Molly Roberts
@mollyroberts.bsky.social
senior editor at @lawfaremedia.org | ex-washington post opinions 🤐
Many of my excellent @lawfaremedia.org colleagues and I write here about how the documents the White House dumped last week don’t prove what Trump says they do — and in some cases actually disprove those same claims: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/ever...
Everything Trump’s Election Speech Did Not Prove
After years of searching for any scrap of evidence that suggests the 2020 election was stolen, the White House still hasn’t found it.
lawfaremedia.org
At the hearing before Judge Reyes regarding the lawsuit to stop President Trump from redesigning the East Potomac Golf Course. We’re on a 15 minute break, because things have gotten a bit confusing.
@mollyroberts.bsky.social explains the state of play around President Trump's executive order on mail in voting as agencies initiate rulemaking to enforce the order and judges rule on its constitutionality.
What’s up with Trump’s Mail-In Voting Executive Order?
Agency actions and court decisions make it easier to understand how insidious, and how illegal, the EO will turn out to be.
lawfaremedia.org
First (but *not* last) ruling from #SCOTUS today is in Watson v. RNC. For a 5-4 majority (with Thomas, Alito, and Gorsuch, Kavanaugh dissenting), Justice Barrett holds that federal law does *not* bar states from counting late-arriving mail-in ballots that are postmarked on or before Election Day.
supremecourt.gov
A dispatch from the ballroom case, where the administration said no court can stop it now: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/disp...
Dispatch: Move Fast and Break Things and Nobody Has Standing
No court can stop President Trump’s ballroom, the government says in National Trust for Historic Preservation v. NPS.
lawfaremedia.org
Holy balls, this opinion: "As citizens, we trust that federal prosecutors . . . will play fair and be honest with its counterparts and the judiciary. DOJ has proven unworthy of this trust at every point in this case." (via @chrisgeidner.bsky.social) storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Memorandum and Order – #38 in In Re: Motion to Quash Administrative Subpoena to Rhode Island Hospital (D.R.I., 1:26-mc-00007) – CourtListener.com
MEMORANDUM AND ORDER : The Court's decision is based solely on its application of the law to the administrative subpoena at issue here. But the discrepancy between the honorable conduct expected of fe...
storage.courtlistener.com
Trump’s (implausible) arguments about the White House ballroom’s essentiality to his safety aren’t just polticial—they’re legal, too. Read about the case in my latest for @lawfaremedia.org, with @ericcolumbus.bsky.social: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
What Does the Correspondents Dinner Have to Do With Trump’s Ballroom Project?
The case may test just how far national security deference by the courts to the executive can stretch.
lawfaremedia.org
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NEW: An 81-year-old lawyer named Joe diGenova is now leading a criminal probe of Trump’s perceived adversaries. DiGenova has long been an enthusiastic promoter of the so-called “Grand Conspiracy” case—but he may turn out to be its most consequential liability. www.lawfaremedia.org/article/the-...
Who is Joe DiGenova, the 81-year old attorney recently appointed to lead the Grand Conspiracy investigation? @annabower.bsky.social and @mollyroberts.bsky.social explain his background and why it casts doubt on his ability to act as an independent prosecutor in this case.
The Grand Conspiracy’s New Prosecutor May Be the Case’s Biggest Liability
Former Trump lawyer Joseph diGenova is one of the most vocal proponents of a conspiracy theory that he is now in charge of investigating.
lawfaremedia.org
On Lawfare Daily, @mollyroberts.bsky.social and @katherinepomps.bsky.social discussed Lawfare’s new interactive tracker, which documents instances in which the Trump administration has failed to comply with federal court orders in immigration habeas corpus proceedings. youtu.be/0Ww1zbVAHP0
Following the government's indictment of Smartmatic for alleged violations of the Foreign Corrupt Practices Act, the voting systems vendor has asked a judge to dismiss the case for vindictive or selective prosecution. @mollyroberts.bsky.social evaluates the case & the motion’s likelihood of success.
The Prosecution of Smartmatic
A rare corporate FCPA indictment tests whether courts will more closely interrogate prosecutorial motive.
lawfaremedia.org
What does it look like when the government violates court orders in 300 separate immigration habeas cases? @katherinepomps.bsky.social and @benjaminwittes.lawfaremedia.org announce a new database which tracks government non-compliance with court orders around the country.
