The Lawfare Podcast · The Lawfare Institute

Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, March 27

March 30, 2026·1 hr 33 min·5 clips

Judge Lynn's opinion slammed the Trump administration for First Amendment retaliation in the Anthropic case.

This episode of the Lawfare Podcast covers multiple legal developments from the Trump administration during the week of March 27, 2026. The lead story is Anthropic v. Department of Defense, in which Judge Lynn of the Northern District of California issued a 43-page opinion striking down the Pentagon's actions against AI company Anthropic. The government lost on every action challenged: President Trump's tweet barring federal agencies from using Anthropic, Secretary Hegseth's tweet imposing a secondary boycott, and a formal letter designating Anthropic as a supply chain risk. Judge Lynn ruled against the government on every legal theory as well, finding First Amendment retaliation, due process violations, arbitrary and capricious action, and lack of statutory authority under 10 U.S.C. section 3252. The panel discusses how the judge chose to rule broadly on constitutional grounds rather than narrowly on statutory ones, making the opinion harder to reverse on appeal. They note the factual record established that the Department of Defense had no prior issues with Anthropic's usage restrictions until the political dispute arose, and that Anthropic lacked the technical ability to access deployed systems. The opinion was stayed for seven days pending appeal. Wittes asked Claude for comment, and the AI disclosed its conflict of interest before offering a neutral legal summary. The New Jersey U.S. Attorney dispute reached resolution when Chief Judge Renee Marie Bum negotiated with Deputy AG Todd Blanche to appoint career prosecutor Robert Fraser, a 20-year DOJ veteran who had voted for Trump all three times. This ended months of constitutional conflict over Alina Habba's appointment and the subsequent triumvirate arrangement that Judge Brand had struck down. In the Fulton County voter records case, reporter Anna Bauer attended a hearing before Judge Boulay, who had previously ruled that the FBI agent who swore out the search warrant did not have to testify. Election technology expert Ryan Macias testified for Fulton County. The judge appeared skeptical that Fulton County needed original records back since DOJ provided digital copies. Minnesota brought suit in D.C. District Court over withheld evidence in the killings of Rene Good and Alex Pretty, assigned to Judge Emmett Sullivan. The panel discusses the strategic decision to file in D.C. rather than Minnesota, where a Trump-appointed judge had previously denied emergency relief. The New York Times v. Department of Defense press access case escalated after Judge Friedman ordered restored credentials for seven journalists. The Pentagon responded by closing its press workspace entirely, setting up a new annex requiring DOD escorts for all press activity. A Pentagon advisor told the Times they used more words to say the same thing to foreclose creative misinterpretation, essentially admitting to evading the court order through word games. The Times filed a new motion to enforce, with a hearing set for the following Monday. In the Jerome Powell investigation, unsealed transcripts from Judge Boasberg's hearing revealed that prosecutors admitted they had no evidence of false statements to Congress and no evidence of fraud in building renovations, offering only that there are 1.2 billion reasons to look into cost overruns. Boasberg applied a sliding scale: less evidence of wrongdoing means less the target must show of ulterior motive. With zero evidence and strong signs of political motivation, he quashed the subpoena. Finally, FHFA Director Bill Pulte made two new criminal referrals against New York AG Letitia James for alleged insurance fraud on properties previously at issue in mortgage fraud investigations, routing them to the Northern District of Illinois and the Southern District of Florida, the latter being the jurisdiction of Jason Redding Quinones, who oversees the broader conspiracy investigation.

As heard by us

A live legal panel tracing a 43-page opinion, referrals, and fraud theories around Letitia James.

Lawfare Live keeps a comparatively light week in the Trump administration's trials and tribulations, beginning with a 43-page Northern District of California opinion and then turning to the referrals and fraud theories around Letitia James.

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You want the Trump-administration trials and tribulations untangled while the names and districts still matter.

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