Opening Arguments

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Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas! The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!

Opening Arguments Media LLC


    • Sep 15, 2025 LATEST EPISODE
    • weekdays NEW EPISODES
    • 1h 5m AVG DURATION
    • 1,135 EPISODES

    4.2 from 3,297 ratings Listeners of Opening Arguments that love the show mention: thomas and andrew, opening arguments, atheistically speaking, oa, bar exam, thomas smith, andrew torrez, legal news, law and politics, thomas is a great, stormy daniels, best legal podcast, legal topics, thomas', advice from a podcast, take legal advice, complex legal issues, legal and political, thomas takes, non lawyers.


    Ivy Insights

    The Opening Arguments podcast is truly exceptional in the realm of legal shows. With its detailed discussions, insightful analysis, and entertaining banter, it stands out from others in the genre. Hosted by Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez, it offers accessible and in-depth breakdowns of current events and pop culture from a legal perspective. The show not only educates listeners on complex legal issues but also makes it enjoyable to listen to.

    One of the best aspects of this podcast is the expertise and chemistry between Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez. Both are highly knowledgeable legal analysts who provide insightful explanations of legal matters. Their discussions go beyond just scratching the surface and delve into the intricacies of each topic. They have a unique ability to make complicated concepts understandable for non-legal individuals like myself.

    Additionally, the show's format sets it apart from others. It often includes performances or readings that add a fun element to their discussions. Whether it's reading excerpts from testimony or comedic interpretations of transcripts, these segments bring a unique flavor to the podcast and keep listeners engaged.

    On the downside, some fans were disappointed with changes in the hosting lineup in previous years. However, with Liz Dye joining as co-host, many have found that this new dynamic has elevated the podcast even further. There were concerns about interruptions of Andrew's explanations by previous co-host Thomas Smith, but with Liz taking over, listeners appreciate that there is better flow and information is covered more thoroughly.

    In conclusion, The Opening Arguments podcast is a must-listen for anyone interested in understanding legal issues in an engaging way. With Liz Dye and Andrew Torrez at its helm, listeners can expect thorough explanations, humorous commentary, and valuable insights into current events through a legal lens. While there may have been changes along the way, loyal fans understand that people make mistakes and deserve second chances. Overall, this podcast continues to provide invaluable knowledge while keeping audiences entertained week after week.



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    Latest episodes from Opening Arguments

    Miranda v. Arizona, and the Fascinating Science of False Confessions

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 15, 2025 65:42


    OA1190 - “You have the right to remain silent.” Anyone who grew up on American crime dramas can recite the rest of these famous warnings from memory, but do you know the whole story of Miranda v. Arizona (1966)? In today's entry in our “Still Good Law” series Matt and Jenessa voluntarily waive their rights, cautiously accept a cigarette and a Styrofoam cup of bad coffee from an alcoholic cop with a dark past, and spill everything they know about the most important criminal case in Supreme Court history. Matt provides the background on Ernesto Miranda's literal life (and death) of crime and the circumstances of his arrest, interrogation, and appeal to the Warren Court while Jenessa breaks down the science of false confessions and why not just having but knowing our Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights is so important for all of us. Oral arguments and decision in Miranda v. Arizona (1966) Miranda: The Story of America's Right to Remain Silent, Gary Stuart (2008) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

    It's Still the Shadow Docket, Despite Kavanaugh's Pathetic Rebrand Attempt

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 12, 2025 56:59


    OA1189 - The Supreme Court's next term may not start until October, but their infamous shadow--sorry, “interim”--docket is in rare form as they issue snap decisions on everything from exactly where one 14-year-old boy can pee to just how openly racist ICE gets to be. Matt and Jenessa review which major precedents the conservative majority is ignoring to enable Trump's worst policies this week before getting on to some Epstein-related legal updates and a radical new development from the Board of Immigration Appeals with massive implications for Trump's mass deportation plans.  Finally, Matt drops a footnote to address one of our nation's least pressing legal questions: is it really true that a wedding in Kentucky can be legally officiated by a dead bear once described as “filled to the brim with cocaine”? SCOTUS order in Trump v. Slaughter  (9/8/2025)  SCOTUS order (with Kavanaugh concurrence and Sotomayor dissent) in Noem v. Vasquez-Perdomo (9/8/25) Matter of Yajure Hurtado, 21 I&N 216 (BIA 2025) Kentucky Revised Statute 402.070  P.S. Matt messed up his audio and is very sorry about it!

    LAM1009: My Cousin Vinny

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 11, 2025 54:52


    Just because everything else is terrible out there right now, we treated ourselves to our second consecutive Law'd Awesome Movie. By popular patron demand: it's My Cousin Vinny! We had a great time talking about this one. Actual New York Italian-American Jenessa Seymour joins to provide dead-ass balls accurate cultural context for one of the greatest Brooklyn couples ever put to film, and Matt shares his perspective as both an actual practicing courtroom lawyer and a guy who is weirdly obsessed with end credits songs that tell you about the movie you just watched.  Thanks again to patrons for this one! My Cousin Vinny, Dale Launer (1992)(full script)(PDF) “‘What is a Yute?' An Oral History of ‘My Cousin Vinny,'” Andy Greene, Rolling Stone (3/7/22)

    Do You Swear You're Not A Subversive Person?

