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Judge Alsup
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Judge Alsup
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Judge Alsup
This episode is brought to you by Progressive Insurance. Fiscally responsible financial geniuses, Monetary magicians. These are things people say about drivers who switch their car insurance to Progressive and save hundreds. Visit progressive.com to see if you could save Progressive Casualty Insurance Company and affiliates. Potential savings will vary. Not available in all states or situations. So Michael Popak the week ended with Donald Trump just defiling the Department of Justice building. He gave this horrific speech that was supposed to be about confiscating Fentanyl. But then they brought in fake packages of fentanyl. And Donald Trump just started praising the January 6 insurrectionist, praising the corrupt federal judge Eileen Cannon, saying that all these different media companies were illegal and just whining, we'll cover what went down there. Also, the Trump regime to the United States Supreme Court on an emergency basis, seeking to stop the practice of federal judges issuing nationwide injunctions, something that the Trump and Magas utilize to derail former President Biden's agendas in many things, like student loan forgiveness. Remember how they would always go to that Northern District judge in Texas and get him to block Biden initiatives? Well, now with Trump, as we see judges who care about the law and order saying, no, you can't illegally fire employees and defame them and lie and say that you're firing them for cause and for performance reasons, when that's false, Trump's like, nah, I should be able to do that. And you can't issue nationwide injunctions. So this specific nationwide injunction relates to the issue of Donald Trump trying to overturn the constitutional right of birthright citizenship and the nationwide injunctions that blocked his ability to do that. But the broader implication is Trump wants to gut nationwide injunctions. We'll break that down and explain what all of that means. Also, it's believed that the Trump regime has either already or will be invoking the Alien enemies Act of 1789, a wartime powers act that allows basically the president to declare even citizens and people, like, unlawful and threats based on a war. And so Trump is apparently going to invoke this. He said he was going to on the campaign to get rid of migrants. And he's specifically targeting right now, surprise, surprise, like, his own supporters, like the family and friends of, like, the Venezuelans for Trump. Like, he's targeting that community who. Which kind of went in favor of Trump during the election. So we'll break that down. We'll explain what it means. He hasn't formally invoked it yet, but, you know, there was a lawsuit that was filed saying you just never know with him. Like, what did he secretly invoke it? Is he going to, like, invoke it and then try to do, like, snap deportations right away? So a federal judge, Judge Boasberg in Washington, D.C. is dealing with that issue right now. And then let's talk about some of these other federal orders, two big ones, one in the Northern District of San Francisco, one in Maryland federal court, which compelled the Trump regime to rehire the probationary employees from most of the departments that it fired Unlawfully. And there the federal judges in the various, in these various cases said, you know, the Trump regime did not file the analysis that was required, what's called an rif, which would have them do an analysis before these terminations were to take place, and that the Trump regime didn't do that. So you have to rehire them. The Trump regime is saying they don't have to follow court orders. And so there's going to be another constitutional showdown there. We'll talk about this and more on Legal af. Let's bring in Michael Popak. Popak, how are you? A lot to discuss there, huh?
Michael Popak
A lot to discuss. I watched that Department of Justice press conference. I thought Donald Trump was on fentanyl. I wasn't sure. He was kind of high in his own supply. It's all a ruse. They, they, they get all the sycophants together to start clapping. The most chilling moment for me, besides him attacking the federal judiciary again and, and attacking the news media again, was him declaring, as we knew he was going to, that he alone is the chief law enforcement officer of the United States of America. Sorry, Pam Bondi, I know you're the Attorney general, but you knew that you weren't really the attorney general with the Trump administration. And it's, the jailer is now, you know, the jailed is now the jailer, and he's, you know, the fact that the first felon in chief is also our chief law enforcement officer, everything flows from that. The attacks on the rule of law, the attacks on federal judges, including bomb threats against Amy Coney Barrett's own sister, which happened recently. The federal judiciary standing up to Donald Trump and his attempt to compromise independent judiciary. Former judges and Republicans like Michael Ludig coming out and saying this is a full frontal assault on the rule of law. What else would we expect? Attacking the lawyers, attacking the judges, attacking the decisions. What does that sound like? That sounds like Donald Trump when he was a criminal defendant, when he was a fraud defendant, when he was a sex abuse defendant and convicted and adjudged all along the way. So he took that very blueprint and took him with him to the White House, and that he's combining it with two things that you and I are working hard, along with the Midas Dutch network and Legal AF to expose, which is velocity and opaqueness are, have been his superpowers. He's moving incredibly fast, using Elon Musk to do it, and they're doing it under cover of darkness and surreptitiously. That's the opaqueness. And federal judges. And we're going to talk about five different decisions this week alone by federal judges against Elon Musk and Doge and the Trump administration and fighting back against the lies. Those are the words of judges in the federal court in Northern District of California and in Maryland. And the opaqueness and bringing sunshine into what is obviously a strategy of Donald Trump, to destroy the federal bureaucracy, to destroy federal workers and funding, to destroy the relationship between the American people and an accountable government, and do that in 60 days or less, as if he's double parked. And so one of the great things I think about this audience being here on a weekly, bi weekly basis and on legal AF almost every day, every hour, is that we're keeping them apprised of how federal courts are responding, what we can do to support it. These town halls that are breaking out into the open, where Republicans going home, that's their home, you would think it's enemy territory. And that is a great sign, this unity that we're bringing together for the midterms. I'm going to say it one more time. Give me the House and the Senate. I'll give you an impeachment and a conviction and a removal of Donald Trump. That's the way that we beat them.
Judge Alsup
And popa, going to the issue of opaqueness, we're going to be covering on legal af, some of these foia, Freedom of Information act related cases where judges are finally saying, look, Elon Musk, you need to turn over discovery. Doge, you need to turn over discovery. Y'all are having a massive impact on destroying the government. You have to answer for what you're doing. That's the way our system works. And the Trump regime is doing everything they can to try to, you know, push back on that. One of the things, too, that I intentionally do is I don't call it like the Trump government. I'll occasionally catch myself if I call it the administration. I try to call it the regime, because it's no longer a government by the people, for the people. It is a government by the bullies, for the billionaires, and thus it is a regime, and I think we have to call it as such. One thing I want to mention as well, for all of the destruction that Doge has been causing, about $603 billion in federal spending still took place last month, which is the highest month of federal spending in the history of the United States. So they're absolutely doing nothing other than cruelly destroying our government, firing people and ruining lives and destroying the economy. Pop, let's get right into it if we can, about what went down at this DOJ event. Let me just share with you some of the, I guess, lowlights of what.
Michael Popak
Down react to the clips. Go ahead.
Judge Alsup
Donald Trump saying that we're focused on persecuting. Let's play this clip, people you don't.
Carrie Underwood
Even want to know about, but as many of you do know, well, we're focused on persecuting. And these people were really focused on persecuting Republicans the last administration.
Judge Alsup
And here Donald Trump is again talking about. Let me just play this clip for you right here. Let's play the next clip. Salty.
Carrie Underwood
Can't allow yourselves to be deflected. You just can't let it happen. You have so many, you have such a higher calling. And I believe that CNN and MSDNC who literally write 97.6% bad about me, are political arms of the Democrat Party. And in my opinion, they're really corrupt and they're illegal. What they do is illegal. It makes no difference how big a victory I had. I can have the biggest victory in history. It makes no difference what kind of a failure the other side has then.
