Legal AF by MeidasTouch - SCOTUS Sends Secret Message to Stop Trump Order

Episode Date: June 27, 2025

Did Justice Sotomayor just outfox the Trump DOJ by sending out an “invitation” to a Massachusetts federal judge to find a way to circumvent a recent Supreme Court ruling to make sure that deportees obtain due process before being sent to countries like South Sudan or Libya? Michael Popok takes a close look at Sotomayor’s dissent, the next steps taken by Judge Murphy to tell the Trump Administration that the Court’s ruling doesn’t stop his other “remedial” orders, and Trump’s DOJ rushing to the Court and asking for a “clarification” because the Judge is being mean and “defiant.” For their buy 1 get 1 50% off deal, head to https://3DayBlinds.com/LEGALAF Subscribe:  @LegalAFMTN  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 The Influence Continuum: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/the-influence-continuum-with-dr-steven-hassan Mea Culpa with Michael Cohen: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/mea-culpa-with-michael-cohen 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 Political Beatdown: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/political-beatdown On Democracy with FP Wellman: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/on-democracy-with-fpwellman Uncovered: https://www.meidastouch.com/tag/maga-uncovered Coalition of the Sane: https://meidasnews.com/tag/coalition-of-the-sane Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

The GMC employee pricing event is on now. Get a big cash purchase discount of up to $12,300 on the 2025 GMC Sierra 1500 and the 2025 Sierra HD. With Sierra 1500's premium interior and advanced tech, or Sierra HD's impressive power and capability, you'll have everything you need to get from work to play with confidence this season. Hurry in. Employee pricing is on for a limited time. Visit your local GMC dealer for details. Did Justice Sotomayor of the Supreme Court just out maneuver and outfox the Department of Justice and Donald Trump? I think she did. There is a new fight that's brewing between the Department of Justice and Judge Murphy in Massachusetts

because a Supreme Court decision that just came down two or three days ago, in which the Supreme Court said in the DVD case that they were going to block Judge Murphy's injunction, that he entered back in April, April the 18th, to stop the Trump administration from deporting people without due process, without proper notice, to third countries like South Sudan and Libya until he had an opportunity to determine whether their due process rights have been violated or not. That was the injunction. The Trump administration takes an emergency appeal. The Supreme Court's 6-3 majority blocks that injunction, but not on another order, a remedial order

that was issued on the 21st of May, which now Judge Murphy says is still binding, despite the Supreme Court's ruling. And that was an invitation from Justice Sotomayor in her dissent. I'm gonna explain it all right here on the Midas Touch Network and on Legal AF on Michael Popak.

Okay, a couple of days ago, we reported that the Supreme Court, six to three MAGA majority turned due process upside down and had blocked the injunction for Judge Murphy. He had issued an injunction and there were about eight people that were being held at the Djibouti in South Sudan or a Djibouti Air Force base for the United States subject to his jurisdiction. The judge found that his orders had been violated, his injunction had been violated because people were sent to third-party

countries, third countries, without proper notice despite his injunction. He then issued a remedial order on the 21st of May in which he raised the specter of contempt. He said the Trump administration may also be in contempt. Then the Trump administration appeals just the injunction on the 18th, but doesn't address the May 21 remedial order about the court's power. Supreme Court rules, and in her dissent, which we covered, Justice Sotomayor says point blank, the remedial orders of Judge Murphy or the lower court have not been appealed and are not before this court. Okay, nobody said anything about it.

She circulated her dissent before the one paragraph came out on the emergency application, six to three majority. That was obviously an invitation to Judge Murphy because on Monday, a couple of days after that ruling, he pulled everybody together and said, you know what's still binding? My May 21 remedial order, meaning you are not to deport any more people

over due process because it's subject to my order while I get a handle on whether this administration is in contempt. The Trump administration hates that. And so basically in the same 24 hour period that they first sue every judge in Maryland, every federal judge in Maryland is now on the receiving end of a Trump lawsuit

because they don't like the automatic injunction that the Maryland courts, the federal courts are giving to people with writs of habeas corpus petitions to give them 48 hours to get before a federal judge before they're deported and a wave deported away from federal jurisdiction. At the same time, they file through John Sauer, the Solicitor General under Donald Trump, his former appellate criminal lawyer, they file a motion for clarification with the United States Supreme Court in the DVD case.

