Episode 157 | Trump Admin Torpedoes Their Own Cases in Court

It's Complicated

Renato Mariotti

News Commentary, News, Politics

4.7 • 1.1K Ratings

🗓️ 9 February 2026

⏱️ 52 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

DHS Secretary Kristi Noem was served another loss in court this week, as a federal district judge prevented her from removing Temporary Protected Status for more than 350,000 Haitians. Asha and Renato discuss why Judge Ana Reyes called out Noem’s “hostility to nonwhite immigrants” and how Noem and Trump seem to be torpedoing their own cases with unhinged and unnecessary public statements. Then, Renato and Asha review the Justice Department’s latest actions to fulfill Trump’s agenda of vengeance, including the seizure of 2020 election records in Georgia and the arrest of the journalist and former CNN anchor Don Lemon. Listen up! Happy Hour Form: https://forms.office.com/Pages/ResponsePage.aspx?id=ulj-YG6M8kS_691M0FALjfmFfLYa_OpBnph9e1Co8ftURVBPSDJZNE9YSjJGM0ZPNTFFRUxaOElZTCQlQCN0PWcu Asha Substack: https://asharangappa.substack.com/ Subscribe to our podcast: https://link.chtbl.com/its-complicated Follow Asha on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/asharangappa.bsky.social Follow Renato on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/renatomariotti.bsky.social Follow Asha on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/asha.rangappa/ Follow Renato on Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/renato.mariotti/ Cruise with us! https://www.travelstore.com/group-travel/its-complicated-cruise-2026/ Subscribe: https://www.youtube.com/@LegalAFMTN?sub_confirmation=1 Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCJgZJZZbnLFPr5GJdCuIwpA/join Become a member of the Legal AF Substack: https://michaelpopok.substack.com/20off Follow Legal AF on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/legalafmtn.bsky.social Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky: https://bsky.app/profile/mspopok.bsky.social Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/legal-af-by-meidastouch/id1580828595 Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-intersection-with-michael-popok/id1818863274 Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/unprecedented-by-legal-af/id1867023089 Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/the-court-of-history/id1867022920 Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Transcript

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1:00.2	So, Renato, can the court stop this administration's racially discriminatory immigration policies?
1:07.4	Eh, it's complicated.
1:18.5	I'm Renata Mariani. I'm a former federal prosecutor, a practicing lawyer, and a legal analyst. And I'm Asha Rangaba. I teach national security law at Yale University.
1:24.6	I'm a former FBI special agent, and I'm the author of the Freedom Academy Substack.
1:30.2	And we're here to help you understand topics
1:32.2	that can't be boiled down to a sound bite or a steat.
1:39.3	Well, Asha, there's a recent decision
1:41.7	that really took it to Christy Knoll, that's for sure.
1:45.7	Yeah, and right down to the wire.
1:48.9	I did a talk with Professor Tim Snyder on Monday for my substack, and he's from Ohio.
1:58.0	So we had talked about this, and he was very, I mean, obviously, we're all very concerned. But I think it was personal for him. And he referred to the policy that they were about to implement as ethnic cleansing.
2:16.9	Wow. That's really. It was a strong words. He was willing, yeah, he used those words. Wow.
2:18.9	Those are strong words. He was willing, yeah, he used those words.
2:21.1	And what he was referring to was
	...

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