Judge Alsup
Next, Donald Trump says that essentially if you criticize Judge Eileen Cannon, that's the federal judge he appointed in the Southern District of Florida back in 2020. She dismissed the Mar A Lago document case against him when she ruled that the concept of special counsels, which existed everywhere else and for decades was a thing or since the beginning of time was a thing that she said as it relates to Trump, special counsels can't exist. As it relates to citizen Trump, case gets dismissed. She's one of the most corrupt judges out there. Trump says if you criticize Judge Eileen Cannon, that could be illegal.
Carrie Underwood
Play this clip and a will know this very well. We had a, an amazing judge in Florida and her name is Eileen Cannon. And I didn't know her. I still don't know her. I don't believe I ever spoke to her, even during the trial. But I did appoint her federal judge. And these fake lawyers, these horrible human beings were hitting her so hard, public relations wise, they were playing the reference. I don't think it's legal. I don't think it's legal. They might as well go out and just shout it in a courthouse then.
Judge Alsup
Michael Popak, Donald Trump says that the crowd that was there at the doj. Do we have a photo of the crowd? Salty Just to see what this room.
Michael Popak
Looked largest in history.
Judge Alsup
So, so this is the crowd. Just so everybody sees where, like where he's Speaking. And I will give the benefit of the doubt that those empty seats were all filled by the time he gave his speech. So just assume that room which was. What would you say there, Pope?
Michael Popak
250.
Judge Alsup
250 people. Here's what Donald Trump said as he's speaking to the people at the doj. Let's play it.
Carrie Underwood
Well, thank you very much. Thank you. Thank you, Pam, very much. What a job you're doing and it's a true honor to be with you today. This very stir. This is a storied hall. There ever was one. And based on the crowd, I think we broke the all time record.
Judge Alsup
Broke the all time. What's he even talking about? And then finally, Popak, I'll get your reaction to it all. He praises the January 6th insurrectionist with whom he created a musical called the J6 Anthem who he has since pardoned the most violent of the violent insurrectionists. Here, play this.
Carrie Underwood
Please convict me. Don't say that I pardoned hundreds of political prisoners who had been grossly mistreated. We removed the senior FBI officials who misdirected resources to send SWAT teams after grandmothers and J6 hostages. And it was.
Judge Alsup
So he's at the Department of justice attacking the FBI, praising the January 6th insurrectionists in that ballroom in front of the DOJ lawyers. A madman, a psychopath. One thing I'll just add before passing it to you, a Trump appointed judge this past week, Judge Dabney Friedrich, she ruled against the Trump regime's attempt to try to extend the pardons to at least one individual. J6 3. A three time convicted charge. Yeah, a gun charge. And the Trump regime is arguing these January 6ers should be pardoned basically for anything that even was somehow incidental to the, you know, investigation. If other crimes were found in connection with people with the FBI looking into the January six years, they should be pardoned for that as well. And the judge said I'm not going to do that. He can repardon them on those other issues but not. That's not how I read this part. That was a Trump appointed judge. But Popa, that's some horrific stuff I just showcased.
Michael Popak
Yeah. And, and let's, let's break it down a little bit there on all the lies that were told. Let's start with Ms. Msn, DC Whatever the joke is he's trying to make there and things are illegal. The 20 different people affiliated with Fox at the highest levels are in the Trump administration, including the head of our Pentagon who came off the Fox and friends weekend bench to be the head of the Pentagon in Pete Hegseth. So if there's ever been a talk about gaslighting, if there's ever been a media organization that is a propaganda arm of an administration or a person, it's Fox News, Fox and Donald Trump, MSNBC and CNN and others and our independent media, we're just doing, we're just holding up our end of the bargain in a free and fair society to do commentary and analysis and fact gathering, which is exactly the role of the First Amendment and freedom of the press and free speech. Nobody, I assure you, MAGA or otherwise, wants to live in a country where there is no independent media. We can all we've done plenty of shows and segments about corporate media being compromised because of the corporate nature of their ownership structure and why they're not holding up their end of the bargain and why organizations like Midas Touch and Legal AF have stepped forward to fill that void. But for him, it's just again, he's got I talk about the pot calling the kettle black. He knows that that has been a criticism of him in a Fox News forever. So he tries to deflect attention from that on Eileen Alien Cannon. Eileen Cannon, again, there is that is one tip of the iceberg of a coordinated effort that's been going on with the Trump administration since they got into office, led by people like Elon Musk, who every time there is a decision against Trump and Elon Musk and there's been over a dozen lawsuits and injunctions and temporary restraining orders and orders against him, there are five this week. There's two just Thursday he comes out and says the same thing. He defames the federal judges and calls them corrupt without any proof whatsoever. He calls for their impeachment. He says they are lawless. He says they are out of control. And and then right on cue, those federal judges get viciously, violently attacked in social media because of the effective doxing of them by by Elon Musk. There's nothing corrupt about Judge Engelmeier's decision a month and a half ago to stop Doge from rummaging around our medical and financial information on Treasury Department servers. You may not agree with it, but it has jurisprudential graveman right. It has a gravitas. It has an underpinning of analysis. It has, you know, legal precedent behind it and a factual analysis. You may not agree with it, but to call the guy corrupt and to put it in context, in over 200 years of our Republic, 15 judges total, 15 have been impeached, generally for bribery. Those things have happened. By contrast, we've had five federal judges die by assassinations and attacks in the last 30 years and a state court judge that was just shot down just a year or two ago. They're playing with a dangerous fire to try to burn down the rule of law. It all stems from their belief, and we're seeing it on full display at the Department of Justice speech. Their belief goes hand in glove of the unitary president, the imperial dictatorship president. Right. And then they want to divide and conquer the judiciary. They don't want a unified judiciary. That's why when we get later in the show to nationwide universal injunctions, they love them when it was the Biden administration coming out of Texas, they hate them when it's coming out of the places where we filed our lawsuits, up and down New England, California, Maryland, D.C. and then, oh, nationwide injunctions. Then, then everybody's all up, up in arms about it. But because they want, they don't want nationwide injunctions when the Democrats are opposing them. And these public interest groups, they want us to have to file in 50 different states, in 50 different federal districts to, to obtain while Donald Trump moves forward, you know, like Pat and rolling the tanks to destroy the rule of law. So that's, that's out of the playbook of 2020 Project 2025. Destroy the judiciary, destroy nationwide injunctions, elevate the presidency above the other two branches in a power drunk, mad attempt to, to, to, to tear apart brick by brick what makes our constitutional republic what it is. And I want to call out Donald Trump for a minute because we don't do this enough. It's not the Democrat Party, it's the Democratic Party. That's the name. We've allowed them to try to steal our brand and steal our name. They're the Republicans. They're not the Republic Party. We're the Democratic Party. And there's a re, by the way, there's a reason historically for that. So when he says a Democrat party and this and that, Right, listen, he wants to make Eileen Cannon, God forbid, the next Supreme Court justice if there is an opening, he has the power to do that, subject to the confirmation of the Senate, you know, but now you've got all these judges on the Democratic side who are ruling against Donald Trump. We're going to talk about five of them who have told media, off the record, obviously, that they are afraid for their lives because of the attacks. If they rule against Donald Trump and if people don't think that's having an Impact on the independence of the federal judiciary? Think again. It is. But that is exactly what Donald Trump wants to do. So for him to effectively stand in the hallowed halls, as he called it, of the Department of Justice, and drop his pants and crap all over the rule of law at the same time shouting out to Cash Patel of the FBI, shouting out to, I finally learned how to pronounce his name off that clip. Emil Bove, his. His criminal defense lawyer, now number three in the Department of Justice, or Todd Blanche, the COO of the Department of Justice. And Pam Bondi, who is he fooling? The head of the law enforcement unit of the US Government is a guy named Donald Trump. And everybody else is a bootlicker, sycophant and meat puppet. And that's what we're watching over and over and over again. So for you and me, it was, we knew what was going to go down at that press conference. It went off the rails within the first minute and a half. Did he even mention fentanyl? That's what he gathered all the media for. Because if he said, I'm going to talk about the weaponization of the Department of Justice and the Biden crime family, who would have showed up?
