9th Cir. holds that the Bad Spaniels parody toy of a Jack Daniel's bottle is unlikely to harm the reputation of Jack Daniel's trademarks *because* it is parody. Held: no dilution by tarnishment; remanded for entry of judgment in favor of Bad Spaniels maker. cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/op...

When the court’s printer is jammed again.

New: We found 50 cops who misused Flock cameras and other license-plate readers for personal purposes, often to spy on their girlfriends or ex-wives. He "watched every single move I made. ... Who do you turn the chief of police in to?" wapo.st/3S6rTuo

She left her ex. He secretly tracked her through a network of policing cameras.

Flock’s array of license-plate cameras was built to fight crime. But at least 50 law enforcement officers were charged with or accused of misusing it and other systems.

wapo.st

JUST IN: DOJ says tort claims by Jan. 6 defendants that were not lodged by 2023 are "forever barred" by the statute of limitations. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

JUST POSTED: A deep investigation by The NYT of shortcuts taken to get President Trump his Qatari-donated plane in time for POTUS to show it off during 250th anniversary events-compromises that leave the plane more vulnerable to potential threats (Free link) www.nytimes.com/2026/07/25/u...

Inside the Rushed Effort to Get Trump His New Air Force One

A New York Times investigation found that President Trump’s push to speed delivery of the aircraft led to ballooning costs and trade-offs in safety features.

nytimes.com

Rogue OpenAI agents are leaving notes to themselves on company servers to help them escape their test environments (!!!) www.reuters.com/business/its...

CAN'T MAKE IT UP: ICE deported a man to Mexico in violation of a court order in Nov., acknowledged the error and returned him to the U.S. Then they deported him to El Salvador, in violation of court-ordered torture protection. He's currently imprisoned. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: In a stunning admission, the Trump administration admitted in court documents that it canceled billions in energy grants to states "based solely" on politics -- and whether that state was represented by Democrats and backed Harris in 2024. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/24/b...

Trump Administration Admits Canceling Grants to States That Did Not Vote for Him

Federal officials said in court documents that they halted billions of dollars in funding for energy projects to states “based solely” on whether they backed President Trump in the 2024 election.

nytimes.com

Judge Claria Horn Boom, a Trump appointee in Kentucky, has denied the administration bid to obtain Kentucky's voter rolls, the latest in an unbroken string of legal defeats on this issue. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

BREAKING: Feds withdraw NYT subpoenas into reporting on Qatar-gifted jet The government called the subpoenas to reporters' family members an “error.” www.allrisenews.com/p/judge-quas...

BREAKING: Feds withdraw NYT subpoenas into reporting on Qatar-gifted jet

The government called the subpoenas to reporters' family members an “error.”

allrisenews.com

OK - now hearing on SDNY's subpoenas for reporting about the non-use of the Qatar-gifted jet as Air Force One coming back from Turkey - hearing before Judge Subramanian, who also has Live Nations (and Inner City Press' FOIA case www.courtlistener.com/docket/73400... ) - will live skeet, thread below

Iranian drone attacks on CIA facilities in the Gulf have prompted U.S. intelligence analysts to investigate whether Russia assisted by providing targeting information or ​advanced drone technology. www.reuters.com/world/middle...

OpenAI said on Tuesday that an autonomous agent ​powered by its advanced artificial intelligence models went rogue during a security test and triggered a hack that compromised the infrastructure of ‌AI startup Hugging Face last week. www.reuters.com/technology/o...

The Supreme Court agreed Monday morning to take up a case for the coming term regarding how courts decide whether a fine violates the Excessive Fines Clause of the Eighth Amendment.

The Trump administration sought the phone records of several New York Times journalists and their relatives — including one reporter’s mother — in its effort to unmask the confidential sources. www.nytimes.com/2026/07/20/b...

Adolescent boys indicated in a questionnaire that they wanted to use social media less often, but felt unable to stop. A new study adds to growing research linking increased social media use to detrimental effects on attention, memory and cognition.

The Justice Department appears to have included a fake AI-generated. citation in an ICE detainee's case. Judge Jarbou, a Trump appointee in Michigan, called it out: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

NEW: The Supreme Court won't block a civil contempt order against the journalist Catherine Herridge for refusing to identify the source of a leak. Only Kavanaugh notes his dissent. Herridge will be fined $800 a day until she complies.

I, for one, would really like to meet the people who are getting their FOIA records in less than two months and learn what spells they are casting.

Adam A. Marshall@a-marshall-plan.bsky.social · last mo.

For normal, *simple track* requests, the federal government averaged **49** days in FY25. Again the law requires these requests to be processed in most cases in 20 working days. When the gov fails to invest in #FOIA and/or actively undercuts it, the public suffers. Yikes. (13/x)

To the surprise of no one, the #FOIA backlog across the federal government grew massively in FY25, up 27% from the previous year. Yikes 😬 (10/x)

It's the day before a long holiday weekend, which means it's a great time for the government to post its summary of how #FOIA did in FY2025! Let's dig in (1/x) 🧵

👀👀 DOJ inadvertently delivered Volume II of Jack Smith's report to the lawyers representing a defendant accused of improperly accessing/sending the report to herself. They notified Judge Cannon of the breach today. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

(AP) — More than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the U.S. hours before the earthquakes are missing after their hotel collapsed. apnews.com/article/earthquake...

More than 100 Venezuelans who were deported from the US hours before the earthquakes are missing

Survivors say more than 100 people just deported from the United States were being held in a hotel when earthquakes struck Venezuela, setting off a scramble to find survivors and bodies buried in the rubble.

apnews.com

Last two #SCOTUS rulings are Slaughter and Cook, both by Chief Justice Roberts. As expected, Court sides *with* Trump (the usual 6-3 majority) in Slaughter: www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p... 5-4 majority (with Kavanaugh and the Chief joining the Dems) rules *against* Trump in Cook:

Next up is Chatrie v. U.S. Kagan has the opinion for the court, holding that a search occurred when acquiring cell-phone data from a geofence warrant but remanding for the appeals court to decide if the search was reasonable. www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/25p...

The spokeswoman would speak only on the condition of anonymity because, why, exactly? www.wsj.com/us-news/law/...

US judiciary to hike PACER fees to fund accelerated system upgrade reut.rs/4gIPknn

US judiciary to hike PACER fees to fund accelerated system upgrade

The U.S. federal judiciary on Friday said it will temporarily hike fees to download documents from its online court records system known as PACER in order to accelerate the development of a new, more secure case management and public ​access system.

reut.rs

Days before the National Mall will host U.S. 250th anniversary celebrations, the Reflecting Pool has become the latest symbol of Trump’s Washington: a ​test of his attempts to bend reality in his favor and command law enforcement to his personal whims. www.reuters.com/world/us/ref...

Reflecting Pool now under surveillance as Trump blames vandals for green algae

The U.S. security apparatus is keeping watch at the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, whose blue color has been fouled by green algae after being newly renovated at President Donald Trump’s request.

reuters.com

After DOJ said nope to judge's invitation to have officials certify under penalty of perjury that the $1.8 billion anti-weaponization fund plan won't happen, judge makes good on her vow to set a schedule (with evergreen caveat that nothing is set in stone pending motions) Prev: buff.ly/tx6nYQX

Liberty Vote -- the company that acquired election company Dominion Voting Systems -- has agreed to drop its lawsuit against pillow magnate Mike Lindell and his pillow company over his false claims that the company rigged the 2020 election. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...