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 8, 2025 54:53


    Continuing their "Good Law" series, Matt and Jenessa talk about Baggett v. Bullitt. This case held that "a State cannot require an employee to take an unduly vague oath containing a promise of future conduct at the risk of prosecution for perjury or loss of employment, particularly where the exercise of First Amendment freedoms may thereby be deterred." Jenessa gives a fascinating science breakdown on cognitive dissonance and what the effect of these vague oaths actually is. It's counter-intuitive and very interesting!

    BREAKING: Federal Courts Correctly Notice Color of Sky, Pope's Religious Affiliation

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 5, 2025 61:52


    For this week's Rapid Response Friday we take up three major judicial rulings pushing back against executive overreach on three completely different topics: removals under the Alien Enemies Act, the use of the National Guard to conduct domestic law enforcement, and the  imposition of tariffs as an executive action under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Also: it turns out a DC grand jury really can't indict a ham sandwich, and why Brazil is so much better at prosecuting insurrectionists than the US is. Fifth Circuit's decision in W.M.M. et al (9/2/25) Judge Charles Breyer's decision in Newson v. Trump (9/2/25) Federal Circuit's decision in V.O.S. Selections v. Trump (8/29/25)

    Douchebag Ben Shapiro knock-offs keep thinking they're smarter than Ketanji Brown Jackson

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 3, 2025 72:08


    VR6 - For today's Vapid Response Wednesday, Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review two examples from a newly-popular genre of lazy right wing op-eds: insecure white guys complaining about Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. What is with these losers who are so obsessed with trying to prove that one of the most qualified nominees to the high court in our lifetimes isn't fit for the job? We take dark-money sugar baby Josh Hammer up on the joke to compare his life achievements to someone who began her SCOTUS career with four times as much courtroom experience as John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett combined--before moving on to trying to even understand what Federalist weirdo Shawn Fleetwood thinks he is saying. “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is an Insult to the Supreme Court,” Josh Hammer, Newsweek (7/1/2025) “KBJ Could Learn a Few Lessons in ‘Professionalism' From Justice Barrett,” Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist (8/20/2025) Ketanji Brown Jackson's career timeline from the Southern Poverty Law Center (4/7/22) Watch on YouTube!

    Brown v. Board v. Science

    Play Episode Listen Later Sep 2, 2025 59:31


    OA1186 - We continue our series on some of our favorite Warren-era Supreme Court decisions with the one Warren-era decision--and very likely the only Supreme Court decision that is still good law--that most people can name from memory. The desegregation of American schools in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) stands today as one of the greatest moments of  justice in American legal history, but did you know that it was also an equally important moment for social science? Matt tees up the legal and historical context and Dr. Jenessa Seymour, Esq. brings her unique background as both a lawyer and a PhD in neuroscience to provide a singular perspective on the science behind Brown and what it has meant for both law and science in the 71 years since then. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy (Pivotal Moments in American History), James T. Patterson (2001)

    Did a Federal Judge Really Just Shutter Alligator Alcatraz?

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 29, 2025 61:40


    OA1185 - The rule of law has never been put more to the test in this country, and we do our best to keep up with at least a few of the most important decent developments. We begin with a brief review of the current status of wrongfully-deported Salvadoran asylum seeker Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Why is the Trump administration desperately trying to re-deport this Central American man whom they already fully admit was deported to hell by mistake to… Uganda? Matt explains. Then: Did a federal judge really just shutter Florida's “Alligator Alcatraz”? We consider the history of this surprisingly significant swampland and why an environmental challenge to its existence was so much easier to win than one based in due process, while also celebrating a major win for native rights. Another major presidential first this week: for the first time in US history, the President has claimed the authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Could this one decision really have global economic consequences? How much does it matter that Trump has done literally the one thing that the Supreme Court has ever told him *not* to do? We review some basics to try to understand the full magnitude of what this all means for our current moment before moving on to today's footnote: an outstanding decision from a Virginia federal judge which should stand as a model for how the judiciary can stand up to American fascism. Kilmar Abrego Garcia's Motion to Dismiss Based on Vindictive and Selective Prosecution Abrego Garcia habeas docket SCOTUS shadow docket order in Trump v. Wilcox (5/22/2025) Judge Williams's order closing “Alligator Alcatraz” (8/21/2025) Order granting motion to dismiss in U.S. v. Russell (8/26/2025) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Maxwell's Silver Yammer, Part 2

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 113:18


    VR5 Part 2 - we continue our analysis of Ghislaine Maxwell's podcast interview on the Todd Blanche Experience. Make sure you caught part 1! Watch the video here! Complete enhanced audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's proffer session with DOJ deputy Todd Blanche on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version) Maxwell transcripts and source audio from DOJ US v Maxwell indictment

    The Ghislaine Maxwell Interview Was Institutional Corruption Like We've Never Seen Before. Truly.

