March 20, 2026 — Aloha Friday

California's Proposition 12 (voter-approved) required minimum space standards for veal calves, breeding pigs, and egg-laying hens — and required that any meat or eggs sold in California meet those standards regardless of where they were produced. The federal government sued, arguing the federal EPIA (Egg Products Inspection Act) preempted California's egg standards under the Supremacy Clause. But the judge — a Trump nominee — dismissed the case because the government failed to demonstrate a redressable injury to itself. The government's claimed injury was to the American working class (higher egg prices), not to the federal government. You can't sue on someone else's behalf without their consent. The judge also noted the government's evidence on egg prices was "mixed at best." Bryan's favorite line from the opinion: the judge said the government was "seeking to enforce the pecking order between federal and state law" — which he noted was "a solid dad joke." Government given two weeks to refile.

The government filed its preliminary injunction response. Its primary argument: Anthropic's refusal to accept DOD contract terms was conduct, not speech, and therefore not protected by the First Amendment. The government's theory is that if refusal to accept contract terms were protected speech, the government could never enforce any contract term against a private party invoking free speech. Bryan found the argument intellectually interesting as a contract-law question — but noted the factual mismatch: Anthropic didn't just lose the specific contract it declined. It lost all of its government contracts, had existing contracts canceled, and was publicly designated a national security threat. That's not "we chose not to do business with you" — that's retaliation. Preliminary injunction hearing set for Wednesday, March 24. Bryan: "I am loving this case."

Kari Lake was appointed head of the U.S. Agency for Global Media (which oversees Voice of America). She proceeded to attempt VOA's shutdown by multiple methods: trying to transfer the director to a different agency, cutting funding, and reducing operations to the "statutory minimum" (the lowest level permitted by law). Each attempt failed in court. The court issued a summary judgment (a final order on the merits) finding Lake violated the APA in reducing VOA's services. The core problem: the person in charge of VOA has a statutory duty to run it. Cutting funding requires showing your work — explaining the reasoning and how the cut tracks with what Congress required. Lake's stated reason — the president issued an executive order — is not a reason. "That's just him saying he likes green paint. But this isn't his living room." The parties were given seven days to come together and propose a plan for how to move forward. Bryan noted this is a case he'd been following since his first or second Morning Report.