
to
plan…
Do
these
people
have
the
vaguest
clue
how
discovery
works?
They
can’t
even
distract
without
calling
attention
to
their
own
distractions.
It’s
so
much
to
wade
through.
And
that’s
the
point.
Every
one
of
these
stories
deserved
full
treatment
from
a
legal
publication,
but
there
simply
aren’t
enough
hours
in
the
day
or
writers
on
staff.
It
makes
this
such
a
grueling
end
of
week
fire
drill.
Don’t
they
understand
we
all
just
want
to
finish
up
our
day
and
go
see
MELANIA
like
everyone
else?!?
Joe
Patrice is
a
senior
editor
at
Above
the
Law
and
co-host
of
Thinking
Like
A
Lawyer.
Feel
free
to email
any
tips,
questions,
or
comments.
Follow
him
on Twitter or
Bluesky
if
you’re
interested
in
law,
politics,
and
a
healthy
dose
of
college
sports
news.
Joe
also
serves
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a
Managing
Director
at
RPN
Executive
Search.