Judge Alsup
I'll tell you what, they didn't release the Epstein files. They said now for what, how many weeks? We're really going to release them tomorrow. We're going to release them tomorrow. As I've said before, they're never going to release those Epstein files. Trump was like, one of Epstein's closest, like, friends back in the day. Donald Trump said, Epstein's a great guy. What they did release two weeks ago, remember they had those mag influencers hold up those binders that said these are the Epstein files. And they left the White House. And then people were like, those aren't the Epstein files. Those are the phone lists that Epstein had that was released many, many years ago. That's already public. And by the way, we know that Trump was on that list as well, because Trump's. Trump's name is on it, because they were, they were friends. We know it went down. So I think it's worth noting that as well, and not letting them get away with and try to continue to cover that up. Now, I want to remind everybody as well, Michael Popak has started a new law firm. I'm so super proud of him. He started about a month ago or so. The Popoc firm and the types of cases they handle at the Popoc fir firm are kind of catastrophic injury cases. And so anything from, like, really Bad car accidents, medical malpractice cases, employment cases, sexual harassment cases. You know, those are the Popox representing the family of someone who lost their lives tragically on the plane crash above D.C. those are the types of cases that he's handling. So if you have a case like that and you've ever wanted to kind of have Michael Popak, we used to get all these requests for Popak to do this. Popak's finally doing this. So if you or someone you know or loved, one friend, family member, have him reach out. Popak, where can they call?
Michael Popak
Easy. I made it easy. Thanks, Ben. I really appreciate it. And I'm standing on the shoulders of Legal af and as you said, we always got a lot of. I got a lot of comments and requests to get involved. I just didn't have a firm and a structure in order to do it. That's the reason we put it together. Www.thepopoc firm.com and it'll pop up with a free case review and you'll be in contact with our team almost immediately. And then I wait a 1-800-number that's easy to remember even for me. 1-877-popak-AF. What else?
Judge Alsup
Love it. And congrats, Popak on the Legal AF YouTube channel hitting 500,000 subscribers in a very short period of time. You launched it less than what, six months ago?
Michael Popak
Yeah, less than six months. Yep.
Judge Alsup
500, 000 subscribers, everybody. Make sure you subscribe. They are next up 1 million for the Legal AF YouTube channel. Let's take our first quick break of the show. We've got a lot to discuss. Nationwide injunctions, Alien Enemies Act, Federal judges ruling, probationary workers return foia. We got a lot to discuss. Let's take a quick break.
Michael Popak
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Judge Alsup
Thank you to our pro democracy sponsors right there. We don't have outside investors here on Legal AF and on the Midas Touch Network, so it goes a long way. Those pro Democracy sponsors and the discount codes are in the description below. Shout out to Jordy for vetting those pro democracy sponsors for us. Michael Popo Nationwide injunctions were the main tool that the right wing, that the Federalist Society, that the Heritage foundation, that they used to try to derail former President Biden's agenda when he was doing things to try to help the people, whether it was expanding healthcare coverage, whether it was forgiving student loan debt, whether it was former President Biden trying to implement policies to make the border safer and to deal with the issues at every step of the way. What would the magas do? They would pretty much go to the same judge in the Northern District of Texas, Amarillo Division Judge Kazmaric. And they would go to this judge, they'd find some jurisdictional hook and they try to get him to issue a nationwide injunction that he would issue and it would hurt the people. It would then freeze everything. When former President Biden was trying to implement things that actually helped people, well now Donald Trump is in power. The Trump regime is here, hurting veterans, hurting federal workers, harming the people. And so now lots of, as you predicted, was going to happen before Trump got into office was that all these groups are filing to block Trump from doing this in courts across the country, whether it's in Maryland or D.C. or in the state of Washington or in California, you name it. There are lawsuits everywhere. I mean, literally hundreds or potentially thousands of lawsuits that are being filed. The Trump DOJ can't even keep up with it. And there are these major injunctions that are being issued. And one of the big ones that have been issued in three separate jurisdictions is blocking Trump's ban on birthright citizenship, which is in the United States Constitution. Another big one is a nationwide injunction blocking Donald Trump from, you know, continuing to engage in these, you know, kind of reckless firings and ordering that people be returned to their jobs. These probationary employees. Take a look at what Caroline Levitt had to say on fox. Here, Play this clip. Judge has ruled that tens of thousands.
Michael Popak
Of fired federal workers must be reinstated immediately. Okay, Karen, how are you going to fight that?
Judge Alsup
Well, let's talk about the absurdity of this, Stu.
Michael Popak
You have a single lower district court judge who ruled that all of these.
Judge Alsup
Individuals need to be rehired. Just usurping the executive authority of president.
Michael Popak
For, of President Trump to fire federal workers. This cannot be allowed to happen.
Judge Alsup
This ruling was unconstitutional.
Michael Popak
The White House and the Trump administration.
Judge Alsup
Are prepared to fight back. So earlier this week on the birthright citizenship injunctions, Michael Popak, the Trump regime asked the Supreme Court to stop these district courts from issuing nationwide injunctions. Chief Justice Roberts set a schedule giving the individuals who brought this case until April 4th to respond. So, and then I think afterwards, there'll be oral argument that will be set. You know, so it's not like immediate per se. So what, what do you make of this popoc? What's going on here? What's Trump's emergency request to the Supreme Court trying to do? Break it all down for us.