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 27, 2025 97:02


    Due to unprecedented corruption not getting enough of a call out, Vapid Response has taken over the Monday slot this week! It's VR5 Part 1. The Trump administration's corruption of the US Department of Justice hit new depths last week when it released audio and transcripts from convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's so-called “proffer session” with current top DOJ deputy (and former Trump defense attorney) Todd Blanche. OA NYC bureau chief Liz Skeen joins to help us understand just how completely unprecedented everything about this interview and its public release have been, and we discuss why DOJ's flagrantly stupid efforts to minimize the President's well-known close ties with the most notorious sex trafficker in modern US history portends a new level of American authoritarianism. Watch the video here! Complete enhanced audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's proffer session with DOJ deputy Todd Blanche on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version) Maxwell transcripts and source audio from DOJ US v Maxwell indictment

    Republicans Are Messing with Texas

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 22, 2025 65:23


    OA1184 - The saying pretty explicitly tells us to don't, and yet here they are not don'ting. This week on Rapid Response Friday: why is a Texas lawmaker filing a habeas petition asking a federal court to release her from the state capitol building? What's the deal with redistricting, and is Texas's plan to tip the balance in the U.S. House of Representatives actually legal? Jenessa brings her voting rights expertise to explain why this plan is so bad that state Democratic leaders had to go on the lam on threat of arrest to try to stop it. We then briefly discuss the import of Attorney General Pam Bondi pulling back from her attempt to take over DC's entire police force before Matt takes on a couple of little-noticed immigration policy memos in which the Trump administration has given itself dangerously broad new powers to determine things like an immigrant's “good moral character” and “anti-American” activities and associations. Finally in today's footnote: it's Columbia-on-Columbia violence as the West Coast sportswear company goes to war with the East Coast Ivy League university over some IP nonsense which gives Matt yet another excuse to be correct about fonts. Texas state representative Nicole Collier's habeas petition (filed 8/19/25) “Restoring a Rigorous, Holistic, and Comprehensive Good Moral Character Evaluation Standard for Aliens Applying for Naturalization,” USCIS (8/15/25) “Clarifying Discretionary Factors in Certain Immigration Benefit Requests,” USCIS (8/19/25)  Columbia Sportswear v. Columbia University (complaint filed 7/23/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    The Boston Globe put out two bootlicking Trump op-eds in one week. What are we DOING

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 20, 2025 79:09


    VR4 - It's a Boston doubleheader for this Vapid Response Wednesday as Thomas, Lydia, and Matt take on two truly awful takes from the pages of Matt's hometown paper last week within 24 hours of each other. But first: a vintage amuse douche from Tucker Carlson on the evils of the National Guard's occupation of DC--in January 2021 (and apparently no other time)! Then in today's main stories: (1) Conservative opinion-haver Heather Mac Donald on why she supports Trump's absolute right to send American military personnel to occupy American cities just because he wants to. (2) Project 2025 collaborator Hillsdale College dispatches its finest journalistic mind to explain why Donald J. Trump (yes, that Donald J. Trump) is 2025's best possible candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize (yes, that Nobel Peace Prize). Watch on YouTube! “Trump was right to send the National Guard to Washington,” Heather Mac Donald, Boston Globe (8/13/25) “Breaking down the White House lies about D.C.”, Radley Balko (8/13/25) “Trump deserves the Nobel Peace Prize,” John J. Miller, Boston Globe (8/14/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    The Most Important LGTBQ Rights Case You've Never Heard Of

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 18, 2025 55:51


    OA1183 - We continue our ongoing look at some of our favorite Warren Court-era Supreme Court cases with this one-line 1958 decision finding as a matter of law that one of the most important LGTBQ magazines in U.S. history was not publishing obscenity. We begin by trying to find anything resembling smut in the archived pages of ONE magazine before Matt explains a bit more about the history of obscenity law in the U.S. and how Roth v U.S. changed everything just before ONE's cert petition was taken up. Jenessa gets into the proven psychological benefits of being allowed to be who you are in public, and we consider the state of obscenity law today and who still might want to use it. Roth v. United States | 354 U.S. 476 (1957) ONE, Incorporated v. Otto K Oleson: Appellant's Opening Brief – The Tangent Group One, Incorporated v. Olesen, 241 F. 2d 772 - Court of Appeals, 9th Circuit 1957 - Google Scholar U.S. Supreme Court's decision on writ of certiorariin On e, Inc. v. Oleson immediately reversing 9th Circuit (1/13/1958) Complete run of One magazine from 1953-1957, Internet Archive

    What Can We Do To Stop ICE?

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 15, 2025 59:13


    OA1182 - DC is under full federal occupation. California is putting the Trump administration's unprecedented deployment of the National Guard to support federal immigration enforcement on trial. And a major challenge to a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act is on the line in front of the Supreme Court. It's Rapid Response Friday, and we're here for all of it. Finally, Matt breaks down THE BIG FREEZE--a new collective approach to stopping the rapid coming expansion of ICE which every decent person can do something to be a part of. Nothing is inevitable, and none of us are alone. DC Home Rule Act (President's emergency authority over Metropolitan Police at p.85) Declaring a Crime Emergency in the District of Columbia – The White House Complaint in Newsom v. Trump (6/9/25) “THE AMERICAN GESTAPO IS HERE (and there is only one way that we can stop them now),” Matt Cameron, DEPORTNATION (8/15/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    “ICE Is No Gestapo!” Complain Gestapo Enthusiasts

