Trump v. California state response
23 states and D.C. must file written responses to the administration's emergency stay application by 4 p.m. ET — Justice Jackson's deadline.
July 27–August 2, 2026 · Sunday Edition · shadow docket emergency
No. 26A124 · Emergency Application · 1st Cir.
On July 28, Solicitor General D. John Sauer asked the Supreme Court to stay a nationwide injunction blocking President Trump's March executive order on mail-in voting — directing DHS and SSA to compile voter eligibility lists and barring USPS from delivering absentee ballots to voters not on state participation rolls. Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson called for state challengers to respond by August 3.
Sources: Law.com — Sauer filing · CNN — emergency appeal
How the emergency docket works
March 2026: President Trump issues an executive order directing federal agencies to compile state-by-state voter eligibility lists and instructing USPS to withhold absentee ballots from voters not on participation rolls.
June 2026: Judge Indira Talwani in Massachusetts blocks enforcement in the 23 Democratic-led states that sued, finding the order exceeds presidential authority over elections the Constitution reserves to states.
July 26–27: The First Circuit denies a stay 2–1. Two Biden appointees form the majority; a Trump appointee concurs in part and dissents in part. The ruling effectively freezes USPS directives nationwide.
July 28: Sauer argues the injunction is premature because USPS has not finalized rules and DHS is only beginning to design citizenship lists. Jackson requests state responses by August 3 without granting an immediate administrative stay.
Sources: TIME — mail ballot order · Law.com — jurisdictional analysis
$0.0M
defamation verdict at stake
SCOTUS petition · July 28, 2026
President Trump appealed an $83.3 million jury verdict to the Supreme Court, arguing presidential immunity shields statements he made in 2019 denying columnist E. Jean Carroll's sexual assault allegation. The Second Circuit held Trump forfeited the immunity defense by not raising it explicitly in his initial state-court response — an "unduly strict forfeiture rule," his lawyers argue, that penalizes him for asserting "immunities under the Constitution" at the outset. Trump accrues roughly $1 million in interest every three months the judgment remains unpaid.
Sources: Law.com — Carroll appeal · CNN — immunity argument
Cirrus Rojas v. Olson · 7th Cir. · No. 25-3127 · decided July 30, 2026
Writing for a unanimous panel, Judge Michael Kolar held that 8 U.S.C. § 1225(b)(2)(A) does not authorize DHS to detain aliens arrested in the U.S. interior without bond hearings. Aliens present without admission who are not "seeking admission" fall under § 1226, which permits bond review before an immigration judge.
6 circuits reject · 2 circuits uphold ICE's July 2025 mandatory detention policy
Sources: CourtListener — slip op. · Wisconsin Watch — circuit split
Follow-up · Senate Judiciary Committee · July 30, 2026
Republican Sens. John Cornyn and Thom Tillis withheld committee support, demanding written DOJ assurances that the $1.776 billion "Anti-Weaponization Fund" from Trump's IRS settlement will be permanently terminated and that tax-audit immunity provisions will be revised. With all Democrats opposed, a single Republican defection on the 11–11 committee blocks advancement.
Permanent termination of the $1.776B Anti-Weaponization Fund created in the May 18 IRS settlement
Written revision of tax-audit immunity provisions shielding Trump, his family, and associates
DOJ counterproposal submitted July 30 evening — negotiations ongoing with Grassley's office
Sources: NBC Boston — vote delay · Washington Times — IRS settlement demands
Follow-up · N.D.N.Y. · July 30, 2026
"The order forbids New York from enforcing its assisted suicide mandate while the court considers the healthcare ministries' motion for a preliminary injunction."
Judge Anne M. Nardacci · consent temporary restraining order
Five days before the Medical Aid in Dying Act's August 5 effective date, four orders of Catholic nuns and Catholic Health secured a consent TRO shielding them from requirements to counsel patients about assisted suicide, perform eligibility evaluations, or permit life-ending drugs on their premises. New York agreed without admitting the contested duties are legally required.
State opposition due August 20 · preliminary injunction briefing through September 15Sources: Becket — consent order · OSV News — TRO granted
S.D.N.Y. · Judge Paul Engelmayer · July 31, 2026
Plaintiff theory
Coinbase is a statutory seller under § 12(a)(1) for all platform transactions
Court holding
Seller status only for inventory transactions — matching orders are not sales
Engelmayer's 84-page opinion dismissed most claims, finding Coinbase never takes an ownership interest in tokens during near-instantaneous order matching. Inventory transactions involving at least $178 million across 60 tokens may still proceed to discovery on whether those tokens qualify as securities.
