Scoop: Interim US attorney Ed Martin, who has amplified false claims of election fraud, said he’s formed a special unit to uphold US election laws that has already started one investigation, per officewide email viewed by Bloomberg Law. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/dc…

JUST IN: After years of litigation about Trump's civil liability for Jan. 6, the Justice Department is now moving to substitute itself for Trump in the lawsuit, saying Trump was acting in his official capacity on Jan. 6.

Read all about DHS's dismantling of its civil rights office here (along with its immigration detention & immigration services ombuds) news.bgov.com/bloomberg-gove…

A group that’s spent the last four years attacking companies for promoting DEI and other “woke” policies is now taking aim at federal regulators in the next big swipe at the administrative state to reach the Supreme Court. news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/re…

Notable for court watchers in this draft text: Language that would prevent judges from holding the govt in contempt for violating court orders, unless plaintiffs posted a financial security. Background on GOP effort to use approps to rein in courts: news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/jo…

News: Lawyers are lining up for the open federal judgeships in Texas. Folks interviewed include a new SCOTX member, a former Cruz counsel, a Paxton whistleblower and current magistrate judges. w/ Ryan Autullo news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ne…

New: Maryland's federal trial court adopted a standing order blocking the immediate removal of detained foreign citizens who file habeas petitions giving judges time to weigh those cases. It's the same court where Kilmar Abrego Garcia's case is being heard news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ma…

New: Ex-Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone quit rather than get fired after two employees accused him of harassment, one says in a lawsuit. Stone also made threats that caused First Assistant Brent Webster to fear for family's safety, suit says. #txlege news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/ex-…

Another complaint tossed over federal judges not hiring clerks from Columbia, but a circuit judge said there might an issue when judges "begin using their power as government officials to pressure private institutions to conform to the judges’ preferences" news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ch…

New: Former Texas Solicitor General Judd Stone quits prominent lawyer committee that screens federal judicial candidates following lawsuit alleging harassment, sources tell Jacqueline Thomsen and I. #txlege news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/ju…

Texan becomes the latest sitting US judge to denounce attacks on judges and lawyers: "We can be lemmings following others off an authoritarian cliff, or we can be Martin Luther King, Jr., drum majors for justice" bloomberg.com/news/articles/…

Trump-Paxton deal to end noncitizen in-state tuition smacks of collusion, a law professor and state senator tell Jacqueline Thomsen and I. "If you saw anyone in the private sector doing this, everyone would say the fix is in," José Menéndez says. #txlege news.bloomberglaw.com/litigation/tru…

A Trump appointed judge who prosecuted white supremacists for the violence at the deadly 2017 rally in Charlottesville has been tasked with presiding over the Trump DOJ's lawsuit against the Maryland federal trial court's judges news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/tr…

New: Star conservative lawyer Paul Clement has moved to defend Maryland's federal trial judges from a Justice Department lawsuit, the latest instance of him facing off with the Trump administration in court news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/pa…