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 13, 2025 80:52


    VR3 - It 's Thomas, Lydia, and Matt versus the entire National Review editorial board! Join us as we take on the conservative magazine's recent op-ed on why it is extremely rude to compare masked American federal agents of today who refuse to identify themselves as they grab innocent families off of the street and shove them into unmarked vans bound for concentration camps to masked Nazi German agents of 1933-1945 who refused to identify themselves as they grabbed innocent families off the street and shoved them into vans bound for concentration camps. Matt explains with historical examples why ICE is not NOT the Gestapo as we consider what we can learn from Nazi history. We celebrate the recent return of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US after his illegal deportation to El Salvador with a take so bad that it is hard to believe that the whole thing wasn't actually published in The Onion. What was the audience for this willfully obtuse Newsweek op-ed praising the DOJ for finding a way to bring Abrego Garcia back other than the fact that the Supreme Court told them to, and what is this trying to say to them? Has this thing already aged worse than Stephen Miller? Finally: updates from Martha's Vineyard (last week's patron-only story) as Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz and his crusade to bring down the considerable weight of the law against people who refuse to serve him tasty Polish food. WATCH US ON YOUTUBE! ”ICE is No Gestapo,” The Editors, National Review (8/6/25) "Why Was Kilmar Abrego Garcia Returned to the US?", Thomas G. Moukawsher, Newsweek (6/11/25)  “Alan Dershowitz once again denied pierogi as Martha's Vineyard residents chant ‘time to go,'” Justin Baragona, The Independent (8/7/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Project 2025, Six Months Later

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 11, 2025 55:21


    OA1181 - In this episode recorded almost exactly six months into the Trump administration, we check in on the progress of the Heritage Foundation's infamous playbook to remake every part of the federal government in the second Trump administration. What is Project 2025, and who was behind it? How many of its goals have already been accomplished, how many are in progress, and what's left?   Mandate For Leadership: The Conservative Promise, The Heritage Foundation (2023)  Project 2025 Tracker Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Why the Whole Alligator Alcatraz Thing Is Somehow Worse Than It Sounds

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 8, 2025 60:34


    OA1180 - We begin with some much-needed reminders that good things are still happening and the rule of law is still (mostly) holding on before turning to a recent Trump executive order on homelessness which reads like something out of a (not very good) Batman movie. Jenessa explains how this development fits into the history of long-term institutionalization of vulnerable and unhoused people in the US as we work through what this thing is actually trying to do. In an unfortunately not-at-all-unrelated story, Matt then breaks down the situation with Florida's “Alligator Alcatraz” (aka “Gator Gitmo”), the pending challenges to this completely new (and totally illegal) approach to state-based immigration detention, and where this is all going. Finally, in today's footnote: has ChatGPT finally made its first hallucinatory appearance in a judicial opinion? We investigate not just one but two recent instances of federal judges who have now joined the many lawyers caught using AI to do their homework. “Ending Crime and Disorder on America's Streets,” The White House (7/25/25) Complaint in Friends of the Everglades v. Noem, filed 6/27/25 Complaint in C-M. v Noem, filed 7/16/25 Defendants' Unopposed Motion to Clarify in Mississippi Association of Educators et al v. Board of Trustees (7/22/25) Judge Henry Wingate's order in Mississippi Association of Educators v. Board of Trustees declining to clarify decision of July 20, 2025 (8/1/25) Defendant's letter to Judge Julien Neals in In re CorMedix Securities Litigation (7/22/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    NYTimes lets awful Harvard Law prof lie his ass off for some reason

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 6, 2025 84:03


    VR2 - Vapid Response Wednesday returns live on video for another round of bad-faith legal takes from the American right's leading--well, let's just go with “minds.” We begin with a quick check-in on the divided state of the U.S. “sovereign citizen” movement via a short explainer video in which one of its leading grifters denounces a whole new set of grifters who are promoting the concept of an “American State National.” We then plumb new depths of dumbassery from Harvard Law school professor/crypto-theocrat Adrian Vermeule. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Vermeule has called out the true villains of the American judiciary: lower court judges who aren't doing exactly what Adrian Vermeule imagines the Supreme Court has told them to do. Matt breaks down why this column doesn't provide a single example of the trend it purports to be exposing, and Lydia has the details on one of MAGA's favorite legal scholars. Who is Adrian Vermeule, what is “Catholic integralism,” and why is a man who has previously gone to so much effort to hide his true beliefs behind “common-good Constitutionalism” showing his entire ass in the pages of the NYT? Then, we preview a *patron-only* bonus where we go into overtime to witness the spectacle of Alan Dershowitz's lengthy but extremely unconvincing arguments as to why everyone should be required to sell him pierogi under force of law. If you want to be sure to not miss that, you'll have to go to patreon.com/law! Watch this episode on YouTube! https://youtu.be/-GyGbd-GUbs "What is the difference between American National and American State National?" Kelby Smith (Youtube link) “Someone is Defying the Supreme Court, But It's Not Trump,” The New York Times, Adrian Vermeule (7/25/25) SCOTUS shadow docket order in Trump v. Wilcox (05/22/2025) SCOTUS shadow docket order in Noem v. Doe (05/30/2025) SCOTUS shadow docket order in DHS v. D.V.D. (06/23/2025) SCOTUS shadow docket order in DHS v. D. V. D. (07/03/2025) Harvard Students' Letter to Administration re: Vermeule (11/09/2020) Vermeule Responds to Harvard Law Faculty's Letter to Students re: The Rule of Law under the Trump Administration (03/30/2025) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

    LEARY V. US (1969): Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Everything You Thought You Knew About Timothy Leary