Michael Popak
Yeah, birthright citizenship. Six or seven different cases, three main ones, judges, starting with Judge Kofanor in California. It was within five days of the administration start finding it was blatantly unconstitutional to try to rip out birthright citizenship, which means you're born on US Soil, you are a US Citizen. Donald Trump's looking babies in the eye and saying, who's your mommy? Does she have temporary status or is she here illegally? And if your dad's not us, this is Donald. This is my impression of Donald Trump talking to babies. I'm sorry, you're not a US citizen despite what the 14th amendment says. Donald Trump as an argument. No, sorry. The Heritage foundation has an argument that Donald Trump has adopted and the federalist, which is this, this language in the 14th Amendment that subject to the jurisdiction of the United States, the person born here, the baby, doesn't mean what it says. It means that if your mother is here temporarily or illegally, and the father's not a U.S. citizen, then you're subject to the jurisdiction, as if a baby makes that decision. That's why we don't deal with interviewing babies. We just say, you're born. Where's your feet? Are your feet on US Soil? Then you are a US Citizen. Mexico does it that way, Canada does it that way. Other countries do it different ways. But that's what our Constitution says. Donald Trump actually had the balls to say in his filing with the United States Supreme Court that every president has gotten it wrong in the last 150 years or over 100 years, including his own presidency. Last I looked, he was the president a number of years ago. Because they've misinterpreted that language to mean that somebody's temporary or illegal mom destroys their own U.S. citizenship. You may not like, if you're on the MAGA side, things like birth tourism, which is, you know, women coming here and having babies in order to have them be US Citizens or anchor babies. But then you got to have to change the U.S. constitution. They think it's easier to do to lobby the Supreme Court and count on their four or five votes of the United States Supreme Court to get them to interpret out the language of the Constitution, the 14th Amendment. Then it is, of course, to get two thirds of the state and the 2/3 of the House and the Senate to do anything about it. So every circuit court, every, every court that's ever looked at it since 1898 has said exactly what the, the judges of the 9th Circuit, 1st Circuit and 4th Circuit have said, which is the 14th Amendment, says what it's supposed to say. And an executive order can't destroy that and declare somebody not to be a US Citizen. Donald Trump ran into Supreme Court consolidating or trying to take applications from these three different circuits over which there are three different justices. It's Kagan, Katanji, Brown, Jackson and Roberts, respectively, in the ninth, the first, and the, and the, and the fourth. And they could have all done the shadow docket thing, but the problem is you got three judges with three almost identical applications. So instead they referred it over to the full, the full group. All Donald, not all. Donald Trump was seeking now, not a merits determination about whether he's right or wrong on birthright citizenship. He's looking to have the nationwide universal injunction blocked while he litigates over the next six months to a year about whether he's right or wrong, meaning every baby, if the Supreme Court had gone with this or is going to go with this, every baby born while they blocked, it would not be a US Citizen. Which is why the states have joined together, about 20 of them, along with affected people like pregnant women, to sue the Trump administration. Because it's all going to burden the states when all these people are found not to be US Citizens and yet need welfare, health care, education, social services and the like, which is why they are an injured party permitted to bring the case. Trump doesn't even bother arguing in most of his appeals, or most, yeah, most of the appeals, about the merits of the case because he wants to argue that the states don't have standing. The First Circuit, which was the last circuit to rule earlier in the week, the chief judge there out of Boston, Massachusetts, affirming Judge Sorokin's decision, said the same thing. The fourth and the ninth set, which is we have a leading case, it's 1898, it's the Wong King Kim Ark case. And it says that if you're born here, you are a resident. Sorry, you are a U.S. citizen. And that has been the prevailing law forever. And so I'm going to issue a nationwide injunction. The sub fight that's here that's burst out into the open is that when the Democrats and the public interest groups are opposing Trump policies. They hate nationwide injunctions. One judge blocking a policy for the entire nation. But they love it when they did it 17 times, almost 20 times in the Biden administration to stop reproductive rights of women, abortion rights of women, health care rights, the right of Biden to be the commander in chief, the right of Biden to give student loan relief. Those are all nationwide injunctions coming out of primarily Louisiana and Texas in the 5th and affirmed by the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals, which is why more cases come out of the 5th Circuit to the United States Supreme Court last term and the term before that than any other circuit around. So there's this fight, this existential fight about birthright citizenship, but really it's a fundamental fight about nationwide injunctions, because when again the Republicans are in power, they hate them. They want to divide and conquer the federal judiciary. They don't want a unified unitary judiciary. They don't want one nationwide injunction or overlapping nationwide injunctions. They want us to go run around and get 50 separate injunctions. You know, if Donald Trump was right, then the order in Massachusetts would only apply to the 22 states that brought it. Meaning if you were born just by happenstance in one of the other 28 states, you're not a citizen. But if you happen to be born in the first 22, you are. That's madness. And so there is a purpose and a reason why nationwide injunctions are the appropriate remedy or relief, even if it's not a quote, unquote, class action, because it's the only way, if it's a nationwide impact, a constitutional principle, the only way to, to stop it and to preserve the status quo is to balance it with a nationwide injunction. It's relatively simple. Now, there is some, there are some people in the United States Supreme Court that hate nationwide injunctions. Gorsuch in particular, has written dissent after dissent, speech after speech, interview after interview, lamenting nationwide injunctions. He thinks it's a violation of Article 3. It's beyond the jurisdiction of federal courts. It's an example of an incomplete record leading to a hasty decision which undermines our rule of law. That's Gorsuch. Alito and Thomas agree with him. The question is, does Kavanaugh. Kavanaugh sometimes has been in favor of nationwide injunctions and sometimes hasn't. But I don't think that Amy Coney Barrett, Kavanaugh and Roberts, at least two of those two out of those three, I don't think they have a fundamental problem with nationwide injunctions under certain circumstances like birthright citizenship, as opposed to making a, a policy decision which Gorsuch has made, which is he hates them in all contexts. So the good news is, I think that once the full briefing comes in on birthright citizenship, we're not going to see too much discussion about, except in dissent, maybe by Gorsuch and others about nationwide injunctions. But that is the fight, that is the companion fight that goes along with the unitary president model. And we're going to continue to track it and follow it here. One last thing. The fact that they, I had thought, and I did a hot take on this, that if Roberts or whomever issued a fast requirement that the 22 states and the other parties in the three total lawsuits have to file their opposition paper to the application quickly, that might have not been a great sign for the, where the mental process is for the court and the five votes, but the fact that they said, we're going to put it out till April 4, when you guys can file your response like a month from now, and they're not going to do an administrative temporary stay in the meantime, even from now till the fourth, I think that bodes well. And I'll come back and explain if I was wrong about where the five votes are on the United States Supreme Court on this particular issue. Because what Roberts could have done is what he did a week or so ago that we talked about in the US Aid case, where he said he got the filing on a Tuesday by US aid by the Trump administration. He administratively blocked the US aid order by Judge Ali to pay the $2 billion until Friday, giving four days time for the aid organizations and the AIDS organizations to file their brief. But he, but he put a, he held the ring in the meantime, and then he got the brief and then he read the brief and then he said, you lose Trump administration. And he and Amy Coney Barrett ruled as they ruled here. There's no administrative stay at all, which I think if you're the Trump administration, you have to worry again, we have to aim in all argument now on these issues for Amy Coney Barrett, she of eight children, she of some of them adopted, including some that MAGA are going crazy about, because they figured out that Amy Coney Barrett got a Haitian adopted daughter. We'll have to see where she lies on presidential power restraining Trump, and on this issue of birth citizenship. I think she's going to end up on the right side. I think her kind of eye rolling at Donald Trump and trolling a little bit of Donald Trump at the joint session speech a couple of weeks ago led MAGA to think that she's not going to rule in their favor because they not only attacked her as Amy Commie Barrett, but they've actually, there's actually been a bomb threat against Amy Coney Barrett's sister. So we, as we've said time and time again, when you're an advocate before the United States Supreme Court, you know, you know the numbers. You know, the three over here, Gorsuch, Thomas and Alito, are so far gone that you're not going to be able to get them back to your side. So you got to aim for Roberts and Amy Coney Barrett. Kavanaugh's untrustworthy in many ways. He's a free radical. You don't know where he's going to go on any particular issue. There seems to be no continuity of thought about his jurisprudence. So you got to aim for Amy Coney Barrett, try to get her over with the other three on the Democratic wing of the Supreme Court and pull Roberts along for the ride to kill this birthright citizenship. Why are we spending so much time talking about it? Because it's an article of faith for maga, for the Heritage foundation and for the federalists to kill birthright citizenship. It will be celebrated in those homes, in those institutions, just like the Dobbs decision was celebrated. Killing a woman's right to choose that have been on the books for over 50 years. This will be 100 year accomplishment to get rid of birthright citizenship.
