Gabriel Malor
@gabrielmalor.bsky.social
Oklahoman in Virginia. Appellate attorney.
I talk about federal court decisions. A lot.
Sometimes the most you can do is the best you can do.
gabriel.malor@gmail.com
I talk about federal court decisions. A lot.
Sometimes the most you can do is the best you can do.
gabriel.malor@gmail.com
10th Cir.: it was clearly established law that it violates the law for detectives to withhold exculpatory evidence, including video, from the DA and defense counsel.
No QI.
www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...
No QI.
www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...
January 21, 2026 at 6:12 PM
10th Cir.: it was clearly established law that it violates the law for detectives to withhold exculpatory evidence, including video, from the DA and defense counsel.
No QI.
www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...
No QI.
www.ca10.uscourts.gov/sites/ca10/f...
7th Cir. reminds litigants, including pro se litigants, that if you use AI to draft your filings, it is your responsibility to check them for misrepresentations.
(Here, pro se litigant included accurate cites, but fictitious quotations.)
media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...
(Here, pro se litigant included accurate cites, but fictitious quotations.)
media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...
January 21, 2026 at 5:12 PM
7th Cir. reminds litigants, including pro se litigants, that if you use AI to draft your filings, it is your responsibility to check them for misrepresentations.
(Here, pro se litigant included accurate cites, but fictitious quotations.)
media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...
(Here, pro se litigant included accurate cites, but fictitious quotations.)
media.ca7.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/Opin...
BTW, here's a tip for listening to SCOTUS arguments. If you use C-SPAN's feed, they put up the name and photo of who is speaking. This is very helpful for spelling lawyer names, and also helpful if, like me, you have trouble telling the voices of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan apart.
January 21, 2026 at 4:46 PM
BTW, here's a tip for listening to SCOTUS arguments. If you use C-SPAN's feed, they put up the name and photo of who is speaking. This is very helpful for spelling lawyer names, and also helpful if, like me, you have trouble telling the voices of Justices Sotomayor and Kagan apart.
To come back to this for a second, Justice Barrett later pointed out that it's all in equity anyway, so what does it matter if you say it's mandamus and not an injunction or a declaratory judgment?
SG Sauer struggled to answer.
SG Sauer struggled to answer.
CJ Roberts is gently challenging SG Sauer's claim that courts have no "jurisdiction" (meaning authority, I think, not jurisdiction) to order the reinstatement of a removed officer.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
January 21, 2026 at 4:39 PM
To come back to this for a second, Justice Barrett later pointed out that it's all in equity anyway, so what does it matter if you say it's mandamus and not an injunction or a declaratory judgment?
SG Sauer struggled to answer.
SG Sauer struggled to answer.
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
This clearly is not going well for Trump, but it is very hard to hear the Republican Justices move toward an exception for the Fed when their reasoning in oral arguments applies just as well to other independent agencies.
Why were they removed in such a hurried manner?
bsky.app/profile/stev...
Why were they removed in such a hurried manner?
bsky.app/profile/stev...
Alito: any reason this whole matter had to be managed by everyone in such a hurried manner? No court has ever explored those facts! Are the mortgage applications even in the record in this case?
Sauer: no
Alito: this was decided in a v cursory manner by exec and by courts
Sauer: no
Alito: this was decided in a v cursory manner by exec and by courts
January 21, 2026 at 3:41 PM
This clearly is not going well for Trump, but it is very hard to hear the Republican Justices move toward an exception for the Fed when their reasoning in oral arguments applies just as well to other independent agencies.
Why were they removed in such a hurried manner?
bsky.app/profile/stev...
Why were they removed in such a hurried manner?
bsky.app/profile/stev...
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
Right: A lot of federal employees who were fired by "Article II" emails, and have no prospect of a fair hearing because SCOTUS has allowed purges of the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board, wonder why this standard does not apply to them.
bsky.app/profile/stev...
bsky.app/profile/stev...
Gorsuch returns to the Roberts & Kagan paradox: there is no way to test if the president is doing it right, since mandamus (a judicial order that he do something, essentially) is always unavailable.