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 4, 2025 76:47


    OA1179 - Dr. Timothy Leary is best remembered today as the Harvard psychologist who told America to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” with psychedelics in the 1960s. But did you know that “the High Priest of LSD” was also one of the most famous people ever to bring a criminal case to the U.S.. Supreme Court?  Jenessa shares her scientific perspective on Leary's “research,”  and Matt explains how a minor California marijuana possession charge led to Leary's unbelievable life on the run as an international fugitive across four continents and his eventual association with not just one but three of the era's most notorious radical groups. We then review Dr. Leary's conviction under the Marihuana [sic] Tax Act of 1937 and how Leary v. U.S. changed everything about drug enforcement. (Also discussed: the unexpected origin of the Beatles song “Come Together,” the benefits of podcasting on acid, and what psychedelic research and regulation might have looked like in an alternate Leary-free timeline.) Leary v. US, 395 U.S. 6 (1969) Letter from the American Medical Association opposing passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (7/10/1937) The Most Dangerous Man in America: Timothy Leary, Richard Nixon and the Hunt for the Fugitive King of LSD, Bill Minutaglio and Steven L. Davis (2018) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Entrenched Power Hates It When Actual Progressives Are in Office

    Play Episode Listen Later Aug 1, 2025 55:38


    OA1178 - Our conversation with former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin continues with a closer look at the accomplishments of his term, what progressive prosecutors can realistically expect to be able to do within the constraints of the current system--and why they are the last people who should expected to do it--and what was really behind the 2022 recall campaign which removed him from office.  Chesa Boudin's faculty page at UC Berkeley Law Chesa Boudin's academic publications, SSRN Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Alan Dershowitz tries to pull a literal "nothing to see here" on Epstein

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 31, 2025 75:40


    VR1 - Welcome to Vapid Response Wednesday! Rather than explaining law in the news as we have for years on Rapid Response Friday, Thomas, Lydia, and Matt are going on the offensive in this live video series to respond and react to the stupidest takes that we can find--and we've got just the guy for our first pick! We begin with former Jeffrey Epstein defense attorney Alan Dershowitz's recent piece in the Wall Street Journal in which he literally claims that “there is nothing more to see here” on the Epstein case while filling in the facts of what we know from reliable reporting and court records. What is Dersh not telling us here about his own involvement with Epstein, the unbelievably corrupt federal non-prosecution agreement which he secured for his client in 2007, and all of the other many reasons that he might not be a trustworthy source on this question? We then take on one of Matt's all-time favorites: a well-known 1996 video presentation from far-right immigration restrictionist organization NumbersUSA in which founder Roy Beck takes the stage to set the Guinness world record for Biggest Strawman Made Entirely Out of Gumballs. “The Inside Scoop on Jeffrey Epstein,”  Alan Dershowitz, The Wall Street Journal (7/15/2025) “Alan Dershowitz: Devil's Advocate,” Connie Bruck, The New Yorker (7/29/2019) “Immigration, World Poverty, and Gumballs,” NumbersUSA (originally distributed in 1996, uploaded to YouTube in 2010) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    Chesa Boudin Grew up Visiting His Parents in Prison. He Later Became San Francisco DA.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 29, 2025 48:35


    OA1177 - We are excited to welcome former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin for the first half of this unique two-part interview! Chesa is a very notable representative of the “progressive prosecutor” movement. His time as SF DA shows both the promise of this movement, and the limitations. But before we dig into all that, we begin with Chesa's unique background as the child of incarcerated parents and how this experience inspired him to dedicate his life to bringing a new approach to the criminal legal system. Chesa Boudin's faculty page at UC Berkeley Law Chesa Boudin's academic publications, SSRN To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    The Trump-Epstein Legal Breakdown You Didn't Know You Needed

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 25, 2025 59:22


    OA1176 - Six years after his death in a filthy Manhattan jail cell, Jeffrey Epstein's disgusting ghost is now haunting Donald Trump--his former “best friend” of more than a decade. What are the “Epstein files” and why has the demand to see them turned MAGA world against itself now?  We go beyond the headlines to explain how one of the most notorious criminals  in recent American history has become this week's top legal story so long after his death, and why DOJ's recent efforts to cover for Trump should constitute a ten-alarm scandal. We then review Trump's attempt to sue the Wall Street Journal for revealing his surprisingly artistic birthday wishes to his “pal,” why his administration is so intent on unsealing grand jury records which DOJ knows can't be released, how this whole mess has reached the point that the Supreme Court might actually have a good legal reason to reverse Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's conviction (!), and why Trump might be about to pardon Maxwell even if it doesn't. Also discussed: the history of Epstein's astonishing 2007 non-prosecution agreement and its legacy, the real “Epstein files” that no one has been talking about, and how the President of France might be about to righteously bankrupt MAGA mouthpiece Candace Owens.  Complaint in Trump v. Wall Street Journal (filed 7/18/25) Undated July 2025 FBI memo summarizing recent Epstein file review  Judge Robin Rosenberg's order denying DOJ motion to unseal Epstein grand jury records in the Southern District of Florida (7/23/25) Jeffrey Epstein's Non-Prosecution Agreement (signed 9/24/2007) Ghislaine Maxwell's petition for certiorari to the U.S. Supreme Court (filed 4/10/25) Complaint in Macron v. Owens (filed 7/23/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    T3BE78: Following the Interpleader

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 24, 2025 43:51


    Professor Heather Varanini has brought us our next question as we study for the Bar Exam!  If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    PORN LAW: When Your Kink Is Strict Scrutiny but the Court Only Goes Intermediate

