Let’s talk about Sean Hannity. Hannity hired Trump libel lawyer Charles Harder to send a threatening letter to the New York Times. Hannity is upset that some writers indicated he was responsible for the death of man who watched Fox News, didn’t think much of coronavirus risks, went on a cruise and later died of Covid-19. The New York Times sent a terse “no” in response, and Ken says that it meets Harder’s letter on the same battlefield: public relations. But it’s not going to be cheap for either side.

Then: the DC Circuit heard the McGahn subpoena case en banc this week and it didn’t go very well for the Department of Justice and the Trump administration’s position. A few judges were interested in some other options Congress could have taken to hold the Trump administration in contempt, including using the inherent contempt power, i.e. sending someone out to arrest McGahn and bring him in. Interesting. But most judges indicated that the court may overturn the initial decision and find that a court could enforce a Congressional subpoena in this case. On the other side of this, in the Supreme Court, President Trump wants the courts to intervene to protect him from a subpoena for his business and financial records. The Supreme Court was set to hear these cases very soon, but now it wants to hear arguments about whether it should even consider these decisions. What does that mean for the cases?

Plus: Flynn deletes an I-did-it-and-I’m-sorry tweet, states are suing China because of the coronavirus and it’s probably not going to work out (or worse, it could backfire), and Ken and Josh talk torts and liability for businesses amid the pandemic.

Michael Avenatti’s out. Michael Cohen’s getting out. Rick Gates too. Federal judges can sentence you to a term, but it’s up to the Bureau of Prisons to decide all the other details: where you serve, level of security, home confinement and many other factors. If you’re serving a sentence in home confinement, what are the restrictions? And is it kind of like the stay-at-home orders that most Americans are under right now? In some ways, it is. Are Michael Cohen, Michael Avenatti, Rick Gates, Paul Manafort and others getting special treatment in comparison to other white collar criminals?

It’s official: Roger Stone won’t get a new trial, and Long Suffering Federal Judge Amy Berman Jackson told him why in excruciating detail this week. Why did she write such a long order? This also means Stone is released from his gag order, so as you might expect, he’s angling for a pardon on Fox News.

This week, Attorney General Bill Barr was asked what the Department of Justice can do to force states to “reopen.” How much power does the federal government have here? Most of the laws we have about states’ power to protect public health during epidemics are pretty old and not much has been tested with modern constitutional analysis. Courts might have to make some tough calls if this continues for a long time. It’s going to get pretty interesting.

This week President Trump responded to a question about his intention to re-open the economy as soon as possible by saying his authority as president is “total.” Is he right? A day later, he started to walk back that statement, saying that he would basically authorize the states to reopen again, which he sort of has the power to do. So, okay. Not total authority. But he does have other ways to influence and pressure governors to do what he wants.

Then: Josh and Ken discuss a Kansas state supreme court decision that affirmed the governor’s order to restrict church gatherings during the pandemic. When a fundamental right is restricted, like on free speech or free exercise of religion, the government needs to have a compelling interest in doing so and a pretty tailored approach. Taken with the other restrictions and exceptions for secular institutions and businesses that are in effect because of the pandemic, is the government disfavoring religious institutions here? Ken thinks the churches have a good case here.

Plus: The Supreme Court will hear arguments over the phone in May for a number of cases scheduled for this term, including the cases seeking President Trump’s financial records and tax returns. The Trump campaign is suing a television station in Northern Wisconsin for airing an ad from the Priorities super PAC. Why this station in this state? And is the campaign right about the ad being defamatory?

Inspectors general are supposed to be independent actors with oversight power within the executive branch. What happens when presidents fire them? This week, President Trump did just that for Michael Atkinson, the intelligence community inspector general who forwarded information about the Ukraine whistleblower’s report to Congress, and for Glenn Fine, the inspector general who was tapped to oversee distribution of coronavirus relief funds. Can he just do that? Is there any penalty for breaking those norms? President Trump has been sending a lot of signals that he doesn’t want to be investigated over anything related to the coronavirus response. Are there big fights ahead between Congress and the executive branch over oversight? And what would they be able to accomplish?

A non-profit in Washington state is suing Fox News for airing misinformation about the coronavirus outbreak. Will this be successful? Does Fox News really have any liability here? 

Plus: Ken updates us on a hearing held over Zoom, and Michael Avenatti is closer to being released from prison.

President Trump has been making implicit threats to governors with relief funds amid the coronavirus crisis. Are there any legal restrictions on his ability to play favorites? Could any state or anyone sue because the president sent personal protective equipment to states whose governors said nicer things about him? Ken says the president has a lot of immunity in this area, even when he’s talking about unscientific treatments for Covid-19. Is Fox News also immune? What’s the difference here?

President Trump’s campaign has sent some angry cease-and-desist letters to TV stations that have aired a super PAC ad that criticizes his handling of the pandemic. And, parts of a lawsuit against the president for his revocation of press passes is allowed to move forward in part. 