January 21, 2026 at 3:49 PM
Right: A lot of federal employees who were fired by "Article II" emails, and have no prospect of a fair hearing because SCOTUS has allowed purges of the Office of Special Counsel and the Merit Systems Protection Board, wonder why this standard does not apply to them.
bsky.app/profile/stev...
bsky.app/profile/stev...
CJ Roberts is gently challenging SG Sauer's claim that courts have no "jurisdiction" (meaning authority, I think, not jurisdiction) to order the reinstatement of a removed officer.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
January 21, 2026 at 3:33 PM
CJ Roberts is gently challenging SG Sauer's claim that courts have no "jurisdiction" (meaning authority, I think, not jurisdiction) to order the reinstatement of a removed officer.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
SG Sauer walks into it, has to concede that courts do have that "jurisdiction," but only (he says) in mandamus.
CJ Roberts just admonished SG Sauer for talking over Justice Jackson. (He also previously talked over Justice Barrett.)
January 21, 2026 at 3:25 PM
CJ Roberts just admonished SG Sauer for talking over Justice Jackson. (He also previously talked over Justice Barrett.)
For folks listening to SCOTUS argument right now, note how SG Sauer went from speaking at a normal speed when starting and answering Justice Thomas to suddenly racing. This is a "tell" in oral argument, which suggests that Justice Sotomayor's questions have him worried.
January 21, 2026 at 3:19 PM
For folks listening to SCOTUS argument right now, note how SG Sauer went from speaking at a normal speed when starting and answering Justice Thomas to suddenly racing. This is a "tell" in oral argument, which suggests that Justice Sotomayor's questions have him worried.
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
The disconnect between management and employee on AI usage is big. At the same time, CEOs are reporting they aren't seeing any revenue growth from AI.
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
CEOs Say AI Is Making Work More Efficient. Employees Tell a Different Story.
How much time workers say the technology saves them on the job is vastly different from what executives report.
www.wsj.com
January 21, 2026 at 2:07 PM
The disconnect between management and employee on AI usage is big. At the same time, CEOs are reporting they aren't seeing any revenue growth from AI.
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
🤷
www.wsj.com/lifestyle/wo...
"The criminal case against Maxwell thus does not give this Court authority to enforce the EFTA."
Fed. judge denies motion by Reps. Khanna and Thomas to participate in Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal case to supervise disclosure of the Trump-Epstein files.
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 21, 2026 at 2:23 PM
"The criminal case against Maxwell thus does not give this Court authority to enforce the EFTA."
Fed. judge denies motion by Reps. Khanna and Thomas to participate in Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal case to supervise disclosure of the Trump-Epstein files.
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 21, 2026 at 2:22 PM
Fed. judge denies motion by Reps. Khanna and Thomas to participate in Ghislaine Maxwell's criminal case to supervise disclosure of the Trump-Epstein files.
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Held: (1) EFTA is a civil records disclosure law; (2) this is not appropriate amicus participation.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
Last year a whistleblower said DOGE had illegally accessed a Social Security database. SSA now acknowledges it's true—& that DOGE employees had secret agreement w/ unidentified political advocacy group to use SocSec data to help overturn election results. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
January 21, 2026 at 2:23 AM
Last year a whistleblower said DOGE had illegally accessed a Social Security database. SSA now acknowledges it's true—& that DOGE employees had secret agreement w/ unidentified political advocacy group to use SocSec data to help overturn election results. www.washingtonpost.com/politics/202...
Separately and aside from the other thing, you would think that Air Force One would be the one plane in the world that doesn't have "mechanical issues."
January 21, 2026 at 4:38 AM
Separately and aside from the other thing, you would think that Air Force One would be the one plane in the world that doesn't have "mechanical issues."
*puts the special champagne back in the basement fridge*
January 21, 2026 at 3:48 AM
*puts the special champagne back in the basement fridge*
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
January 20, 2026 at 10:53 PM
This is the most astonishing graph of what the Trump regime has done to US science. They have destroyed the federal science workforce across the board. The negative impacts on Americans will be felt for generations, and the US might never be the same again.
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
www.nature.com/immersive/d4...
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
heard this in the dentist today, as well
This is Minneapolis:
I’m at a major healthcare clinic (just here for a friend) and overheard the front desk staff mention they’ve had 97 missed appointments today.