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 22, 2025 54:36


    OA1175 - How much of a restriction on your First Amendment rights is it to have to upload an ID to access an adult website? That is the question at the heart of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton, the Supreme Court's recent review of age verification laws such as Texas's HB 1181. Matt explains how this newly precedential application of intermediate scrutiny to these kinds of restrictions on adult content could have real implications for the future of other kinds of unpopular speech. Then for more context we welcome Zeve Sanderson, the Executive Director of the NYU Center for Social Media & Politics. Zeve and a team of other researchers have recently published the leading findings on the actual effects of age verification on browsing habits, which he takes us through while also explaining some possibly less-restrictive alternatives to current verification methods. U.S. Supreme Court's decision in Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton (6/27/2025) Audio of Free Speech Coalition v. Paxton SCOTUS oral arguments (1/15/2025) Do Age Verification Bills Change Search Behavior? A Pre-Registered Registered Synthetic Control Multiverse, David Lang Benjamin Listyg† Brennah V. Ross‡ Anna V. Musquera Zeve Sanderson (March 2024) Zeve Sanderson's website

    ICE Just... Decided Millions of People Are Ineligible for Bail. This Is Bad. Like, Really Bad.

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 18, 2025 59:48


    OA1174 - Matt is coming in hot from the front lines of immigration court for an exclusive firsthand account of how a new secret memo directed to ICE's attorneys is trying to unilaterally redefine immigration reality and prime the machine for a new era of mass detention well beyond anything this country has even seen before. In better news: an actual federal judge restores sanity in the surprisingly-difficult-to-locate federal district of central California, and a footnote on why some unexpected federal job openings might be good news for people who hate fascism. “ICE declares millions of undocumented immigrants ineligible for bond,” Maria Sachetti and Carol Leonning, The Washington Post (7/15/25) (via MSN) Judge Maame Uwusi-Mensah Frimpong's findings and TRO against ICE in Perdomo v. Noem (7/11/25) Board of Immigration Appeals decision in Matter of Q. Li, 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025) Alito's majority decision in Jennings v. Rodriguez (2018)  Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    T3BE77: If a Chandelier Falls and You Aren't There to See It, Did the Liability Even Happen?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 17, 2025 49:13


    And Professor Heather Varanini has brought us our next question as we study for the Bar Exam! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!  

    Let's Talk Space Law! It's Law, but From OUTER SPACE!

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 15, 2025 50:23


    OA1173 - More people have been to space than practice space law, and Professor Michelle Hanlon is one of its most important modern pioneers. Professor Hanlon joins to talk Star Trek captains, preserving historic sites on the Moon, and why she believes the mass privatization of space is--at least if properly regulated--the only way forward. Prof. Michelle Hanlon's University of Mississippi faculty biography “Why Are We All So Obsessed with the Moon?”, Michelle Hanlon, New York Times  (12/7/2024) The Artemis Accords (signed 10/30/2020) “The Wild Wild West of Space Law,” Michael O'Shea, The Walrus (8/13/2020) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    What a Surprise, the Racist Bastards Want to Denaturalize Zohran Mamdani

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 11, 2025 57:48


    OA1172 - It's been two weeks since the Supreme Court decided that babies in only half of the US get to be born as citizens. We try to make sense of what they left behind in one of the most important shadow docket cases in history, and how concerned Samuel Alito should really be that the actual text of the 14th Amendment might still prevail in the end. Matt also considers how likely it is that Zohran Mamdani might lose his citizenship over his rap lyrics, and we wrap with a quick footnote combining two of our favorite things: bad AI in court and Mike Lindell. Trump v. CASA (6/27/25) Judge LaPlante's order certifying class in Barbara v. Trump (7/10/2025) DOJ memo re: priorities including denaturalization (6/11/2025)

    T3BE76: Accidental Evidence

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 10, 2025 47:42


    Professor Heather Varanini is here to get us ready for the Bar Exam with the next question!If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    When You're So Bad At Your Job, You Make the Supreme Court Look Good By Comparison

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 8, 2025 54:34


    OA1171 - Today's episode is a nice, fun departure from the doom and gloom. Oral arguments in a recent SCOTUS case went terribly wrong. And for once, it wasn't the court itself that was looking like a clown show. The case was AJT v Osseo and it involved disability rights. So naturally, I had to invite everyone's favorite disability rights advocate and all around all-star, Dr. Jenessa Seymour!  

    SIO484: Lawsuit Alleges Voting Irregularities in 2024. Is There Any There There?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jul 1, 2025 49:02


    Hey folks, I'm taking a little time off! Hope you enjoy this SIO in the meantime. Thank you! Part 1: The Legal Stuff Dr. Jenessa Seymour is here to break down something that even our moms are spreading on social media: a group in New York claims to have uncovered discrepancies in the vote count for the 2024 election, and they're suing over it! Dr. Seymour hits ALL of the expert boxes for this one - statistics, voting rights, the law, and New York. Want part 2 early? Head to Patreon.com/seriouspod!

