Serious Trouble

Josh Barro and Ken White

An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White. www.serioustrouble.show

  1. Don't Use the Public Chatbot Lawyer

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    Don't Use the Public Chatbot Lawyer

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show There'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.

    24 min
  2. This Episode Contains No Administrative Procedure Act Coverage

    24 ABR

    This Episode Contains No Administrative Procedure Act Coverage

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This 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.

    21 min
  3. Call the Swalwell Hotline

    18 ABR

    Call the Swalwell Hotline

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week Ken and Josh discuss Eric Swallwell and how prosecutors in Manhattan and Los Angeles are looking into sexual assault allegations against the now-former congressman. Meanwhile, US Attorney Jeanine Pirro — who oversees local felony prosecutions in the District of Columbia — has set up a hotline for victims who may have been assaulted by Swalwell there. Besides looking into Swalwell, Pirro sent a couple of her henchpersons to the under-construction Federal Reserve headquarters looking for … something. An “I personally ordered the cost overruns” note from Jay Powell? We’re not sure, and probably neither were they — going to the crime scene is not something AUSAs do, as Ken notes from his own rueful experience of being denied an all-expenses paid trip to the Inland Empire, and the stunt seems only to have strengthened the resolve of Sen. Thom Tillis to block any confirmations of Trump Fed nominees. That’s on this week’s show plus, for paying subscribers: * Trump moves to vacate convictions of Oath Keeper and Proud Boy January 6 defendants whose convictions he’d previously chosen not to pardon; * A panel of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals again frustrates James Boasberg’s investigation into non-compliance with his orders about deportations; * Trump’s defamation lawsuit against the Wall Street Journal is dismissed for failure to plead actual malice; * The Pentagon continues to try to avoid complying with an order to reinstate reporters’ access; * Bill Essayli loses yet another case against immigration protesters; and * A lesson on aesthetic standing (and how not to use AI!) from the Tiger King. Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.

    19 min
  4. Strictly Prohibited Ballroom

    5 ABR

    Strictly Prohibited Ballroom

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week Ken and Josh discuss Anthropic's big win, the injunction on Trump's ballroom construction, and what to make of the block on Trump's executive order defunding PBS and NPR since Congress has rescinded their funding. That's for all subscribers. Paying subscribers will also hear our conversations about: * Covington & Burling warned its client, ActBlue, that some statements ActBlue made in a 2023 letter to congressional leaders may have been misleading, and that ActBlue’s CEO probably needs her own lawyer to deal with her legal exposure around that fact. ActBlue responded by firing Covington & Burling. It’s a big old mess, and Ken describes how this kind of thing can happen when you represent an entity, and the entity’s legal needs don’t always line up with the legal needs of its executives. * A Colorado appeals court threw out Tina Peters’ nine-year sentence for voting machine tampering, saying the judge raised her sentence in response to her constitutionally-protected speech. * After his car accident, Tiger Woods issued a statement saying he will step away and “seek treatment.” It’s an implicit admission of DUI, but as Ken notes, he’s very unlikely to beat the rap on DUI anyway, and this is a situation where his PR need to speak up and take responsibility may actually outweigh his legal prerogative to shut up. * FBI agents are suing Kash Patel for wrongful termination, and taking the opportunity to tell embarrassing stories about Patel that may not be strictly germane to their litigation. * Some people who went to the Capitol for January 6 have filed a new class action lawsuit, apparently hoping to join in on the Trump settlement gravy train. * Be careful what buttons you click on LinkedIn. * And, by popular demand, Ken analyzes Clavicular’s predicaments. Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.

    21 min
  5. Pro Se Exam

    27 MAR

    Pro Se Exam

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week Ken and Josh discuss Judge Lewis Kaplan losing some patience with Sam Bankman-Fried, and not just because Bankman-Fried’s mom tried to communicate with him ex parte. SBF has been making purportedly pro se filings, at least one of which appears to have been dictated to and FedExed by his mother, and he simultaneously has an appeal proceeding in the appeals court with real lawyers. Kaplan says he has to choose — are you pro se or not? And he wants to know — have any lawyers besides mom been helping with these filings he’s supposedly personally responsible for? Meanwhile, the “Department of War” has been having a rough time in court. The Pentagon’s anti-reporting press policy has been thrown out as a First Amendment violation, so now the Pentagon says no reporters at all can work out of the Pentagon press room. Meanwhile, Anthropic won a preliminary injunction blocking the Pentagon’s declaration that the company is a “Supply Chain Risk.” (The Anthropic order came down after we taped — we’ll have a further update on next week’s show.) That’s for all subscribers. Paying subscribers will also hear our conversations about: * DOJ’s admission that it had no evidence of a crime related to Jay Powell’s testimony about Federal Reserve headquarters renovation cost overruns (and the surprisingly low bar for issuing a subpoena that the government nevertheless failed to clear). * A surprisingly practical choice by DOJ in New Jersey. * Minnesota’s effort to force the federal government to disclose investigative material related to the shooting deaths of Alex Pretti and Renée Good. * Mike Lindell in contempt of court. * Mike Flynn getting a settlement from Trump for his alleged persecution by Trump’s own DOJ. * No protective order for those DOGE henchman depositions. * And the Oklahoma Supreme Court telling attorneys to go ahead and use AI, if they dare. Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.

    24 min
  6. Pound Cake for Everyone

    20 MAR

    Pound Cake for Everyone

    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week Ken and Josh discuss the Afroman trial and also look at a rough hearing for AUSAs in New Jersey, as the Trump administration decides it will hire candidates straight out of law school to work in US Attorneys’ offices. That’s for all subscribers. Paying subscribers will also hear our conversations about: * Judge James Boasberg’s order quashing subpoenas to the Federal Reserve, U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro’s choice to appeal that order, and Boasberg’s other order requiring the disclosure of grand jury no-bills. * Capitol pipe bomber defendant Brian Cole, who has made his anticipated claim that the president’s pardon of January 6 rioters also applies to him (even though this seems to go against the plain language of the pardon, which applies only to those “convicted” of offenses related to January 6.) * Sam Bankman-Fried’s mom, who got slapped down for trying to have ex-parte communications with the judge overseeing his case; Judge Lewis Kaplan reminded Prof. Barbara Fried that she might be a lawyer, but she’s not her son’s lawyer, at least not in this case. * Defendants convicted of terrorism-related offenses in Texas over an anti-ICE action where they set off fireworks and one defendant shot a law enforcement officer in the neck; as Ken notes, despite the rhetoric on both sides, this trial was never really about whether ‘Antifa’ constitutes a terror organization. * More hot hot administrative procedure action, with Judge Brian Murphy issuing a preliminary injunction against the new, laxer child vaccination guidelines from Robert F. Kennedy Jr’.s Department of Health and Human Services. * And dog-fashion magazine Dogue, which is being sued by Condé Nast for infringing the Vogue trademark. Upgrade your subscription to receive all of our episodes at serioustrouble.show.

    25 min

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An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White. www.serioustrouble.show

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