Trump Trapped at SCOTUS as Appeal Backfires

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1:29Michael Popok:We've got a fast moving and breaking story about those SNAP anti-hunger payments that go to one in eight Americans and Donald Trump and the Trump and MAGA administration's resistance and punishing of hungry people and poor people in America. Yes, the shutdown may be over, but that's going to take several days. In the meantime, there is a hot and heavy pursuit of those funds to make sure that people don't suffer being led by the Democrats in the courts. We've got a ruling by the First Circuit. We've got a ruling by Judge Talwani in Massachusetts. We've got a request to the United States Supreme Court all on this one day as people who care about other Americans fight to get them the remaining three billion dollars in funds.

2:17Michael Popok:as Donald Trump tries to claw back the$5 billion that his administration paid out so that when people open their refrigerator, there's food to eat and they're not living under the world of food insecurity. And this was all set in motion, I suggest, by a supremely smart and crafty decision by Ketanji Brown-Jackson two days ago to stay temporarily for 48 hours a decision by a federal judge in Rhode Island, Judge McConnell. That's the first domino. But she stated, people were like, oh, I don't want Ketanji Brown-Jackson to stay it on the payment of the last$3 billion of SNAP anti-hunger payments and food stamps.

3:01Michael Popok:Let it be another justice. No, she was smart because now she's set up the trap, political and legal trap for Donald Trump, and he stepped right in it. Now he's forced to go today on an emergency filing and asked the United States Supreme Court for permission to let Americans starve. That's pretty crafty, as she already maneuvered so that$5 billion out of the $8 billion was already paid. It's not enough, but at least that payment went out. And now Donald Trump, in his legal case, is set up for failure in a way because of Ketanji Brown-Jackson. Let me tie together the First Circuit ruling, Judge Talwani's ruling in Massachusetts, the original ruling by Judge McConnell in Rhode Island, and the request at the United States Supreme Court, weaving it together on the Midas Touch Network.

3:52Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popak and for Legal AF. All right, let's get into it. A week ago, Thursday, Judge McConnell in Rhode Island ordered that as much of the$8 billion dollars that was owed in November to people who are recipients of this entitlement, that they're entitled to have the dignity of food security get paid. And if the Trump administration wasn't going to make the full eight billion dollars in payments, he wanted to know why and how and make sure it's not arbitrary and capricious. Well, after I got back in front of him and the Trump administration said last Monday and Tuesday, well, we're not if we make a partial payment, it'll be weeks or months.

4:34Michael Popok:He said, no, it'll be ours. I'll see you back in my court on Thursday. He brought everybody back on Thursday and he issued a new ruling enforcing his original temporary restraining order in which he declared they are to make the full$8 billion in payments and get it from other funding that they had available to them, including a large fund we call the Section 32 funds devoted for child nutrition that was overfunded, had$23 billion in it, take$3 billion out, top up the$8 billion. billion that's required to make the full payments of$350 per family and make the payments. One in eight Americans are below the poverty line and get snap payments.

5:18Michael Popok:One in eight, 16 million children. That's what we're talking about. And it's time to do it. That was his ruling on Thursday. Did the Trump administration make the payment? Sort of. They made five out of$8 billion and then complained about the rest. They ran to Judge McConnell and asked him for a stay of his order on the remaining three. He said no. They ran to the First Circuit Court of Appeals and asked for an administrative stay in time for them to make an appeal. They said no. They ran to the United States Supreme Court over the weekend and asked the justice there, which would be Ketanji Brown Jackson for the First Circuit, to grant a temporary administrative stay so they could file their full stay request at the First Circuit, she said, yes, people went crazy.

6:04Michael Popok:But they shouldn't have. And if you read carefully the request by Trump and knowing that they'd already paid the$5 billion out, the request was not for an emergency shadow docket appeal. The request was for a temporary stay to give the First Circuit time to make their ruling on a full briefing. So Justice Ketanji Brown-Jackson, she gave a very short stay. It was about 46 hours. Why? Because then if Trump were to lose at the First Circuit, which he has, and she knew he was going to, and I'll tell you why when I read from the decision in a second, that he'd have to go back to the full Supreme Court and beg them to let him starve poor Americans.

6:51Michael Popok:Think about the optics. Think about it legally. And she also knew that from a record standpoint, he had developed a terrible record undermining his argument, Trump, because he'd already paid the five out of the eight billion out. So he couldn't claim on an emergency docket that he needed an emergency appeal for the last three billion. That made no sense. So that she liked. And that's why Trump over the weekend tried to claw back the five million to make his record better. but too late, outmaneuvered by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. And now he has to suffer through the politics as he continues to shift and flip-flop his position all weekend, as he's doing with the government shutdown.

7:31Michael Popok:She also wanted to take advantage of his tendency to flip-flop.

