Overview
- Judge Kathleen Williams issued a 56-page opinion on Monday, July 13, 2026, concluding the suit was an effort to manipulate the court and was filed in bad faith.
- Williams referred private lawyers and Justice Department officials to state and D.C. bar authorities and ordered or signaled sanctions, including a one-year bar on one attorney from practicing in the Southern District of Florida.
- The opinion says the Blanche memorandum that sought to bar IRS investigations likely conflicts with federal law that bars executive branch officials from influencing tax audits and raises constitutional doubts about that memorandum.
- An earlier DOJ announcement of a $1.776 billion fund has been publicly abandoned, and Williams’s ruling further weakens any legal claim that the now-disputed settlement granted immunity to the president, his family, or his companies.
- The ruling grows out of the six-year-old Charles Littlejohn tax-data leak that produced criminal charges and could affect Todd Blanche’s confirmation, ongoing congressional oversight, and the legal posture of future investigations or suits.