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PaperclipPerfector  6d ago (text post)   26035 thread views

Culture War Roundup for the week of January 26, 2026

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Isn’t Biery making the legal argument of “administrative warrants issued by the executive branch to itself do not pass probable cause muster”, i.e., the Fourth Amendment? Your claim of “exactly 0 legal arguments” seems exaggerated.

I ran the opinion through AI (Claude), and while it agrees that it’s heavy on rhetoric, it also said the 4A argument is strong.

Also, small typo in your appeals sentence: it should be “you’re”, as in “you are”, not “your” (possessive).

Also also, you may enjoy this joke: What's the difference between God and a federal judge? God doesn't think he's a federal judge!

The claim that Administrative Warrants are categorically invalid under the 4th because "the fox can't guard the henhouse" is fantastically stupid, and completely upends the entire apparatus of administrative enforcement. Administrative Warrants not signed by a judge have never been held so, only when attempting to enter private areas (such as a home) would the 4th Amendment be implicated. As the two were picked up in public, the reasoning is facile.

Not to worry, it's one of those "category invalid" things that will be categorically invalid only when it's convenient for the side making the decision. The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms, and Explosives, for instance, will never have a similar problem.

Please don’t run things through AI and accept its output. Lawyer here and AI gets things wrong all the time.

I've seen a few examples of lawyers praising AI for its legal mind. What does it get wrong in your experience?

One would expect him to outline the factual circumstances of the arrest and why a warrant would be required in the first place.

No, one wouldn't expect that. Orders from trial courts seldom come with opinions. I file hundreds of motions per year and exactly zero have ended in a written opinion. If I'm lucky I might get an explanation from the bench. Usually the judge doesn't say anything but that he'll take it under advisement and he signs an order prepared by counsel a week later.

Thanks for the clarification. I've read about five court opinions in my lifetime, so not very familiar with the standard structure.

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