Judge Alsup
And the issue of birthright citizenship though, is also being used here as a broader proxy to also attack nationwide injunctions. The issue that's going to go before the Supreme Court on April 4 and then through oral arguments is not even necessarily a merits based argument about birthright citizenship. It is a more narrow issue, but with broader implications given the nationwide injunctions across the country on Trump's other policies about whether nationwide injunctions should be allowed or not be allowed. And that will carry with it major implications. Now, when this Trump regime started or even before Trump was sworn in and didn't put his hand on the Bible, we said there were three major things we wanted to you to be focused on in terms of themes that we see being the kind of the key legal themes as, as this Trump regime develops. One thing we talked about was nationwide injunctions. Go back and look at the past episodes before Trump actually took office where Popak was saying you're going to have these filings across the country. There's going to be nationwide injunctions. The Trump administration, the regime, they're going to be, they're going to freak out and flip out about that, number one. Number two, we talked a lot about Freedom of Information act requests. When we heard about Doge, we're saying what is Doge? What's this? They're going to have to be subject to Freedom of Information Act. They're going to try to avoid it. Watch that theme. We're seeing that now at the forefront. And then we talked about the dynamics of the court. Will Amy Coney Barrett and Justice Roberts. Justice Barrett, Justice Roberts join with the three liberals, at least on the issues that check a lot of the Trump dictator stuff. You know, they may, they may do some other horrible rulings, but on the real dictator stuff, is that where they stand up? And one of the things that we looked at, if you remember back in December, was Justice Roberts annual report where he gave certain warnings that seem to be warnings to Trump that Trump didn't heed. And then so we predicted this kind of, you know, this, this moment where you would see potentially a 5 to 4 standing up to Trump on the dictator ish kind of the dictator Type stuff. So we'll see if that's developing. Speaking of the dictator type stuff, I want to talk about the Alien enemies Act of 1798. We'll talk about that. That also has an issue of nationwide injunctions. We should talk about foia, Freedom of Information act requests, and also another issue about wide injunctions relating to probationary employees. Let's take our last quick break of the show. I want to remind everybody about Michael Popo's new law firm. I'm so proud of you, Popak. I know it was a big risk to start your own law firm. You were getting so many requests from people who watch the show, people who suffer from or have family members or new people who are in bad car accidents and catastrophic injuries, people who are victims of sexual assault or sexual harassment or wrongful termination or medical malpractice. And they were looking for help. And you didn't have a vehicle to do it. Now you do. So if you have those types of cases or, you know, people, specifically the catastrophic injury cases, all injuries are significant. I don't want to downplay just in terms of what Popo's handling. Popox picked up some, like, big truck accident cases and wrongful death cases. Those are the types of cases Popak handles. Where can they find you? Popak.
Michael Popak
Yeah. 1-800-sorry-1877, Popak AF and also the website thepopocfirm.com I mean, the reality is, Ben, that what we do here every day on the Midas Touch and Legal AF on the intersection of law and politics is so important. It touches so many lives, but there's so many great lawyers that are already obtaining these nationwide injunctions, these public interest groups, these attorneys general. The other aspect of law in court that touches everybody's lives, unfortunately, are these catastrophic injury deaths cases that we just outlined. And so that's, that's the place where I felt I could be of most use and most service. So that's how that for that firm got formed.
Judge Alsup
Let's take our last quick break of the show. Please make sure you hit subscribe here and also check out Michael Popak's YouTube channel, the Legal AF YouTube channel. We'll be right back.
Michael Popak
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Judge Alsup
To legal af special shout out to our pro democracy sponsors. We don't have outside investors, so that goes a long way to help. All right, Popak, let's. And the discount codes are in the description below. Michael Popo, let's talk about Alien enemies Act of 1798. Look, during the campaign, Trump said he wanted to invoke this Wartime Powers Act. You have to invoke it. You can't just, you know, silently utilize it. And there has to be a war. It's why Donald Trump uses the language of invasion, that we're under attack, that there's an invasion taking place, because he wants to seize wartime powers that were used, for example, in World War II to put Japanese people in concentration camps. And the invocation of the Aliens Enemies act does not have a good history. It's always concentration camps, torture, and treating other people horribly. Awfully dehumanizing. Here's what just Trump said. I could show you 100 clips like this. I'm not. I'll show you this clip right here.
Carrie Underwood
To expedite removals of trend day Aragua and other savage gangs. I will invoke the Alien enemies Act of 1798. Can you believe that? We couldn't have an act like that now because now everything's woke. You know, we have woke generals like Millie and Mattis. We are woke people. They don't do things like this. So we had to go.
Judge Alsup
So if you notice the trend that he does, he then attacks our military the way in the earlier clips we showed you when he was in the Department of Justice, the FBI and praise the January 6th insurrectionists. But Michael Popak, this is now becoming the subject of nationwide injunctions to block him from invoking the Alien Enemies Act. He hadn't formally invoked it, at least as of us shooting this right now. He hasn't invoked it yet. But the ACLU and a lot of other legal groups who are bringing actions in Washington, D.C. and eventually, you know, kind of elsewhere saying, look, what we hear is that they're about to do it and they want to do it like instantaneously where they're going to do it and then immediately use it to get rid of, you know, all the Venice, like Venezuelans and Cubans and Mexicans and other Latinos and a lot of people who supported Trump. I mean, you're talking about, you know, the Venezuelans for Trump, the Cubans for Trump. I mean, the family members of people who voted for Trump. Trump are the first targets of this Alien Enemies Act. And, and it's not the gangs. You Know, we all agree, let's be clear that the gangs need to go, they need to be prosecuted. No one supports the gangs and the crimes. But even like when Donald Trump would was saying that he was sending people to Guantanamo Bay, spent tens of millions of dollars for actually moving people to Guantanamo Bay, like 180 people or so or 190 people, then hundreds of millions of dollars potentially on all of the PR and all of like the government, you know, all of the propaganda surrounding it. And then they didn't have the supplies there and they weren't gang members, they were like non violent migrants who were just there for show. And then they moved them to Louisiana and then they shut down the Guantanamo Bay. So now they're going Alien Enemies act. We know that they're just not just targeting the bad guys. The bad guys have always been targeted. Whether it was Biden or George W. Bush or Obama, the bad guys always get targeted. But here's the Alien Enemies act, nationwide injunction issues. And you know, he's also claiming wartime powers. Wartime powers. And you know, the issue here, you know, one of the things that I guess the game of chicken, right Popak is the Trump regime is going to be like, well we haven't invoked it yet. We haven't invoked it yet. So you can't get an injunction without the invocation. But it's also the game of chicken or the chicken before the egg. You said you're going to do it, we know you're going to do it. You have the plan and we need to get ahead of it. So that's what's going on Popoc, with alien enemies back, maybe talk about that Popak and then pivot to probationary employees.
