July 26, 2026
29,541
2,541
144
9.09%
Every word spoken in this episode is indexed. Type any phrase to jump straight to the moment it was said.
Type any word or phrase that may have been spoken. Click a result to seek the player to that exact moment.
Try a name, a topic, or a quoted line
Episode Timeline
Every episode in order around the one you’re watching — click any card and the page flips straight to it.
11:11Now PlayingAttorneys Brian Kabateck and Shant Karnikian cover Judge Indira Talwani's summary judgment ruling barring the Trump administration from using an obscure OMB clause to terminate billions in congressionally approved grants. Twenty-three states sued after agencies began pulling funding for school-based mental health support, STEM education, community policing, food assistance, clean drinking water, disaster preparedness, and university research, all under the pretext that the programs no longer "effectuated agency priorities." The real targets: anything labeled DEI or related to climate change. Roughly 1,100 active grants worth over $5 billion were at risk. Talwani ruled the clause can't be read to let an agency invent new conditions after the money is already out the door. There's no support in the regulatory history for retroactively rewriting grant terms. Brian and Shant stress the constitutional framework: Congress appropriates money. Agencies administer it under the terms that existed when the grant was accepted. The president can't override that unilaterally, and no president should be able to, because the next president inherits the same power. This isn't a temporary restraining order. It's a final ruling on the merits. Brian notes that nearly every spending freeze Trump attempted since January 2025 has been overturned.
Kabateck LLPCall 184474CIVIL for a free case evaluation or visit us at
Become a member of Legal AF YouTube community
Become a member of the Legal AF Substack
Follow Legal AF on Bluesky
Follow Michael Popok on Bluesky
Subscribe to the Legal AF podcast feed here
Subscribe to the Intersection with Michael Popok podcast feed here
Subscribe to Unprecedented with Michael Popok and Dina Doll podcast feed here
Subscribe to Court of History with Sidney Blumenthal and Sean Wilentz podcast feed here
Sentinel Indexing in Progress
Metadata and chapters are available. Claim extraction for this episode is pending.
All video content is delivered via YouTube embedded players in accordance with the YouTube Terms of Service. Sentinel provides research tools that promote discovery and accountability across political media.