Judicial Notice (11.09.25): ‘It’s A War, Man’
Deep Dives
Explore related topics with these Wikipedia articles, rewritten for enjoyable reading:
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Federalist Society
13 min read
The article centers on the 2025 National Lawyers Convention hosted by this organization, where Deputy AG Blanche made his controversial remarks. Understanding the Federalist Society's history, influence on judicial appointments, and role in conservative legal thought provides essential context for the debates described.
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Judicial independence
15 min read
Blanche's attacks on judges as 'political' and 'rogue activists' directly challenge the principle of judicial independence. This topic provides the constitutional and philosophical framework for understanding why such rhetoric is controversial and what safeguards exist to protect judges from political pressure.
This week’s Judicial Notice is sponsored by
Chambers-ranked and Harvard-educated, Jeff is the trusted closer for high-stakes disputes. His battle-tested system of managed communications empowers clients to make clear, strong decisions in a calm, informed environment. It makes the right resolution obvious. If settlement seems impossible, call him.
I just returned from Washington, D.C., where I attended two great events. First, on Wednesday night, I went to the launch party of Dunn Isaacson Rhee. It was attended by a number of legal luminaries, largely from the left side of the aisle—to be expected, in light of how name partners Karen Dunn and Jeannie Rhee served at high levels in Democratic administrations—although I did say hi to Chuck Cooper of Cooper & Kirk.
Second, from Thursday through Saturday, I rubbed shoulders with conservatives and libertarians—and some fellow journalists—at the Federalist Society’s 2025 National Lawyers Convention (NLC). A number of events at the Convention proved newsworthy, and some of them are discussed below. Thanks as usual to my parents and parents-in-law for watching Harlan and Chase while Zach and I were down in D.C.
And thanks to everyone who voted in last week’s poll about your preferred time window for receiving Judicial Notice. There was a three-way tie between Sunday afternoon (12 p.m. to 5 p.m.), Sunday evening (5 p.m. to 10 p.m.), and early Monday morning (6 a.m. to 9 a.m.), with later on Monday morning (9 a.m. to 12 p.m.) a distant fourth. Going forward, I’ll try to send out Judicial Notice between 5 p.m. and 10 p.m. on Sunday, which splits the difference between the three most popular options (and if I can’t make Sunday at 10 p.m., I’ll send out JN early on Monday morning).
Now, on to the news.
Lawyer of the Week: Todd Blanche.
One of the most newsworthy events at the NLC was a “fireside chat” in which Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche, the #2 official at the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), fielded questions from Gene Hamilton, co-founder of the America First Legal Foundation and a DOJ lawyer during the first Trump administration. There was no actual fire—but Blanche’s remarks were certainly fiery, garnering coverage in Bloomberg Law, Law360, and Politico, among other outlets.
Most notably, Blanche laced into judges who have ruled against the Trump
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