Michael Popak
Okay, well the Alien Sedition act, you have to have an act of war declared unless it's an imminent attack. I don't know how. This slow rolling immigration problem that we've had for 50 years, which accumulated 11 million people here, undocumented constitutes an enemy attack from within or an imminent enemy attack from within. The only three times that a president has ever invoked the Alien Enemies act or the Alien Sedition act was the War of 1812, World War I and World War II. And as you said, usually it's a black stain on our democracy. Like when we gathered up Japanese American citizens and put them in concentration camps that we called euphemistically internment camps after the Pearl harbor attack led to supreme even, even Supreme Courts at that time were like fdr, you went too far and you generally have to have at some point a War declared. Donald Trump may be able to get this, this MAGA puppy, spineless puppy of a Congress to do a lot of things and a lot of tricks. Not sure it's going to be able to get it to declare a war and have. And what is the war? I'm sorry, Venezuela is the theory. Venezuela, Mexico, Cuba. Fill in the blank. Is sending people here by state government operation in order to wage a war from within, within America. That's how the border crisis happened. That's how the 11 million people got here. It's. It's completely asinine. But Donald Trump is. It's not just an idle threat. It's right out of Project 2025's playbook. We read it while he was campaigning. He said it the week or two before the actual election. It's not like he's hiding it. He said it out loud that he was going to invoke it by, by claiming it. And what they're trying to do is try to turbocharge their deportation powers and try to take, like, Guantanamo Bay, which is the way you described it. It sounds like the Fyre Festival that went awry. The nine people that were at Guantanamo Bay, many from Venezuela, are now going to be sent out by the exercise of the Alien Enemies act by the President of the United States. It seems like an awful, an awful big constitutional violation to get rid of nine people. But, you know, they want to do it for the thousands, if not millions of others, and they want to test the waters on that. So Chief Justice, Chief Judge Boasberg, who sits over all things administrative and Otherwise at the D.C. circuit Court, very well considered. He's pretty well versed in all things Trump because he presided over the back half of the Trump criminal investigation, prosecution and trials, you know, in his own way, as being ahead of the grand jury process that he took over from another chief judge. So he knows what's going on here. So he has ordered. He is. He's looked at the briefing. He sees the exigent circumstances, which is a code word for there's an emergency here, a velocity at which I need to stop it. And he's ordered that people not be deported. He didn't say the magic words because of the illegal, unconstitutional exercise of the Alien Enemies act, but he's implied it. He's seen the briefing and he's called for a zoom hearing. We're going to get more data about what happened at that zoom hearing, but already Donald Trump's not waiting around to find out what happens at the zoom hearing over the weekend. He's already filed his appeal to the D.C. court. So we've got, we've got kind of rapidity of behavior or velocity of behavior and urgency about this on both sides. The Trump administration wants to shove it down our throat that there's a war when there's not and use a war power that doesn't exist. And the federal, the federal process, federal court system is straining to restrain Donald Trump. There's going to be the hearing. I'm sure the TRO is going to remain in place. They're going to announce at the hearing on the Trump side and doj, we took an appeal. Stay it while, stay your order while, while the appeal's going on. That's going to be rejected, I assure you, by Judge Boasberg. He thought through this before he entered the temporary restraining order. They'll probably issue a longer order that will be also the subject of that appeal. And we'll see what the D.C. court, they're going to ask the D.C. court to stay Judge Boasberg's decision to allow them to deport these Venezuelans and others and to basically use the Alien Enemies act in the interim while they appeal it. I'm sure that'll be rejected. And then, whoosh, we're off to the United States Supreme Court. As I've only half joked on Legal AF and on a show I do with Dina called Unprecedented DINA dahl, Supreme Court better cancel their summer vacations because all these, you know, right wing Supreme Court justices like to go and and raw and what is it called, romp around Italian and Spanish castles for the summer. It's over because there's going to be so many emergency applications and emergency docket matters and writs that are going to be filed over the summer that they might as well just keep the doors open, forget summer summer vacation. So we got that. Let me pivot now to this Department of Justice, sorry, Department of Government efficiency Doge issue. You and I said last Saturday that this is going to come to a head with Musk and Doge over lack of transparency, whether Doge and Musk are executive advisors, executive branch advisors, or they're really quasi agencies, whether they're going to be subject to Freedom of Information act request, public records request or not. What judge was going to finally order Elon Musk to sit for sworn testimony? And what was going to happen with the other cases? And it all came to a head. In the last 48 to 72 hours, we have five different decisions. Picture, picture Doge as a giant pinata. It just got hit Five separate times. And it's about to burst open into the, into the, into the public. You've got, earlier in the week, Judge Chutkin ruling, and boy, does she know everything about Trump having presided over his criminal case. She ruled that Elon Musk is going to have to, is going to have to give sworn testimony under oath in the form of an interrogatory. It's not quite a deposition, which is like trial testimony live, but it's pretty darn close. And now you're going to see the Trump administration raising executive privilege to try to stop Elon Musk from giving answers about who, what and how is Doge, what are they doing? What are its superpowers? How are they going after funding? How are they going after federal workers? This public interest group that brought the case and the public need to know. So she ordered that. An hour or two later, Judge Cooper in the same courthouse ruled that the Department of Government Efficiency Services is effectively a quasi government agency subject to foia, the Freedom of Information act request, and therefore they have to produce all those documents. So you've got those two orders back to back and then within hours of each other on Thursday, you got Judge Alsupp, a senior judge in the Northern District of California, and then you have Judge Berdar in Maryland, who for different approaches, came to the same conclusion. One, the Trump administration is lying in the courtroom and the Department of Justice is lying in the courtroom about why they're firing these people, claiming it's for performance, which is impossible. Both of them have ordered the reinstatement of tens of thousands of federal probationary workers, those that have been on the job a year or less. Bradar said it's got to be by Monday at 1:00. And then you have. Right. And so you got those two. One did it under an analysis that this was an, which is true, an improper, quote, reduction in force. We call it a riff. That didn't give the states enough notice time to prepare for all of the tens of thousands of unemployed federal workers falling on the state unemployment benefits line. And you have to give them notice so they can make the rapid response and change and reallocate resources and go to the federal government for money. What does he think is going to happen to these, these 40, 50,000 paycheck holders, consumers and voters when they're dumped out of their jobs. So he did it on a riff and ordered the reinstatement for a few weeks while the briefing goes on. Judge Alsop said out loud, it's a sad state of affairs. When the government is coming into my courtroom and lying about the firing. And he's also going to hold hearings about a possible contempt against the Trump administration because they didn't make and they withheld the testimony of their acting Office of Personnel Management official, Charles Ezell. They didn't make him show up for deposition or for the court hearing. And the judge is now going to have to consider holding the Trump administration, administration and its officials in contempt. As we move into the next round of the attack on the rule of law, which is that you completely ignore federal judges and their orders, which is we're starting to move in there with the Trump administration. So when you put all this together, what is the Trump administration response? Elon Musk goes on to social media and calls for the impeachment of all of these judges because they're, quote, unquote corrupt, because he doesn't like the response. And Donald Trump goes to the Department of Justice and says the Department of Justice and the FBI used to be corrupt, but they aren't any longer and we got to get rid of these corrupt judges. While Carolyn Levette, right on cue, who sounds a lot like and starting to look like a lot like Alina Habit now, not like a classic press secretary, she comes out and says one federal judge is exercising presidential power. If they want to be the president, they should run for office. I got a better idea for you. How about the federal judiciary is a co equal branch of government that is charged with keeping Donald Trump and his administration and the executive branch from going off the rails and abusing power as we lurch from one constitutional crisis to another. That is their job, Caroline. And the Trump administration, that's why we have that in the Constitution.