And what they say to the court is, we have an unprecedented defiance by Judge Murphy. He got your order and now he's not abiding by it. He's saying that the remedial order is still in effect because it is. And kudos to Judge Murphy and kudos to Justice Sotomayor for going carefully through all of this and realizing that there is inherent power and authority of a judge, independent from what the Supreme Court says, that they are the master of their domain, their domain being their courtroom, their caseload, their administration of justice. And if they're not blocked, if every order that is at risk

or is in dispute is not appealed at the United States Supreme Court, it's still fair game for the judge to use his inherent authority to find contempt, to find, because even if his injunction was later blocked, it doesn't mean that the Trump administration hadn't violated it and wouldn't have been found in contempt. We just saw a similar thing play out

in Judge Boesberg's courtroom, who's the chief judge of the DC court, when his injunction in the JGG case up to the United States Supreme Court about those 200 poor souls who were loaded into a plane without due process and dumped off into El Salvador over his injunction, over his block, his order to ground the planes,

that act, even if it's later, the injunction underlying it is later overturned by the Supreme Court, the act of defiance by the Trump administration is in violation of the court's orders and powers and he must find contempt and he found probable cause for criminal contempt in the Boasberg case. Same thing here with Murphy.

Murphy is just Boasberg North and Sotomayor is backing him up, basically saying, take a look at the remedial order you issued because that's not up at the Supreme Court. Boom, he takes a look at the remedial order. I'm sure he thought of it on his own. And pulled everybody together and said, it still stands, nothing has changed

by the Supreme Court decision. So John Sauer wants to run back, you know, go to the well again, here we go. Let's see if we get the Supreme Court to clarify. Now here's what happens. I may be very open with you on this podcast, but off the air, I really do value my privacy. And it's 2025.

Are your blinds still from 2005? There is a better way to buy blind shade shutters and drapery, and it's called 3-Day Blinds. They are the leading manufacturer of high quality custom window treatments in the US. And right now, if you use my URL, 3dayblinds.com slash legal AF, they're running a buy one, get one 50% off deal.

We can shop for almost anything at home. Why not shop for blinds at home too? Three Day Blinds has local professionally trained design consultants who have an average of over 10 years of experience that provide expert guidance on the right blinds for you in the comfort of your home. Just set up an appointment and you'll get a free no obligation quote the same day.

Not very handy, DIY projects can be fun, but measuring and installing blinds can be a big challenge. The expert team at 3Day Blinds handles all the heavy lifting. They design, measure and install so you can sit back, relax and leave it to the pros. It's 2025 and so much of my house is smart with Alexa, but I never thought about getting my blinds connected

to Alexa too, so I can just say, Alexa, open the blinds each morning. With 3-Day Blinds, you choose from thousands of options that fit any budget or style, and with actual samples, you won't be guessing about what your blinds will look like. 3-Day Blinds has been in business for over 45 years, and they have helped over 2 million people

get the window treatments of their dreams. So they are a brand you can trust. Right now, get quality window treatments that fit your budget with 3-Day Blinds. Head to 3dayblinds.com slash Legal AF for their buy one, get one 50% off deal on custom blind shade shut, and drapery for a free no charge, no obligation consultation.

Just head to threedayblinds.com slash legal AF. One last time that's buy one, get one 50% off when you head to the number three, dayblinds.com slash legal AF. There was no author for the decision. It was a one paragraph decision that the April 18th order of the lower court is state, the injunction, blocking the injunction. And then Sotomayor, Kagan, and Katanji Brown Jackson enter into their dissent, written by Sotomayor. Now they don't have to accept, they run their own dootomayor. Now, they don't have to accept,

they run their own docket at the Supreme Court. They don't have to accept the motion for clarification. There's nothing to clarify. What's to clarify? The clarification is the injunction is blocked. It doesn't mean everything else that happens below at the trial court level, including on issues that haven't been litigated,

that haven't been briefed, are somehow gonna also be blocked and stayed by the Supreme Court. The injunction is blocked, but this is a different order, about a different issue, about contempt and breaching and Donald Trump's administration violating federal court orders. We know that's happening. It's going on right now. It's being exposed during the confirmation hearing for Emil Beauvais, the number three lawyer in the Department of Justice, with a whistleblower who testifies that he was instructed to defy federal court orders, to lie to them, to not tell them the truth, to tell them to go eff themselves.

