Order itself, 57 p. - https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.706172/gov.uscourts.flsd.706172.106.0.pdf
EmptyWheel analysis - https://emptywheel.net/2026/07/14/judge-kathleen-williams-hoists-the-unitarians-on-their-fraudulent-petards/?unapproved=1150107&moderation-hash=b9a895b2c0855afbc93d007d474a0b8f
AP published analysis - https://apnews.com/article/trump-irs-justice-department-61adebe5de8982eb214b30889ad4f251
Readers might notice the EmptyWheel headline: "Judge Kathleen Williams Hoists the Unitarians on Their Fraudulent Petards"
My first impression was the Unitarians are no worse than the Catholics, but then the accompanying EmptyWheel exigesis made the sense in which the headline spoke clear - not those church-going Unitarians, so read on, three links. Perhaps AP is the better start.
The lawyers in the sham did come into a critique of their rectitude, doing as they did. It seemed to go beyond judgment they'd shown in their actions, to rectitude.
Like - they knew better. Believing they could push that sack of shit past the Judge insulted her judgment and ability to smell it. It is important, so do some follow-up reading.
UPDATE: Trump, in cooking up and then engineering that sham, was patently offensive with no redeeming social merit.
FURTHER: MinnesotaReformer carries that paper's consortium's reporting, saying in effect what the UPDATE said, using headlining:
[...]
“No sitting President has ever sued federal agencies completely subject to his control for monetary benefits, or any benefits that inure to him, his family, and associates. The failure of any attorney in this case to address, on this docket, the relationship of this Article II proscription with the benefits conferred by the ‘settlement’ is a glaring omission that speaks to the control of the Lead Plaintiff,” Williams wrote in the 56-page order.
[...]
Trump, his sons and the Trump Organization are “prohibited from referring to the purported ‘settlement agreement,’ or using, offering, admitting, or citing any of its provisions in any judicial, administrative, regulatory, arbitration, or any other official proceeding as evidence of a ‘settlement’ reached in this matter,” Williams wrote.
Further, she ordered the Trumps and their company to reimburse fees for attorneys appointed by the court to examine Trump’s case against the IRS, an agency under his control as president.
35 former judges
The president and his family sued the IRS in January over the late 2019 leak of their tax information to news media by a government contractor. The contractor had already been sentenced for the leak in early 2024.
The creation of the “anti-weaponization” fund sparked lawsuits, including from two former police officers who deployed to the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
Trump’s IRS case was revived in late May when 35 former federal judges intervened, arguing the settlement fund was “a product of collusion and is itself a fraud on the Court.”
Lawyers representing the former federal judges hailed Williams’ ruling.
“The court’s opinion is a resounding victory for the rule of law. We are proud to represent these former judges in presenting the arguments that the court adopted,” according to a statement from Norm Eisen, co-founder and board member of Democracy Defenders Action, Matt Platkin, founding partner of Platkin LLP, and Susman Godfrey.
I believe I said Trump is patently offensive, with no redeeming social value. In this circumstance, so are his two oldest offspring. And his - let it go. Presuming sense in the electorate, after January 20 of next year, the hearings will buzz. House and Senate.