Legal AF by MeidasTouch - Fed Up Judge issues Back to Back Orders on Trump Slavery Scheme

Episode Date: February 21, 2026

A battle is brewing between an angry Federal Judge in Philadelphia, the Third Circuit Court of appeals and the Trump Administration, that wants to deny that slavery existed in this country and white wash immutable facts that our founding fathers owned slaves and erase that fact from a tribute to George Washington’s slaves at a historic site in Philly dedicated to our nation’s founding. Popok reports on Judge Rufe second order in 48 hours compelling the Trump Administration to restore the site they defaced WITH A CROWBAR, as Trump runs to the Third Circuit hoping that he will get one of his former criminal defense lawyers as a judge on the case! Factor: Head to https://FACTORMEALS.com/legalaf50off and use code legalaf50off to get 50% off Visit https://meidasplus.com for more! Remember to subscribe to ALL the MeidasTouch Network Podcasts: MeidasTouch: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/meidastouch-podcast Legal AF: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/legal-af MissTrial: https://meidasnews.com/tag/miss-trial The PoliticsGirl Podcast: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-politicsgirl-podcast Cult Conversations: The Influence Continuum with Dr. Steve Hassan: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan The Weekend Show: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-weekend-show Burn the Boats: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/burn-the-boats Majority 54: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/majority-54 On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

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Refuel smarter, hydrate harder, caffeinate larger with IQ bar. Go to eat IQbar.com and enter code bar 20 to get 20% off all IQ bar products plus free shipping. Again, go to eat IQ bar.com and enter code bar 20. There's a battle brewing in Philadelphia between the federal government and a judge. I feel like I'm back in old timey times, like it's the American Revolution. This has to do with some stubborn little facts that Donald Trump doesn't like that our founding fathers owned slaves. Yes, Donald Trump woke up one day like Rip Van Winkle and said, there was slavery?

Take it down. Use a crowbar if you have to. Literally had the park service take a crowbar to an exhibit that celebrated and made tribute to nine slaves, including. one that escaped from being owned by our founding father, George Washington. Yes, historical perspective is important to understand these things. Donald Trump doesn't want to understand these things. And now there's a battle between the federal judge, Judge Roof, who had an issue yet

another order on top of her order from two days ago to make sure that the exhibits are returned to their original way as they were before mid-January when Donald Trump ripped them down. Donald Trump said, well, I appealed it. Would you leave Donald Trump is going to an appellate court to try to convince them that under a 1950 agreement that the National Park Service has with Philadelphia and that he has with the American people as president that he's allowed to rewrite history and take down plaques that that commemorate the fact that human beings owned other human beings in the United States?

He really feels this is the hill to die on that he's going to go to the Third Circuit Court of Appeals in Philadelphia, the city of Brotherly Love, to argue for. for the defacing the graffiti, the scarring of a national monument, Independence Hall Center. This is out in front of, let's put this in perspective. This monument to the president's house where Adams and Washington live, next to the Liberty Bell,

is right across the courtyard from the reproduction of Independence Hall where our nation's declaration of independence and Constitution were written. We're not talking about some, you know, some mall exhibit in military, America. We're talking about Philadelphia. And the fact that she has the issue after having raked Trump and the Department of Justice over the Coles two days ago in her scathing order

comparing Donald Trump to a low-level chief magistrate and comparing his administration to George Orwell's Ministry of Truth, you'd think they'd know better that this judge wasn't going to back off. Sure, Donald Trump went for an appeal, but it hasn't been blocked. The order has not been stayed by the Third Circuit Court of Appeals, at least at the time of this recording. She hasn't stated either. Let's catch up with this case. And another one filed in Massachusetts by conservationists, by those who enjoy and love national parks and don't want to see them defaced by this president.

It's now pending in Massachusetts district court in order to stop Donald Trump from making good on his threats in March of 2025 with his executive order that he was going to rewrite history. No, says America. No, says we the people. You're on, might as touch in legal A.F. I'm Michael Popok. Let's get to the heart of this particular matter. Has to do with something near and dear to my heart.

I've been going to Independence Hall and that particular area in Philadelphia since I was in short pants. I lived on the Jersey Shore. We went there regularly on class trips, you know, all through my elementary school days and beyond. We bought my wife's wedding dress in Philadelphia. You know, we love Philadelphia. And not just the cheese snakes. history. How many times have I toured Betsy Ross's house or Constitution Hall or Independence Hall or the things around at the first meeting places and Carpenter's Hall and all this other amazing stuff? I never thought for a minute that Donald Trump would try to take a big giant magic marker, Sharpie, and rewrite history. Remember, we reported a year ago. It's been a year. A little bit about a month less than a year. When Lindsay Halligan, yes, the disgraced short-term, short-time problem. no longer the Department of Justice.

But her first job in the Trump administration was to work inside of the White House to rewrite history at the Smithsonian in all of their dozen of museums in Washington. Donald Trump wasn't impeached twice. You know how I know that? Because it's not in the exhibit in the Smithsonian any longer.

Rewrode history. Anything Donald Trump didn't like. Why don't we have to talk about slavery so much? Wait till they get to the museum of the African-American experience. What are they going to do there? I can only imagine. No, I don't want to imagine.