Plus: an update on federal courts, now a few weeks into this crisis; Bill Barr is directing the Bureau of Prisons to release some federal inmates, and his testimony before the House Judiciary Committee has been postponed. Could that not be a Zoom meeting?

A few days ago, a story in POLITICO reported that the Department of Justice made a request for new emergency powers related to the pandemic. A lot of people responded with alarm that the government was indicating a suspension of habeas corpus, or essentially saying it will detain people without trials indefinitely during crises, but could there be another explanation for this? Are they simply trying to lay out the rules that apply to judges in a chaotic situation?

Civil litigation is slowing down amid this crisis. How is it affecting the other cases we’ve been following? Ken and Josh go through the McGahn casee and House Democrats’ lawsuit for President Trump’s tax records, whether the president could be deposed in a fraud lawsuit and whether he can block critics on Twitter. Plus: updates on Michael Avenatti and Michael Cohen and the prison system amid a global pandemic.

From the state courts all the way up to the highest court in the land, things are changing in response to the coronavirus pandemic. The Supreme Court will delay oral arguments in Trump v. Mazars, the case where the court will consider whether congressional committees have the authority to subpoena the president’s accounting firm for his financial information. Is it possible there won’t be a decision before the November election?

Ken talks about his experience as courts have begun to delay and limit business and the effects on ongoing cases. How much can be done remotely? Is Clarence Thomas right about oral arguments being sort of unnecessary for the Supreme Court? And what of the staff and inmates in American prisons and jails?

How much authority do state governments and the federal government have to tell you what to do in this crisis? Ken and Josh take a listener question about the Stafford Act.

Plus: President Trump tweets he may pardon Michael Flynn, who still hasn’t been sentenced; the Department of Justice drops charges against a Russian troll farm (this from the Mueller investigation), Michael Cohen asks to serve the rest of his sentence in home confinement.

Senate Republicans are trying to kick up dirt around Hunter Biden. Senator Ron Johnson is looking into Burisma and he wants to subpoena records from Andrii Telizhenkoo, a consultant to Burisma at the firm Blue Star Strategies. Democrats objected to this and called it a fishing expedition meant to hard President Trump’s political opponent.

If Hunter Biden is subpoenaed, could he disobey? Could he delay? And if there are no specific allegations of criminal activity, could he assert his Fifth Amendment rights? And would it be a bad idea for Hunter Biden to agree to Donald Trump Jr.’s challenge to a debate? Yikes.

When it comes to closing businesses, schools and canceling public events, what’s within the president’s authority?

A DC circuit panel recently ruled for Don McGahn, the former White House Counsel, saying the court couldn’t involve itself in a dispute between two other branches of government. House Democrats want an en banc review of that case (to be heard by all of the DC Circuit judges), but after the McGahn ruling, a judge offered some advice to House Democrats in their separate efforts to obtain the president’s tax returns. It might not be the right advice. But, they did a little better this week in their legal pursuit of Mueller investigation grand jury materials.

Plus: Michael Flynn, and wait, why does Donald Trump Jr. want to debate Hunter Biden?

Former White House Counsel Don McGahn sat for extensive interviews with Robert Mueller’s investigators, back when it was the White House strategy to be pretty cooperative. Well now, House Democrats would like to talk with him and they subpoenaed him for testimony. The White House told McGahn not to, so he did not. But, in the last week, a federal judge weighed in and said the court would not intervene in this fight between the two branches of government. This is a victory for the executive branch, which has been resisting subpoenas like this for many months. So now we’re back to the chicken-egg / impeachment-courts fight: Congress shouldn’t impeach without seeking a remedy in the courts, or, if the courts won’t enforce, then the congressional power of impeachment is the remedy. Well, okay. What’s next?

Meanwhile: What’s the latest with Roger Stone? Why is the Trump campaign suing the New York Times and the Washington Post? Did a little DC wine bar have a chance when it sued the Trump hotel? And does a 105-year-old Supreme Court decision explain why Trump hasn’t pardoned his former associates?

Roger Stone received a 40-month sentence last week from Judge Amy Berman Jackson. Three years and four months is, of course, less than the 7-9 years prosecutors had sought before revising that recommendation (and you know what happened next). Ken and Josh recap the sentencing hearing and what’s next for Stone. He hasn’t gone to prison yet. He’s trying to get a new trial, saying his conviction was tainted because the jury foreperson was biased. Did anyone make a mistake here?

Then: more about Jessie Liu, who was President Trump’s duly nominated and confirmed US Attorney for the District of Columbia, until she was fired. Liu was supposed to be promoted to a senior Senate-confirmed job at the Treasury Department, but President Trump withdrew that nomination and fired her -- apparently, according to reporting from Axios -- that she had prosecuted too many of his friends and failed to indict Hillary Clinton and Andrew McCabe. Remember how, in 2006, George W. Bush fired his own US attorneys because they refused to pursue flimsy voter fraud prosecutions? That was an enormous scandal. Why not this? If prosecutors sought but didn’t get a grand jury indictment, is that basically a check on the president here?

Finally: Devin Nunes has sued Fusion GPS for civil RICO. Ken, is it RICO yet?