    No Way, Bove

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 27, 2025 55:18


    OA1170 - This Rapid Response Friday it's Boh-vey (yes that is how you pronounce it, probably) all day--as in former Trump defense attorney and current Trump henchman Emil Bove, now up for a seat formerly occupied by Samuel Alito on the Third Circuit. Matt ties together several different stories from the news--from January 6th to the Eric Adams prosecution to DOJ's deportations in violation of court orders--together with this week's stunning 27-page account from deep inside the DOJ provided by a former loyalist. Finally, in today's footnote: a pro se plaintiff invents a completely new way for AI to be useless in the courtroom Government's Motion to Clarify in D.H.S.. v. D.V.D.:  (filed shortly after we recorded on 6/27/25) The U.S. Supreme Court's order in D.H.S. v. D.V.D. (6/23/25)  Day 1 of Emil Bove's confirmation hearing (6/25/26) Letter filed by Government Accountability Project on behalf of Erez Reuveni (6/25/25) Oral arguments before New York's First Appellate Division (3/26/25)(clip starts at 19:29) Federal magistrate Barbara Holmes's detention review decision in U.S. v. Kilmar Abrego Garcia (6/22/25)  

    T3BE75: Can I Interest You in a Lettuce Farm?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 26, 2025 35:40


    If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    How Do the Good Lawyers Not Burn Out?

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 24, 2025 66:18


    OA1169 - We had our first live video QnA of the new era! It was so good that I really thought more folks should hear it. Thank you to all who attended and we look forward to the next one! If you'd prefer to watch it, it's available on YouTube.  

    Clarence Thomas Is an Even Worse Doctor Than He Is a Judge

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 20, 2025 53:57


    OA1168 - Did the Karen Read trial just become the most expensive drunk driving prosecution in US history? We then briefly discuss legal issues around the arrest by ICE of New York mayoral candidate Brad Landry, and Matt fills in the most important missing detail of a story which nearly the entire media got wrong this week. And in our main story: the Supreme Court has struck an expected but thoroughly disappointing blow against trans rights in one of the season's biggest cases, and we talk out our first impressions of the informed medical judgments of Drs. Roberts, Thomas, and Alito.  Finally, in today's footnote: why America's favorite crack-smoking pillow salesman now owes millions for repeating a second-hand rumor about an Antifa conference call. Footage of Brad Landry's arrest (CNN) Trump's “Further Extending the TikTok Enforcement Delay” EO (6/19/2025)  The Supreme Court's decision in Skrmetti v US  (6/18/2025) Be sure to join us on YouTube on Sunday, June 22nd, at 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    I Like My Bar Exam Questions Like I Like My Coffee

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 19, 2025 49:17


    T3BE74 First an exciting announcement! We're bringing back the original Q&A format where everyone can hang out for the livestream, but patrons get the extra special opportunity to ask questions in advance! Be sure to join us on YouTube on Sunday, June 22nd, at 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    This Law Student Refused to Let Big Firms Get Away with Quiet Complicity

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 17, 2025 38:44


    OA1167 - Georgetown law student Mari Latibashvili is the co-founder of the GU Law Coalition for Justice, which recently made national headlines by organizing law students to refuse interviews and job offers from law firms which have given in to the Trump administration's war on the legal profession. We discuss (among other things) this remarkably successful campaign, what life in law school has been like since the November 2024 election, and the growing influence of abolitionism among law students and new lawyers. Spreadsheet assembled by Georgetown Coalition of Students for Justice cataloging hundreds of law firms and their responses to the Trump administration's executive orders targeting specific law firms “Law students organize to give Trump-caving law firms a recruitment problem,” Adam Klasfeld, All Rise News (4/25/2025) Amicus brief filed by 1,129 law students in the Susman Godfrey litigation against the Trump administration Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    Troops in LA; Abrego Garcia's Trumped Up Charges

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 13, 2025 57:43


    OA1166 - We consider the legal realities behind this week's most important stories, from the unprecedented statutory justification for Trump sending troops into California to why a wrongfully-deported man's return to the US is--bad, actually? Matt then serves up a digestif of a note en bas de page about one of the most audacious counterfeiters in French history and how they were brought down with one well-placed tongue. Trump executive order deploying National Guard to California (6/7/25) 10 U.S.C 12406 Newsom v. Trump (complaint filed 6/7/2025) Indictment of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (5/21/25) Filing in Maryland Abrego Garcia litigation seeking sanctions against the government Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    The Part of Collections Collector

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 12, 2025 50:24


    T3BE73 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    Federal Workers: Rise Up, Fight Back!

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 10, 2025 60:29


    OA1165 - Anna Chu is the Executive Director at We the Action, a nonprofit that recently collaborated with labor and democracy partners like the American Federation of Government Employees and Democracy Forward, to launch Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network. This Network connects federal workers who are being illegally terminated to pro bono legal services to help them understand their rights and fight back. But before our main segment, Lydia sneaks in to OA HQ to give us an old fashioned Doozy Watch of how things have been looking for federal employees and where the various lawsuits stand. Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    Three Unanimous Supreme Court Decisions, and Why They Sound Bad But Aren't Really

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 6, 2025 55:54


    OA1164 - After a brief conversation from the front lines about the chaotic state of US immigration enforcement as of June 2025, we examine three unusual recent 9-0 decisions authored by three of our favorite Supreme Court justices. Join us behind the headlines to learn why Matt agrees that stopping a lawsuit against gun manufacturers, potentially opening the door to dumbass “reverse discrimination” lawsuits, and expanding tax-exempt status for the Catholic church further than ever are--fine, actually? Plus, a truly shocking immigration law development with potentially massive consequences which the media is totally missing, and one spicy meatball of a footnote. Smith & Wesson v. Estados Unidos Mexicanos  (6/5/25) Catholic Charities v. Wisconsin (6/5/25) Ames v. Ohio Dept of Youth Services (6/5/25) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    Adverse Possession Is 9/10ths of the Law

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 5, 2025 51:14


    T3BE72 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    75% of Exonerated Women Were Convicted of Crimes That Didn't Even Happen (!)