Judge Alsup
I'll leave people with this. I appeared before Judge Alsupp before in the Northern District of California. He was always known as a titan in the legal field, probably one of the most well respected judges in the entire country, certainly in California. And he was a no nonsense judge. So as a young associate, when I had a case in front of him and we were just appearing for a status conference, I remember the partners at my firm telling me when I was a young associate, like, you need to show up with your a game to the status conference. And you know, when you show up in Judge Alsip's court, he also would have the lawyers kind of like stand like four feet in front of him and, and his, and his bench would be elevated like about six feet up and you would be pretty close to him and he was this kind of imposing legal Figure who was, you know, would grill you on your case at a status conference where you wouldn't normally get grilled about all these things. And he was someone who, if, if you didn't know your case, you know, he would set, he would schedule an order to show cause for sanctions or why the case shouldn't be dismissed. So at this hearing, the DOJ lawyer showed up unprepared. Again, this is the same DOJ who like, refuses to answer who's running this organization or who's running that organization and who's leading doge. And then they whine about not having the resources at the DOJ anymore to handle their cases. And so before Judge Alsupp ultimately ruled against the Department of Justice and against the Trump regime and ordered the reinstatement of a lot of probationary employees in various departments, not all the departments, but various departments, here's what went down. Here's what the judge said to the Trump lawyers. You will not bring the people in here to be cross examined. You're afraid to do so because you know, cross examination would reveal the truth. This is the US District Court. Whenever you submit declarations, those people should be submitted to the cross examination, just like the plaintiff side should be. Then we get at the truth of what's actually true. I tend to doubt that you're telling me the truth whenever we hear all the evidence. Eventually. Why can't you bring your people in to be cross examined or deposed at their convenience? I said two hours for Mr. Ezel. A deposition at his convenience, and you withdrew his declaration rather than do that. Come on, that's a sham. It upsets me. I want you to know that I've been practicing in this court for over 50 years and I know how we get at the truth. And you're not helping me get at the truth. You're giving me press releases, sham documents. I'm getting mad. And then he ruled against the Department of Justice. And to me, what this show is about, what this network is about, what I've dedicated my life to, what we've dedicated this network to, what Popox dedicated his life to is just fundamentally getting at the truth. Truth. Not gamifying politics, not spinning, but just show me the facts. Just show me the evidence. Show me where the law says these things. Show me the exhibits. Show me. Show me the stuff and what Trump's done his entire life as he's bankrupted multiple businesses. He just lies. He makes up numbers. It's all a fake. It's all a fugazi with this guy. And now the spineless Republican Party has become just that, just all a bunch of liars. Everything's a lie. Gaslighting lies on top of lies, rug pulling, Ponzi scheming, come up with the next lie and then just build the mountain of lies and then hopefully rip apart people's spirits. That's, that's the goal.
Michael Popak
Let me, let me, let me bookend that. Judge Reyes, earlier in the week in D.C. ripped a new one. That's a legal term for the Pete Hegseth and the Department of Justice, the lawyer in particular, who she found to be not prepared. See the theme here? Not prepared, ill prepared, didn't know the facts, didn't know the studies upon which the Pentagon was basing his transgender policy on. And the judge had done her own research and then decided to toy a little bit in a cat and mouse with an ill prepared, underprepared lack of credibility. Department of justice personnel, the very Department of Justice that Donald Trump just applauded and said, we're in the proud halls of this honored institution, that he's completely eviscerated and ripped any kind of professionalism out of, trotting out lawyers who purposefully, I'll say it out loud, who purposefully on purpose, don't prepare so they can have some sort of plausible deniability to be able to answer the questions of federal judges like you and I would never go into a courtroom not knowing our facts are law. I've told my trial teams we're going to there's no one in that courtroom who's going to know the law and the facts better than us. Somebody may know it as well, but nobody's going to know it better than us. And that's how I succeeded in my career and you, too. But they purposely go in there. She said to I'll give you an example, she said to this lawyer for the Department of Justice on the transgender issue with Pete Hegseth. She's about to issue her ruling. Judge Reyes, she said, you talk a lot about the amount of money that the Pentagon has spent for people for gender affirming care of some sort. Do you know how much money has been spent on that in the last 10 years? He said, I don't know. She said, It's $51 million in 10 years. He says, oh, I didn't know that. She said, do you know how much money has been spent on Viagra just this past year for our troops? And he said, I don't know. She said, it's $42 million per year. Sounds like that's a bigger problem than the problem you've come into my court with. Right, sir, but this is on purpose. They're trotting out these young lawyers who have no file under their arm, who don't research the facts, and they're sending them out to the lions and Supreme Court, sorry, Federal judges are saying, as you just saw with Judge Alsai, are saying, you come into my courtroom, you come into my courtroom prepared. You bring in after you got affidavits, you get these people ready for deposition and for testimony. This is what we're seeing is the pushback and the shove back by the federal judiciary.
Judge Alsup
Absolutely. Michael Popak, thank you so much as always. Legally Effers, thank you as always. Let's keep on growing this platform. So proud that your legal AF YouTube channel has hit 500,000 subscribers. Let's keep that growing, and let's have that hit a million subscribers soon. I can't wait for that. And I love that, Popak, you're building all these relationships with all these public interest groups as well, who are using Legal AF as a major platform as well to talk about the cases that they're handling against the Trump regime. Also super proud of the law firm that you've created. I know it was a lifelong goal of yours, and we had so many people reaching out to you, asking if you could help represent them. I just want to let people know the types of cases you handle. Again, it's real catastrophic injury cases. So you've handled like wrongful death, truck accident cases and cases involving people, you know, horrific stuff, losing limbs, paraparaplegics, people who have had kind of massive and major surgeries. And, and so those are the cases that you're able to have the bandwidth to take. You're doing a wrongful death case involving the plane crash over Washington, D.C. flight.
Michael Popak
Attendant who died in the plane crash.
Judge Alsup
And so you're doing great work, Popak. And for anyone who has cases like that, or wrongful termination, medical malpractice cases, sexual harassment cases, go reach out to popac. Where can they reach out to you?
Michael Popak
Yeah, it really is the intersection of law and life. It's Pope, the popoc firm.com that's the website made it easy, and I made it Easy on the 1-800-number-1-877, Popak AF.
