To appreciate how that played out, you need to know how the government defended the ads, because, well, it didn\u2019t. As Law Dork\u2019s Chris Geidner reported<\/a>, the Justice Department opposed the TRO without saying a word about whether the ads were legal. DOJ recited the Supreme Court\u2019s standard for preliminary relief, likelihood of success on the merits included, and then skipped that factor entirely. The actual argument was that the plaintiffs (Common Cause; Robert Hunter, an Alabama state senate candidate; a union; and the union\u2019s PAC) lacked standing, had filed in the wrong venue, and would suffer no irreparable harm because the ads were ending Sunday anyway. Holly Mehringer, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Chief Financial Officer at DHS, swore out a declaration that the vendor had bought airtime through October 11 \u201cat an approximate cost of $19,000,000.\u201d<\/p>\n So the defense of spending $19 million in federal money on Trump\u2019s greatest hits was, more or less, \u201cbut we\u2019re almost done anyway.\u201d That\u2019s the equivalent of telling the state trooper that sure, you were doing 95 mph, but your exit is coming up.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs called it what it was. \u201cThat attempt to run out the clock does not cut against issuing a TRO and a Section 705 stay; it shows why the Court should grant relief today,\u201d they wrote in their reply. And Judge Rochon agreed.<\/p>\n Well, about that\u2026<\/p>\n On Monday, the plaintiffs told the court the ads kept running Sunday night, and a few more aired early Monday. DOJ\u2019s required status report, filed Monday evening, offered this explanation:<\/p>\n As Your Honor is aware, the Court emailed the TRO to the parties yesterday at 6:46 p.m. Counsel for the Government emailed the TRO to agency counsel at 7:58 p.m. Agency counsel did not become aware of Government counsel\u2019s email until this morning. The undersigned apologizes to the Court and the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cSorry, just seeing this!\u201d<\/p>\n DHS now says it\u2019s in compliance, LMD has been told it\u2019s enjoined, and both the purchase order and the apportionment are stayed. The TRO lasts 14 days unless extended, and Rochon is rescheduling Tuesday\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the Democratic National Committee\u2019s parallel suit in D.C.<\/a>, Main Justice\u2019s Federal Programs Branch did attempt a merits defense, which mostly boils down to the claim that something only counts as impermissible propaganda if it\u2019s \u201ccompletely devoid of any connection with official functions.\u201d That hearing is set for Thursday morning. We\u2019ll see if anyone over there has better luck with the inbox.<\/p>\n Earlier: <\/strong>Former Bush Ethics Lawyer: Trump\u2019s Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ad Could Be An Impeachable Offense<\/a><\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Trump Administration Blows Through Court Order On Propaganda Ads Because Nobody Checked Their Email<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop running the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s taxpayer-funded ode to Donald Trump, immediately. The administration then managed to violate that order within hours because, according to its own lawyers, nobody at DHS checked their email.<\/p>\n Cool, great, very professional.<\/p>\n On Sunday evening, U.S. District Judge Jennifer Rochon of the Southern District of New York granted a temporary restraining order<\/a> and a stay under the Administrative Procedure Act in the Common Cause-led challenge to the $20 million taxpayer-funded campaign ad blitz<\/a>, the one that moved money Congress gave DHS for border security into national TV spots praising the president weeks before the midterms. Rochon, a Biden appointee, stayed DHS\u2019s purchase order with its ad vendor, LMD Agency, stayed the Office of Management and Budget\u2019s $20 million apportionment, and barred the department from spending appropriated funds on the ads. And because she could read a calendar, she ordered the government to \u201ccancel or cause to be cancelled any slot, placement, reservation, or arrangement for the airing or dissemination of the challenged advertisements, including those placements for the evening of October 11, 2026.\u201d The order was effective as of 6:45 p.m. Sunday.<\/p>\n To appreciate how that played out, you need to know how the government defended the ads, because, well, it didn\u2019t. As Law Dork\u2019s Chris Geidner reported<\/a>, the Justice Department opposed the TRO without saying a word about whether the ads were legal. DOJ recited the Supreme Court\u2019s standard for preliminary relief, likelihood of success on the merits included, and then skipped that factor entirely. The actual argument was that the plaintiffs (Common Cause; Robert Hunter, an Alabama state senate candidate; a union; and the union\u2019s PAC) lacked standing, had filed in the wrong venue, and would suffer no irreparable harm because the ads were ending Sunday anyway. Holly Mehringer, the Senior Official Performing the Duties of the Chief Financial Officer at DHS, swore out a declaration that the vendor had bought airtime through October 11 \u201cat an approximate cost of $19,000,000.\u201d<\/p>\n So the defense of spending $19 million in federal money on Trump\u2019s greatest hits was, more or less, \u201cbut we\u2019re almost done anyway.\u201d That\u2019s the equivalent of telling the state trooper that sure, you were doing 95 mph, but your exit is coming up.<\/p>\n The plaintiffs called it what it was. \u201cThat attempt to run out the clock does not cut against issuing a TRO and a Section 705 stay; it shows why the Court should grant relief today,\u201d they wrote in their reply. And Judge Rochon agreed.<\/p>\n Well, about that\u2026<\/p>\n On Monday, the plaintiffs told the court the ads kept running Sunday night, and a few more aired early Monday. DOJ\u2019s required status report, filed Monday evening, offered this explanation:<\/p>\n As Your Honor is aware, the Court emailed the TRO to the parties yesterday at 6:46 p.m. Counsel for the Government emailed the TRO to agency counsel at 7:58 p.m. Agency counsel did not become aware of Government counsel\u2019s email until this morning. The undersigned apologizes to the Court and the plaintiffs.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n \u201cSorry, just seeing this!\u201d<\/p>\n DHS now says it\u2019s in compliance, LMD has been told it\u2019s enjoined, and both the purchase order and the apportionment are stayed. The TRO lasts 14 days unless extended, and Rochon is rescheduling Tuesday\u2019s conference.<\/p>\n Meanwhile, in the Democratic National Committee\u2019s parallel suit in D.C.<\/a>, Main Justice\u2019s Federal Programs Branch did attempt a merits defense, which mostly boils down to the claim that something only counts as impermissible propaganda if it\u2019s \u201ccompletely devoid of any connection with official functions.\u201d That hearing is set for Thursday morning. We\u2019ll see if anyone over there has better luck with the inbox.<\/p>\n Earlier: <\/strong>Former Bush Ethics Lawyer: Trump\u2019s Taxpayer-Funded Campaign Ad Could Be An Impeachable Offense<\/a><\/p>\n Kathryn Rubino is a Senior Editor at Above the Law, host of\u00a0The Jabot podcast<\/a>, and co-host of\u00a0Thinking Like A Lawyer<\/a>. AtL tipsters are the best, so please connect with her. Feel free to email\u00a0her<\/a>\u00a0with any tips, questions, or comments and follow her on Twitter\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a>\u00a0or Bluesky\u00a0@Kathryn1<\/a><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n The post Trump Administration Blows Through Court Order On Propaganda Ads Because Nobody Checked Their Email<\/a> appeared first on Above the Law<\/a>.<\/p>\n <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" A federal judge has ordered the Trump administration to stop running the Department of Homeland Security\u2019s taxpayer-funded ode to Donald Trump, immediately. The administration then managed to violate that order within hours because, according to its own lawyers, nobody at DHS checked their email. Cool, great, very professional. On Sunday evening, U.S. District Judge Jennifer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":164873,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-164889","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-above_the_law"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164889","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=164889"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/164889\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/164873"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=164889"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=164889"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=164889"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}\n
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