<![CDATA[The Free Press: Jed Rubenfeld]]>https://www.thefp.com/s/jed-rubenfeldhttps://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!XTc7!,w_256,c_limit,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fbucketeer-e05bbc84-baa3-437e-9518-adb32be77984.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F9cb7f208-a15c-46a8-a040-7e7a2150def9_1280x1280.pngThe Free Press: Jed Rubenfeldhttps://www.thefp.com/s/jed-rubenfeldSubstackWed, 06 May 2026 07:30:10 GMT<![CDATA[Is Trump Outside of the Law on the National Guard and Letitia James?]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/is-trump-outside-of-the-law-on-thehttps://www.thefp.com/p/is-trump-outside-of-the-law-on-theMon, 13 Oct 2025 23:11:23 GMTIt’s another week in America, which means that columnists throughout the land will declare that we’re in the middle of another constitutional crisis. It’s still not true. What is true is that President Donald Trump keeps pushing at the boundaries of his lawful power. And for now, at least, the courts are doing their job.

Two unfolding stories deserve special attention. They are Trump’s use of the National Guard and the indictment of New York attorney general Letitia James. Let’s take each in turn.

National Guard

The president is trying to send National Guard troops into what he calls “war-ravaged” Portland, Oregon, and “hellhole” Chicago, where anti-ICE protests, sometimes violent, have taken place. Earlier this month, a federal district judge appointed by Trump blocked the Guard from deploying in Portland. Last Thursday, another federal district judge did the same thing in Chicago, again finding that the anti-ICE protests are not violent enough to justify deploying the Guard.

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]]><![CDATA[Jed Rubenfeld: The Macrons Are Suing Candace Owens. Do They Have a Chance?]]>https://www.thefp.com/p/jed-rubenfeld-the-macrons-are-suing-candace-owens-media-politics-francehttps://www.thefp.com/p/jed-rubenfeld-the-macrons-are-suing-candace-owens-media-politics-franceSun, 27 Jul 2025 19:13:31 GMTOn Wednesday, French First Lady Brigitte Macron, together with her husband, President Emmanuel Macron, filed a defamation suit in Delaware against social media provocateuse and general crazypants Candace Owens. According to the complaint, Owens has claimed, among other things, that Madame Macron is a man, that the two Macrons are actually “blood relatives committing incest,” and that Monsieur Macron was elected president as part of a CIA “mind control” experiment.

Given these fantastical claims, you might think the case would be a slam dunk for the Macrons. In fact, they face an uphill climb. 

Under United States law—which differs on this point from pretty much every other country on the planet—public figures like the Macrons can’t win a defamation suit unless they can prove “actual malice.” 

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