Main Justice

The mail-in ballot saga has come to an end — for now. Mary and Andrew detail yesterday’s Supreme Court decision rejecting President Trump’s restrictions on mail-in voting, which they call “good news” in the fight against election interference. “Knock it off,” Andrew says to paraphrase the Supreme Court: “we are not engaging in this.” Then, the co-hosts delve into two more examples of what they consider attempts by government bodies to meddle in the midterms, the first being Missouri’s failed redistricting effort as the Supreme Court rejects the state’s new Trump-backed congressional district map. The second: the Solicitor General’s emergency motion to stay an injunction on the Trump administration’s SAVE database, urging the court to restore the immigration verification system that was blocked by a lower court. Plus, the prosecutor who led the “grand conspiracy” investigation into Trump’s political enemies earlier this year has left the probe. And former CIA Director John Brennan preemptively goes to court ahead of the government’s likely prosecution against him.
A Note to Listeners: As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

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The updates just keep coming. On Sunday, the Trump administration returned to the Supreme Court to ask for more control over mail-in ballots, coming two days after U.S. District Judge Indira Talwani’s order blocking the government from implementing parts of the new Postal Service rule. Mary and Andrew analyze the case’s implications as states begin sending out their ballots ahead of the midterms before turning to another update: a preliminary injunction issued in the CASA Inc. v. Trump case on birthright citizenship. Then, the co-hosts turn to the ICE agent involved in the shooting of a Venezuelan man during Trump’s “Operation Metro Surge” in Minneapolis, who is now being federally charged with making false statements to the FBI about the event. They call this “good news” — an instance of the federal government choosing to intervene in an “outrageous” case instead of leaving it up to the states’ discretion. Plus, the Supreme Court allows the construction of Trump’s White House ballroom to continue.
A Note to Listeners: As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content from this and other shows.

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A lot can happen in a week. Mary and Andrew begin with the most recent movement in the court battle against President Trump’s three-tiered mail-in voting executive order. Last week, Judge Talwani issued a fresh injunction blocking one provision of the EO centered around the Postal Service, two days after the Supreme Court lifted a block from the same judge, saying the provisions in the EO could not be applied to November’s midterms. The co-hosts affirm that this fight is far from over before moving to two more updates from cases they talked about last week: a motion brought by Mary’s ICAP team alongside others challenging the 2026 birthright citizenship EO and a decision on Minnesota’s effort to extradite an ICE agent from Texas, after he was charged with shooting Julio Sosa-Celis through the door of a Minnesota home. Next, a win for Anthropic after a federal judge ruled against the Pentagon, saying it acted illegally in labeling the AI company a “supply chain risk.” Plus: a moving video from an active-duty Marine Colonel pleading for an Afghan national to return to the US after he was deported- despite his asylum status after his family helped the US military in Afghanistan.

A video edition of this episode is available on YouTube now.

Further Watching:

Here is the full video that Andrew mentioned about Khalil from Active-duty Marine Colonel Zach Schmidt, via Ryan Goodman’s Bluesky post: https://bsky.app/profile/rgoodlaw.bsky.social/post/3muagjmc35k23

A Note to Listeners: As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content from this and other shows.

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According to Mary and Andrew, recent moves by President Trump’s administration have been following a pattern: “If at first you don’t succeed, try, try again.” The co-hosts begin by breaking down the flurry of news surrounding mail voting, starting with Monday afternoon’s decision by the Supreme Court to allow President Trump’s executive order curtailing mail voting to proceed, though not issuing a decision on the merits of the order. They discuss that decision in conjunction with the Postal Service’s announcement on Friday for a final rule that would comply with the executive order, a move that Andrew calls a proxy for the government to “have the Postal Service act in a way that has a clearly disproportionate impact on certain voters.” Then, a conversation about birthright citizenship after a motion was filed yesterday rejecting Trump’s executive orders that attempt to limit the legal principle. Plus, an analysis of the Second and Ninth Circuit Court’s rulings disqualifying U.S. Attorneys that were improperly appointed by Trump and a quick nod to Minnesota suing the governor of Texas for not extraditing an ICE agent accused of shooting a man in Minneapolis.

Tune in next week as we switch to Wednesday morning releases — and catch video editions of Main Justice on YouTube the same day.

A Note to Listeners: As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content from this and other shows.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Mary and Andrew begin this week by addressing Todd Blanche’s “Meet the Press” interview with Kristen Welker, where, among other things, the newly appointed Attorney General proclaimed that “no attorney general should ever pledge” to act independently of the White House, despite decades of post-Watergate reforms. Keeping in the Blanche vicinity, the co-hosts detail a complaint filed by former Michigan AUSA Sunita Doddamani, who alleged she was fired without cause simply for doing her job prosecuting FACE Act violations. Then, a dive into revelations of undercover agents targeting Minnesota nonprofit organizations as part of an investigation that led to indictments of protestors that, in Mary’s view, included “a whole lot of First Amendment protected activity.” Plus, Trump changes a Treasury Department rule making it harder to find fraud and illegal activity and asks the Supreme Court to let him keep building the ballroom while they appeal a lower court block. Last up, an unsatisfying end to litigation against the administration over their use of the Alien Enemies Act after the 5th Circuit en banc panel dismissed the case.

Further Reading: 

Here is the filing in the case Sunita Doddamani brought to challenge her firing. Doddamani v Blanche

Here is the Main Justice episode that Sunita Doddamani appeared on earlier this year. Friends and Foes: The Fate of Prosecutors and Proud Boys

Here is the chart Mary and Andrew referenced around the Minnesota grand jury “Association” conspiracy: HOMELAND SECURITY INVESTIGATIONS The Conspiracy

A Note to Listeners: As the 2026 midterm elections heat up, MS NOW is headed to the Lone Star State. Join more than a dozen of your favorite hosts - including Rachel Maddow, Lawrence O'Donnell, Jen Psaki, Michael Steele, Ali Velshi and more - in Arlington, Texas on September 26 for a day of community and conversation about the issues that matter most to you. Get your tickets at ms.now/together.

Sign up for MS NOW Premium on Apple Podcasts to listen to this show and other MS podcasts without ads. You'll also get exclusive bonus content from this and other shows.

Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.