Three Hundred Habeas Cases in Which the Government Has Defied Court Orders
A database of non-compliance with court orders around the country.
lawfaremedia.org
Confused about Trump’s new elections EO? You probably should be! But we tried to clear up the extremely unclear @lawfaremedia.org: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/what...
What Is Trump’s ‘Election Integrity’ Order Even Trying to Achieve?
It isn’t easy for the executive to impose election requirements, because the Constitution makes it impossible. But that hasn’t stopped the president from trying.
lawfaremedia.org
Harmeet Dhillon, head of DOJ’s Civil Rights Division, posted a photo of herself signing a document. The document indicates that she is launching a Title VI investigation into The Ohio State University College of Medicine.
Good afternoon! The hearing for a preliminary injunction in Anthropic v. Department of War (that's the name of the case, don't blame me!) starts on the half hour. You can follow my live coverage here.
Wondering about a couple of things re: this Grand Conspiracy update. 1. Was the subpoena issued out of Ft. Pierce or Miami? Last batch reported on was still Miami. 2. Story says the subpoena focused on Comey’s role in the 2017 ICA. Nothing about Crossfire Hurricane?
Marc Caputo@marcacaputo.bsky.social · 5mo agoNEWS: James Comey has been subpoenaed in the wide-ranging "grand conspiracy" case against those who had investigated & prosecuted Trump from 2017-2024, @axios sources say More than 130 subpoenas have been issued by the Southern District of FL www.axios.com/2026/03/19/c...
NEW: Right-wing activists are circulating a draft executive order that purports to give Trump sweeping power over federal elections. @mollyroberts.bsky.social and I got new details on the activists, lawyers, and conspiracy theorists behind the proposed order: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/in-c...
In Case of Emergency: The Dubious Legality of Trump Allies' Draft EO
Conservative activists say that declaring a national emergency would allow Trump to assert sweeping authority over elections. They're wrong.
lawfaremedia.org
Listening in to the status conference in Anthropic v. Department of War in NDCal. (Yes, Department of War is the name on the docket.) May be uneventful, but will post here if there’s anything of interest!
If you want to know more about wtf is going on here, read my (slightly manic) piece @lawfaremedia.org on the so-called Grand Conspiracy: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/trum...
Trump’s Grand Conspiracy Delusion
The Grand Conspiracy is a conspiracy theory, not a real legal theory.
lawfaremedia.org
Charlie Savage@charliesavage.bsky.social · 5mo agoA Florida US attorney's "grand conspiracy" investigation into former officials who investigated Trump is expanding. www.nytimes.com/2026/02/26/u...
1. The FBI affidavit used to seize ballots and other materials from the 2020 election in Fulton County relies on debunked conspiracy theories. For example, it isn’t true that Fulton first “reported” 511,343 ballots and then “reported” 527,925. I’ll explain. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
The Washington Post—for which I wrote editorials for nearly a decade—has closed its Kyiv bureau. @lawfaremedia.org has not—and we will not. We now employ more people in Kyiv than the Washington Post. Let me tell you about what we have done in Ukraine over the past year and why we are not leaving
Everything you ever wanted to know that *we* ever wanted to know about the Fulton County search www.lawfaremedia.org/article/we-h...
We Have Questions About the FBI’s Fulton County Search
The administration continues to litigate the 2020 election more than five years later.
lawfaremedia.org
The DOJ indictment v Don Lemon et al was just unsealed 12 pages
A special grand jury started sitting in Fort Pierce, Florida, this month, seemingly to investigate what has come to be known as the “Grand Conspiracy." @mollyroberts.bsky.social explains what this theory is and the consequences of trying to treat a conspiracy theory as a real legal theory.
Trump's Grand Conspiracy Delusion
The Grand Conspiracy is a conspiracy theory, not a real legal theory.
lawfaremedia.org
and of course you know what that is…it’s my Nobel prize…I was treated very unfairly by Norway…but someone very important wanted me to have it. She said ‘sir you deserve this’ and I’ve been treated so unfairly by the media. But it’s beautiful. Gold. You can’t fake gold