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8:48Michael Popok:Now we've got the decision by the First Circuit. Let me bring you there. First Circuit says late yesterday that they're not going to grant the stay through the duration of the appeal because he's likely to lose on appeal. But there was no abuse of discretion by the judge that they'd already issued five out of eight billion. There was plenty of funds to make the remaining and she was not going to rule in their favor. Here's what the judge, Judge Rickleman, who is a, there were two Biden appointees and one Obama appointee on the panel. Rickleman's very interesting because she used to work for the Center for Reproductive Rights arguing for abortion rights.

9:27Michael Popok:That was her day job before she became a judge. She wrote the majority three zero opinion. Here's what she wrote on page four. 42 million people, one out of every eight Americans, use monthly benefits from the federal SNAP program to buy food for themselves and their families. She also put it in sharp relief when she said about the program itself, she said on page five, for low-income Americans, SNAP is a vital bulwark against hunger and food insecurity. Access to food is, of course, a basic human need. Further, food security is a critical factor in health and well-being. the ability to stay in stable housing, children's physical and educational development.

10:08Michael Popok:Without SNAP, tens of millions would go hungry, the first among a cascade of other health and financial harms that would befall those forced to go without enough food, particularly in the months leading up to winter. And that's why she, along with the two others, refused to block the order of Judge McConnell, enforcing his original temporary restraining order that the next$3 billion get paid out. Now, there was a second case up with Judge Telwani that was filed out around the same time by 23 attorneys general led by the attorneys general of Massachusetts and Rob Bonta, the attorney general of California.

10:45Michael Popok:I have an interview of Rob Bonta that I'm doing that will be up tomorrow morning on Legal AF YouTube about these issues. In their brief, they asked Judge Talwani, who was sitting on a little bit on the sidelines waiting to have another request for temporary restraining order. They filed a second request for temporary restraining order just in the last few hours. They filed it also on the 9th when the First Circuit ruled. Plaintiffs further motion for a temporary restraining order. I'll post this on Legal AF Substack. Here's what they say there. Plaintiffs, which are the 23 states, blue states, come to this court again for the third time in 13 days to seek emergency relief from yet another unlawful and senseless act by the U.S.

11:31Michael Popok:Department of Agriculture and other defendants in their funding and oversight of SNAP. We've respectfully requested an emergency virtual hearing on Monday because of the irreparable harm and all of that. Judge Talwani has issued her ruling. Here's her ruling that came out just today on the 10th.

12:17Michael Popok:steps taken to issue full benefits and shall advise the appropriate offices of those steps is stayed pending further court order. And then she set the hearing for the 13th at 3.30, meaning over the weekend, the Trump administration tried to claw back the money, the$5 billion they'd already paid. She has stopped that on her watch while she gets to her full hearing on the 13th. So you have Judge Talwani stopping the clawback until she gets the hearing in about three days. You've got the First Circuit who's ruled. And now we're on a 48-hour clock of Judge Ketanji Brown-Jackson that Supreme Court justice is making because she said 48 hours after the first department ruled, she would lift her stay, giving the parties time to run back to court to ask for some sort of emergency relief.

13:08Michael Popok:And now we've got, just now, in the last hour or so, we've got the request by letter by John Sauer, Donald Trump's Solicitor General, former his personal appellate criminal defense lawyer, writing to the clerk of the court. It says, pursuant to the court, this letter confirms that the government will file a supplemental brief by 4 p.m. this afternoon. And there's been two developments. First, last evening, the Senate voted to begin the process for ending the shutdown and funding the government, including full funding for SNAP through the end of the fiscal year. That proposal, if adopted by both houses of Congress and signed by the president, would end the shutdown and moot this application, meaning we won't need the appeal.

13:57Michael Popok:But we still need it because we don't know what's going to happen in the next 48 hours, 72 hours in Congress. Do you? Second, this morning, a district court, that's Judge Telwani, who I just read from, in a related case issued a temporary restraining order. The TRO directs the states that had processed full, sorry, that TRO purports to stay, doesn't purport to stay, it stays. The USDA's November 8th memo that directed states that had processed full payments to undo those actions and revert to processing 65 % snap payments for November. That's again, Ketanji Brown-Jackson forcing the Trump administration to beg the full Supreme Court for permission to starve people.

14:45Michael Popok:I'm Michael Popak. I'm glad you're here on Midas Touch Network and Legal Layoff. You can see this is a fast-moving story. I'll cover it here on Midas. I'll cover it on Legal AF YouTube and on Legal AF Substack. We're getting close to our 1 million threshold subscriber base on Legal AF YouTube. Come join us there. And on Legal AF Substack, join us there as well and consider becoming a paid member. 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.

15:21Michael Popok: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 got some new reporting. We got interviews. We got ad-free versions of the podcast and hot takes where Legal AF on Substack. Come over now to free subscribe.

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