People aren’t getting medical care bc they’re afraid to leave home.
I’m at a major healthcare clinic (just here for a friend) and overheard the front desk staff mention they’ve had 97 missed appointments today.
People aren’t getting medical care bc they’re afraid to leave home.
January 20, 2026 at 9:40 PM
heard this in the dentist today, as well
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
A year ago today, victims of Jan. 6 rioters began receiving automatic notifications that the people who assaulted them were being freed from prison.
January 20, 2026 at 9:36 PM
A year ago today, victims of Jan. 6 rioters began receiving automatic notifications that the people who assaulted them were being freed from prison.
4th Cir. upholds almost all of Maryland's new "sensitive location" gun prohibitions:
✅gov't buildings
✅public transportation
✅school grounds
✅w/in 1,000 feet of public demonstrations
✅state parks & museums
✅healthcare facilities
✅places that sell alcohol
❌private property held open to the public.
✅gov't buildings
✅public transportation
✅school grounds
✅w/in 1,000 feet of public demonstrations
✅state parks & museums
✅healthcare facilities
✅places that sell alcohol
❌private property held open to the public.
January 20, 2026 at 8:54 PM
4th Cir. upholds almost all of Maryland's new "sensitive location" gun prohibitions:
✅gov't buildings
✅public transportation
✅school grounds
✅w/in 1,000 feet of public demonstrations
✅state parks & museums
✅healthcare facilities
✅places that sell alcohol
❌private property held open to the public.
✅gov't buildings
✅public transportation
✅school grounds
✅w/in 1,000 feet of public demonstrations
✅state parks & museums
✅healthcare facilities
✅places that sell alcohol
❌private property held open to the public.
Lawgeeks, these 18 pages are just delicious. Judge Novak really blasts Lindsey Halligan, "miscreant," for continuing to call herself United States Attorney in violation of a court order.
Says no sanctions, for now, because she's such a newb.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Says no sanctions, for now, because she's such a newb.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
January 20, 2026 at 7:07 PM
Lawgeeks, these 18 pages are just delicious. Judge Novak really blasts Lindsey Halligan, "miscreant," for continuing to call herself United States Attorney in violation of a court order.
Says no sanctions, for now, because she's such a newb.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Says no sanctions, for now, because she's such a newb.
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Reposted by Gabriel Malor
JUST IN: Federal judges Virginia are seeking applicants to succeed Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney, whose 120-day appointment expires today, they say. www.vaed.uscourts.gov/sites/vaed/f...
January 20, 2026 at 4:00 PM
JUST IN: Federal judges Virginia are seeking applicants to succeed Lindsey Halligan as interim U.S. attorney, whose 120-day appointment expires today, they say. www.vaed.uscourts.gov/sites/vaed/f...
Just three SCOTUS decisions this morning, each of which is, essentially, unanimous.
SCOTUS is just clearing things out of the October calendar. The harder cases, including tariffs, are still to come.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/sli...
SCOTUS is just clearing things out of the October calendar. The harder cases, including tariffs, are still to come.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/sli...
2008 Term Opinions of the Court
www.supremecourt.gov
January 20, 2026 at 3:09 PM
Just three SCOTUS decisions this morning, each of which is, essentially, unanimous.
SCOTUS is just clearing things out of the October calendar. The harder cases, including tariffs, are still to come.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/sli...
SCOTUS is just clearing things out of the October calendar. The harder cases, including tariffs, are still to come.
www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/sli...
Counterproposal: could we not?
January 20, 2026 at 2:06 PM
Counterproposal: could we not?
The constitutional remedy for a president who makes territorial demands of allies is impeachment, removal, disqualification, and criminal trials for any crimes he committed or directed.
Trump's correspondence with Norway indicates:
1) US foreign policy is based on his feels
2) He is insane
3) He probably doesn't realize Denmark and Norway are not the same country
4) The US is completely screwed as long as he is in office
1) US foreign policy is based on his feels
2) He is insane
3) He probably doesn't realize Denmark and Norway are not the same country
4) The US is completely screwed as long as he is in office
January 19, 2026 at 4:27 PM
The constitutional remedy for a president who makes territorial demands of allies is impeachment, removal, disqualification, and criminal trials for any crimes he committed or directed.