Judge Reopens Trump’s IRS Case, Wants To Know If The Court Was Defrauded

from the well-look-at-that dept

Most legal experts seemed pretty skeptical about the tactic of 35 former federal judges asking federal judge Kathleen Williams to reopen the case where Trump sued his own IRS demanding $10 billion. Turns out they were wrong — on Friday, Judge Williams reopened the case, not going so far as to investigate whether fraud had been committed upon the court (yet), but ordering the plaintiffs (Donald Trump) to file a response to those claims:

Accordingly, it is ORDERED AND ADJUDGED that Plaintiffs shall file a response to the Motion (DE 63) on or before June 12, 2026, detailing their position on the matters set forth in the Motion, including (1) the charges of collusion and whether the Parties are truly adverse; (2) the assertion that the dismissal in this case was premised on deception by the Parties; and (3) the question of whether the case should be reopened because the Court was the “victim of a fraud.”

So it’s not yet a full reopening, but clearly signals that the judge felt compelled by what those other judges had submitted. We already knew she was skeptical about whether the parties were truly adverse — she had flagged it explicitly, which is part of what pushed Trump to have his IRS settle with himself before she could dig any deeper.

While Trump has been ordered to respond by June 12th, it wouldn’t surprise me at all to see his lawyers (I almost said the DOJ, but, you know, same thing these days) try to rush to either an appeals court or straight to the Supreme Court’s shadow docket — Donald Trump is not exactly known for accepting courts telling him he broke the rules.

There are some other interesting tidbits in the ruling from the judge, including this footnote:

The Court is aware of reporting that the IRS prepared a memorandum outlining ways to challenge Plaintiffs’ claims. Andrew Duehren, The I.R.S. Thought It Could Fight Trump’s Lawsuit, but It Struck a Deal Anyway, N.Y. Times (May 19, 2026), https://www.nytimes.com/2026/05/19/admin/irs-trump-lawsuit-deal.html. These defenses are consistent with the positions taken by the IRS and the Department of Justice in other litigation.

That’s a pointed eyebrow raise from the judge — essentially noting for the record that the IRS knew the lawsuit was bullshit and the DOJ “settled” anyway.

Just before that, there’s another footnote putting a spotlight on Donald Trump’s former personal attorney and now Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche for his unusually hands-on involvement:

This addendum, as the non-party movants point out, may be in conflict with internal Department of Justice policies that require the Department to only enter into compromises that are “specifically limited to the immediate subject matter of the claim which was in fact compromised.” (DE 63 at 8). The addendum was signed only by the Acting Attorney General.

While it’s still early days, the judge is essentially putting it on the record that basically everything here looks sketchy, and she wants Donald Trump’s lawyers to explain themselves before she turns the heat up.

Filed Under: donald trump, fraud, fraud on the court, irs, kathleen williams, settlement, todd blanche, weaponization fund