That's why these lawsuits have been filed. So Judge Roof, as I reported, citing to George Orwell two days ago, told Donald Trump, get your mitts, your greasy little hands off of our national pride and our memorials, and restore it to the way it was immediately. And then she woke up today and realized on the 18th that they hadn't done it. So she had to issue a second order. Let me read to you from both orders and then tell you where we're at with the stay and the appeal. And a very interesting twist with a trumper sitting in the Third Circuit Court of Appeals

and whether he's going to recuse himself or not in the form of Emil Bovi, who would get this case by random assignment potentially. Busy days, big goals, but no time to cook. I've been using Factor. Fully prepared meals designed by dieticians and crafted by chefs. So you can eat well without the planning or cooking. One of my favorites lately is the garlic herb salmon. It fits perfectly into my February routine with lean protein, colorful vegetables, whole food ingredients, and healthy fats, plus no refined sugars, no artificial sweeteners, and no refined seed oils.

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for one year while subscription is active. Let's go over the new order. The new order just out, hot off the presses, no pun intended, is signed by Judge Cynthia Roof. It says now and now, this 18th day of February, upon consideration of the defendant's failure to comply with the court's order On the 16th, order to forthwith black bold caps Follow terms and conditions of the order. It is hereby ordered black bold caps That defendant shall comply with the terms of the order By restoring the president's house site to its physical status

Before they tore everything down. Now in her earlier order, and I mean just two days ago, She repeatedly referenced George Orwell And said, no, just because you're in power doesn't mean you get to rewrite the facts and take down the plaque memorializing and paying tribute to the nine people who were enslaved by our founding father. You can't do it under the written agreement starting in 1950 between Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and the federal government, and you can't do it in general. It's not your power, despite your executive order on March the 27th of 2025, executive order 14, 253. in which he said, quote, it is the policy of my administration to restore federal sites dedicated to history to solemn and uplifting public monuments and remind Americans of our extraordinary heritage, consistent progress towards becoming a more perfect union, and advancing liberty and prosperity and human flourishing.

I guess we leave out the human suffering part of enslaving and other people. And so she also pointed out a interesting back and forth colloquy she had with a lawyer for the Department of Justice who actually suggested that you can both sides slavery. I guess you can both sides the Holocaust under that theory. He actually said, or she actually said in court at the hearing that it's not for the city or for even implying for the federal judge. to decide what the facts are, that there are people with different opinions about this particular issue. I'm like different opinions about slavery? What pro-slavery group is Donald Trump trying to attract at time for the midterms? I just don't understand the target audience for this.

And so she found it to be arbitrary and capricious violating the law under the administrative procedures. Act about the way it was done, violates the documents and the contracts between the city, the state, and the federal government. This is what the plaque said. She says on page 31, it is not disputed that President Washington owns slaves. These are objective historical truths. The people who Washington held in slavery include, and then they list all the people by name and what they did, forced to do, under slavery.

And yet, in this argument, the government claims the power to erase, alter, remove, and hide. This is page 32 of her order. That the largest section of the government's records department are people trying to track down copies of books and newspapers which have been superseded and due for destruction and rewrite them over and over again. At oral argument, she said the defendants insisted as follows. Although many people feel strongly about this one way, other people may disagree or feel strongly another way. About slavery?

Ultimately, it is in this context that the government gets to choose the message it wants to convey. The message that the government chooses to convey is the government to choose. I don't get to choose the message the lawyer said, and that's our position the city does it either. Okay. No. As the judge wrote, the government here, likewise, asserced truth is no longer self-evident,

but rather the property of the elected chief magistrate. That's a slap at Trump. And his appointees and delegates at his whim to be scraped clean, hidden, or otherwise overwritten. And why? Solely because he has the power. So that brings us to the battle that's brewing. They didn't ask the judge to stay her order. because she wasn't going to. She's now told them, get it done by Friday. They run to the Third Circuit

Court of Appeals in Philadelphia and ask them to stay or to block the order, and they haven't, at least as of yet. We'll have to see what judges are assigned. I would hope that Emil Bovi, Donald Trump's prior chief criminal defense lawyer, one of the people who in just the several months that he was in the Department of Justice, well, one of the biggest violators of our civil liberties and our civil rights, I would hope that he would recuse himself and not be on the panel. Now, this is a gift to the Democrats, once again, showing the perversity, the immorality, the lack of patriotism of the Trump administration,

as they try to graffiti their way through national monuments, slapping Donald Trump's name on everything, or taking off immutable facts. We have a clip from the mayor of Philadelphia who welcomes the president. the fight over the facts of slavery with this administration. And I agree with her. And here's a clip.

Let me affirm for the residents of the city of Philadelphia that there is a cooperative agreement between the city and the federal government that dates back to 2006. That agreement requires parties to meet and confer if there are to be any chance. changes made to an exhibit. And our city solicitor, Renee Garcia, is working in conjunction with the amazing members of our law department team and working to follow up on that cooperative agreement. And we will keep you posted as to the results of all of our action. And that's all of the comment that I will be making about that issue on today.

Now we're going to continue to follow this case, the ups and downs from the appellate court back down to Judge Roof, who's not going to give up, not going to give in, and either should we. And we'll follow the developments in the case filed in the District of Massachusetts about stopping Donald Trump from making good on his other threats. I mean, he's busy putting the Confederate soldiers and Confederate generals statues back up, renaming army bases and putting the Confederate soldiers name back on it, whether he sees that because he doesn't see that as a thumb in the eye of America. who trace their heritage back to slavery. We can form a more perfect union. We must acknowledge our sins and our faults. We must embrace them, teach them, just like we have to teach about the Holocaust and genocide,

et cetera, et cetera. And then from that, learn to be a better people, led by an adult, a moral president, not named Donald Trump. We'll do it together. We'll overcome this administration together. I'm Michael Popock. Come over to LegalAF YouTube channel.

Hit the subscribe button there. And if you want to read all about Judge Roof and my source materials, come over to LegalAF substack for paid members and you can do it. So until my next report, I'm Michael Poppac. Can't get your fill of LegalAF. Me neither. That's why we formed the LegalAF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take,

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