That is verbatim. So of course, Judge Murphy is going to say, nobody's going to tell them to go F themselves. That is verbatim. So of course, Judge Murphy's gonna say, nobody's gonna tell me to F myself in my courtroom while I'm still wearing a black robe with a lifetime appointment. And no, I looked carefully, my order on the 21st was not blocked. So you must abide by it. I think they're gonna lose on the clarification, I really do. I think they're gonna allow the lower court to administer justice, and when there's another order appropriate for appeal, or has been appealed, with a proper record, they'll take it up then,

but not on a motion for clarification. A very peculiar way to conduct business by the Department of Justice and Donald Trump. But the other reason they wanna do it is because they wanna to set a precedent. Yeah, because they've already got in the California, moving over to California and the National Guard case, they've already got briefing in with Judge Breyer

in San Francisco in which they argue that the entire case has been stayed by the Ninth Circuit's 3-0 decision about the takeover of the National Guard. Whereas Judge Breyer thinks he still has jurisdiction, which he does, to continue to develop record evidence about things other than the temporary restraining order, including about a preliminary injunction,

including about whether the Posse Comitatus Act has been violated by Donald Trump. So you see how these two things go together? Because the Trump administration is arguing to Breyer, the case is stayed by the Ninth Circuit of Appeals, and Breyer is basically pushing back and saying, I don't see where all of my work, and I've been divested of jurisdiction. Same thing for Murphy. He hasn't been divested of

jurisdiction about third third country removal of people without notice, just because they got a stay of one of his orders? That's on Donald Trump. See, this is the weakness. There's a strength to the strategy that Trump is using, obviously, in bringing emergency applications to the Supreme Court without a proper record, without full briefing, without oral argument,

where a lot of these issues would be resolved without full deliberation by the Supreme Court. But you know, you live by the sword, you die by the sword. You wanna have a crappy, skeletal, short-fuse appeal based on one narrow order? Well then you don't get a full-blown, full-bang appeal, full merits appeal. And then you don't get a full boat blown full bang appeal full merits appeal and So you and then you can't supplement it or you shouldn't be allowed to supplement it with a motion for clarification

I'm gonna cover this as fast-moving story and it has a lot of domino Cascading impacts on other positions taken by the Trump administration Which I'll cover here on the Midas Touch Network, do about 14-15 videos a week, and over on Legal AF, the YouTube channel. Come over there, hit the free subscribe button there as well, and I'll post these filings on Legal AF, the substack. So until my next report, I'm Michael Popak. Can't get your fill of Legal AF?

Me neither. That's why we formed the Legal AF substack. Every time we mention something in a hot take, whether it's a court filing or a oral argument, come over to the substack, you'll find the court filing and the oral argument there, including a daily roundup that I do call, wait for it, Morning AF. What else? All the other contributors from Legal AF are there as well. We've got some new reporting, we got interviews, we got ad free versions of the podcast and hot takes where legal AF on sub stack. Come over now to free subscribe. Attention sports enthusiasts, keep the adrenaline pumping and elevate your game day with Chumba

Casino. It's completely free to play. No purchase necessary. Whether you're cheering for the stands, on the move, or relaxing at home, Chumba Casino brings the thrill of social casino directly to your fingertips. Experience the ultimate social casino adventure with reels of casino style games, offering hundreds of exciting options to choose from and fresh new releases every week. There's always something new and thrilling to explore. From action packed social slots and classic blackjack to engaging bingo and solitaire, the fun never stops. Plus, enjoy generous daily login bonuses

and a fantastic free welcome bonus to kickstart your social gaming journey. Dive into the excitement. Discover a world where you can play for your chance to redeem some serious prizes and have a blast along the way. Don't miss out. What are you waiting for? Join now and immerse yourself in nonstop fun and adventure

with Chamba Casino. Get in on the action today at chambacasino.com and make every day a Chamba day. No purchase necessary. VTW group void, we're prohibited by law. H-ing plus DNC supply.