Two Above the Law reports describe separate courtroom defeats for the Justice Department. In one, a judge rejected DOJ's plan to subpoena the law firm Susman Godfrey in the American Bar Association case. In the other, DOJ demanded that a judge recuse herself after she observed that the department had broken the law.
The first report says the subpoena plan "did not survive contact with a judge." The judge's reasoning, according to the report, was that a party must name a witness before seeking to disqualify one. The subpoena appeared to be part of an effort to remove Susman Godfrey from the case.
The second report centers on a recusal demand. The judge had noted that DOJ broke the law; DOJ called that noticing inappropriate and asked her to step aside. The report's headline frames the episode as another instance of the department overreaching.
The two reports agree that DOJ's procedural moves failed, but they involve different tactics: a subpoena aimed at disqualifying a firm, and a recusal motion aimed at a judge. Together, they suggest courts are pushing back on DOJ's aggressive courtroom strategy.