Judge Alsup
Yeah, reach out now. I saw a lot of people during the show reaching out, and I, I can, I get the, I can see the reports of the people calling. So, you know, there seems to be a lot of interest in that as well. All right. Thanks everybody for watching Hit subscribe here on the Midas Touch YouTube channel. We're on our way to 5 million subscribers. Let's try to get there soon as well. Thanks, everybody. Shout out Legal A effer Shout out Midas Mighty.
Legal AF by MeidasTouch – Episode Summary: March 15, 2025
Episode Title: Legal AF Full Episode 3/15/2025
Release Date: March 16, 2025
Hosts: Ben Miceli, Michael Popak, Karen Friedman Agnifilo
Executive Producer: Meidas Media Network
Introduction
In the March 15, 2025 episode of Legal AF hosted by the MeidasTouch Network, Ben Miceli, Michael Popak, and Karen Friedman Agnifilo delve into the latest tumultuous developments at the intersection of law and politics. This episode focuses heavily on former President Donald Trump’s recent maneuvers against the judicial system, his attempts to undermine federal injunctions, and the potential invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The hosts provide in-depth analysis of court rulings and the broader implications for the rule of law in the United States.
1. Trump's Department of Justice Press Conference
At the outset, the episode scrutinizes Trump's recent Department of Justice (DOJ) press conference, where he attempted to galvanize his base by praising January 6th insurrectionists and criticizing federal judges.
Michael Popak criticizes Trump’s rhetoric:
“Donald Trump was on fentanyl. I wasn’t sure. He was kind of high in his own supply. It’s all a ruse.” [06:23]
Judge Alsup highlights the inconsiderate nature of Trump's speech, emphasizing the praise of insurrectionists and attacks on judicial figures:
“Donald Trump is at the Department of Justice attacking the FBI, praising the January 6th insurrectionists in that ballroom in front of the DOJ lawyers. A madman, a psychopath.” [15:15]
2. Nationwide Injunctions and Judicial Pushback
The discussion shifts to Trump’s administration’s efforts to halt nationwide injunctions issued by federal judges against his policies, particularly targeting birthright citizenship.
Judge Alsup explains the strategy behind nationwide injunctions and the Trump administration’s resistance:
“Nationwide injunctions were the main tool that the right wing, that the Federalist Society, that the Heritage Foundation, that they used to try to derail former President Biden's agenda...” [02:08]
Michael Popak elaborates on the legal battles surrounding birthright citizenship:
“Every president has gotten it wrong in the last 150 years or over 100 years, including his own presidency. Because they misinterpreted that language to mean...” [35:01]
Notably, the Supreme Court’s involvement is anticipated, with Chief Justice Roberts setting a schedule for responses to Trump’s emergency request [35:01].
3. Potential Invocation of the Alien Enemies Act of 1798
One of the most alarming topics discussed is Trump’s potential use of the Alien Enemies Act to target specific groups, including supporters and migrants from certain countries.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo outlines the historical context and dangers associated with the Act:
“The invocation of the Aliens Enemies act does not have a good history. It's always concentration camps, torture, and treating other people horribly.” [55:24]
Michael Popak debates the feasibility and implications of such an invocation:
“The only three times that a president has ever invoked the Alien Enemies act or the Alien Sedition act was the War of 1812, World War I, and World War II...” [58:40]
The conversation underscores the severe constitutional violations that would ensue, comparing current threats to historical abuses like Japanese internment camps during World War II.
4. Federal Judges Reinstating Fired Probationary Employees
Federal judges have recently ordered the reinstatement of thousands of federal probationary employees, challenging the Trump administration's justifications for their termination.
Judge Alsup discusses rulings from multiple jurisdictions:
“There are lawsuits everywhere. Literally hundreds or potentially thousands of lawsuits that are being filed.” [33:46]
Michael Popak analyzes the constitutional overreach:
“For President Trump to fire federal workers. This cannot be allowed to happen.” [34:02]
These judges have cited inadequate analysis and procedural flaws in the administration’s termination processes, emphasizing the unlawful nature of these actions.
5. Attacks on the Federal Judiciary and Rule of Law
The episode highlights Trump’s persistent attacks on federal judges, labeling them as corrupt and illegitimate, thereby undermining the independence of the judiciary.
Michael Popak draws parallels between Trump’s actions and unlawful behaviors:
“He took that very blueprint and took him with him to the White House... to destroy the federal bureaucracy, to destroy federal workers and funding...” [09:44]
Judge Alsup emphasizes the judiciary’s role in maintaining checks and balances:
“The federal judiciary is a co-equal branch of government that is charged with keeping Donald Trump and his administration and the executive branch from going off the rails...” [46:40]
These discussions underscore the existential threat posed by attempts to erode judicial independence and the rule of law.
6. Legal Strategies and Future Implications
The hosts discuss potential legal strategies and the broader implications of ongoing court battles, including the fight over nationwide injunctions and the Alien Enemies Act.
Michael Popak predicts the Supreme Court’s involvement and potential rulings:
“Judge Alsup's decision to allow them to deport these Venezuelans and others and to basically use the Alien Enemies act in the interim while they appeal it...” [35:01]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo underscores the importance of judicial integrity:
“The federal judiciary is a co-equal branch of government that is charged with keeping Donald Trump and his administration and the executive branch from going off the rails...” [46:40]
The conversation anticipates heightened judicial scrutiny and potential landmark decisions that could shape the future of executive power and civil liberties in the United States.
7. Michael Popak’s New Law Firm
Towards the end of the episode, attention shifts to Michael Popak’s newly established law firm, thepopocfirm.com, which specializes in catastrophic injury cases, including wrongful death, medical malpractice, and sexual harassment cases.
Karen Friedman Agnifilo promotes Popak's firm:
“So you're doing great work, Popak. And for anyone who has cases like that... reach out to Popak.” [75:27]
Michael Popak explains his firm’s mission:
“The intersection of law and life... catastrophic injury deaths cases... wrongful death, truck accident cases...” [50:17]
This segment highlights Popak’s commitment to providing legal support for individuals facing severe personal and professional challenges.
Conclusion
The March 15, 2025 episode of Legal AF offers a comprehensive analysis of the Trump administration's aggressive tactics against the judiciary and federal institutions. Ben Miceli, Michael Popak, and Karen Friedman Agnifilo provide critical insights into the legal battles unfolding, emphasizing the importance of upholding the rule of law and judicial independence. The episode serves as a crucial resource for listeners seeking to understand the intricate dynamics between law and politics in contemporary America.
Notable Quotes:
Michael Popak: “Give me the House and the Senate. I'll give you an impeachment and a conviction and a removal of Donald Trump. That's the way that we beat them.” [09:44]
Judge Alsup: “I don't call it the Trump government. I'll occasionally catch myself if I call it the administration. I try to call it the regime, because it's no longer a government by the people, for the people.” [11:24]
Michael Popak: “Everything's a lie. Gaslighting lies on top of lies, rug pulling, Ponzi scheming...” [68:46]
Karen Friedman Agnifilo: “She gets that the federal judiciary is a co-equal branch of government that is charged with keeping Donald Trump and his administration and the executive branch from going off the rails...” [46:40]
Stay Informed
For listeners who haven’t tuned into Legal AF, this episode provides a critical overview of significant legal challenges facing the United States today. By dissecting recent court rulings and presidential actions, the hosts equip their audience with the knowledge needed to navigate and understand the evolving legal landscape.
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