Sources: Law.com — Engelmayer ruling
N.D. Cal. · Judge Rita Lin · July 31, 2026
At a hearing on competing summary judgment motions, Judge Lin signaled the government's legal record "has gotten worse" since she issued a preliminary injunction in March blocking the Pentagon's ban on federal use of Claude. The administration designated Anthropic a supply-chain risk after the company publicly disputed DOD terms of use for its AI technology.
Trump and Defense Secretary Hegseth announce agency-wide ban and supply-chain risk designation via social media.
Judge Lin grants preliminary injunction; agencies resume Claude use pending litigation.
Lin questions government's expanded national-security use of Anthropic tools as inconsistent with DOD's litigation position.
Source: FedScoop — Lin hearing
Enforcement posture
Agency-wide ban + export controls
The dispute sits at the intersection of AI procurement law, national security authority, and First Amendment commercial speech — with the government simultaneously litigating to ban Anthropic while deploying its technology in classified programs.
Follow-up · S.D. Fla. · July 31, 2026
"Plaintiffs improperly employed this lawsuit to justify a particular award — access to taxpayer funds and exemption from audits — accomplished by leveraging control over Defendants."
Judge Kathleen Williams · July 13 order · now on appeal to the 11th Circuit
President Trump, his sons, and the Trump Organization appealed Williams's sanctions order finding the $10 billion IRS lawsuit was brought in bad faith to secure the May settlement creating the Anti-Weaponization Fund. Williams referred attorney Alejandro Brito to the Florida Bar and barred Daniel Epstein from the Southern District of Florida for one year.
Sources: CNBC — 11th Circuit appeal · Democracy Forward — bad-faith finding
E.D. Va. · July 29, 2026
Judge Anthony Trenga granted summary judgment to derivative asylees whose family members were approved for follow-to-join status but denied boarding foils under Presidential Proclamations 10949 and 10998. The court vacated the State Department policy as arbitrary and capricious under 5 U.S.C. § 706(2)(A), ordering foils issued within 15 days.
Source: IRAP — Trenga order
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federal agencies subject to discovery
On July 29, the Justice Department asked Judge Jose Linares to reconsider his ruling allowing Apple to compel records from 14 federal agencies in the government's 2024 antitrust lawsuit. Apple seeks internal documents showing agencies chose iPhones for security and privacy features — evidence that could undermine the DOJ's monopolization theory. The government argues Linares failed to conduct an agency-by-agency assessment before ordering compliance.
The FTC granted early termination of its Hart-Scott-Rodino review of IonQ's proposed acquisition of SkyWater Technologies, a quantum chip fabrication company — clearing the deal without a second request for additional information.
Source: FTC — press releases
State highlight · Texas
Sen. John Cornyn — who lost his primary to Trump-endorsed Ken Paxton and faces no re-election in November — has emerged as the pivotal vote holding Todd Blanche's attorney general nomination hostage. His demand to rewrite the Trump-IRS settlement has national implications: the Anti-Weaponization Fund and audit-immunity provisions at issue were authorized by Acting AG Blanche himself on May 19, creating a confirmation fight over the nominee's own DOJ actions.
Sources: WUNC — Cornyn demands · NBC News — confirmation dynamics
23 states and D.C. must file written responses to the administration's emergency stay application by 4 p.m. ET — Justice Jackson's deadline.
New York's Medical Aid in Dying Act takes effect statewide — Carmelite Sisters TRO shields named plaintiffs only; broader injunction pending.
Earliest possible rescheduled Senate Judiciary vote if Cornyn-Tillis negotiations with DOJ produce acceptable settlement revisions.
15-day deadline for State Department to issue boarding foils to five derivative plaintiffs in AA v. State Department (E.D. Va.).
50% duties on approximately $20 billion in Canadian imports take effect — litigation over statutory authority expected in Court of International Trade.
Attorney General Letitia James must respond to Carmelite Sisters v. James preliminary injunction motion in N.D.N.Y.
Bench trial scheduled in E.D. Va. on the FTC's challenge to the Zillow-Redfin $100M exclusive multifamily listings partnership.
First Monday in October — Jouppi v. Alaska and other granted cases on the docket; Carroll and mail-voting appeals may be added.