    Play Episode Listen Later Jun 3, 2025 55:41


    OA1163 - No really. That's a real stat. It may actually be WORSE than that. So uh... how in the hell? Professor Valena Beety is here to break it down. She's done a ton of great work in this area, and has a new legal research paper, "Unfit": Gender, Ableism and Reproductive Wrongful Convictions by Valena Elizabeth Beety, which goes into this and much more! Content note: this episode does involve discussion of events where young children died. We don't dwell on these events much at all other than to mention them as needed. More links: Indiana Innocence Project, Kristine Bunch | National Registry of Exonerations, Manifesting Justice: Wrongly Convicted Women Reclaim Their Rights, Op ed: Why has Brenda Andrew been on death row for two decades? It has everything to do with sex.

    Courts Handed Trump Some Huge Losses This Week

    Play Episode Listen Later May 30, 2025 61:06


    OA1162 - It's all good news from our favorite branch of government today! We review recent judicial wins in everything from illegal deportations to tariffs to the Trump administration's wars on international students,  private law firms, and common-sense understandings of the expression “foreign policy.” Plus, Matt shares a footnote from the front lines of Trump's mass deportation efforts to explain why an immigration judge 2000 miles away just left him an angry voicemail. MA District Court judge Brian Murphy's preliminary injunction in DVD v. DHS (4/18/25) Judge Murphy's denial of DHS's motion to reconsider (5/26/25) Order to return O.C.G. to Guatemala (5/23/25) Judge Michael Fabiarz's order on Mahmoud Khalil's habeas claim (5/28/25) VOS v. USA decision from the Court of International Trade (5/28/25)  DC Circuit judge Tanya Chutkan's decision in New Mexico v. Musk (5/27/2025) Judge Richard Leon's order in Wilmer Hale's challenge to Trump EO (5/27/25)

    You're a...... CROOK Captain Hook

    Play Episode Listen Later May 29, 2025 50:21


    T3BE71 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    The Battle Over Cop City

    Play Episode Listen Later May 27, 2025 49:51


    OA1161 - Micah Herskind is an activist, Harvard law student, and most recently a co-editor of the essay collection No Cop City, No Cop World with Mariah Parker and Kamau Franklin. We welcome Micah on to discuss his experience with Atlanta's Stop Cop City movement and the lessons which activists and advocates around the US can learn from it in these times of mass dissent in the face of American authoritarianism.  No Cop City, No Cop World, ed. Micah Herskind, Mariah Parker, & Kamau Franklin (2025) Cop City RICO Indictment, Fulton County Superior Court (8/29/2023) “The Tools of Repression,” Hanah Riley & Micah Herskind, Inquest (4/24/25) The Free Speech Forest Fund Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    A 'Pay What You Can' Law Practice? Prosecutors Say That Encourages Crime.

    Play Episode Listen Later May 23, 2025 64:03


    OA1160 - Sheryl Weikal is an Illinois trial lawyer with a name-your own-price practice representing marginalized people facing eviction, foreclosure, discrimination, and incarceration--which is all incredibly cool unto itself, but she also has a story like no one else you've heard. Sheryl won an incredible victory three years ago against the Illinois state bar for trans attorneys throughout the state in the face of years of open prejudice which she suffered from fellow lawyers, court staff, and even judges from the bench, and has written the story of her personal and professional life in a memoir which will be out June 3rd. This isn't one to miss! Preorder I Was an Abomination: A Story of Trans Survival in Conservative America by Sheryl Weikal (to be released 6/3/2025) “Transgender lawyer wins suit for declaration that trans discrimination violates attorney ethics rules,” ABA Journal (4/18/2022) Follow Sheryl on Bluesky To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    Can a Priest Rat You Out?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 22, 2025 42:43


    T3BE70 - As is typical for Wednesdays these days, we've got some Lydia and Thomas nonsense to kick off the show, but Heather swiftly swoops in to save us from ourselves, reveal the answer to last week's T3BE69 (nice), and set up the question for T3BE70. If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    It Took Years, but Guatemala Held a Brutal Dictator Accountable. What Can We Learn?

    Play Episode Listen Later May 20, 2025 54:23


    OA1159 - We are so pleased to have Temple Law Professor Rachel López on the show to discuss her work in shining light and digitally preserving court records related to the trials following the Guatemalan Civil War. Not only is the archiving of this material so important to those impacted by the government regime over the 30 year conflict, it also demonstrates early examples of transitional justice and what we might learn from it when applying it in the future to governments that commit human rights abuses. Listen in to hear the efforts she undertook to be sure these stories would not be forgotten. Truth Commission Report (February 1999) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

    The Birthright Citizenship Case Is Actually Something Differently Terrible

    Play Episode Listen Later May 16, 2025 59:08


    OA1158 - We start off with some patron questions about what to do when ICE comes to your neighborhood, the one thing that the world's most annoying white libertarians got right, and how to best exercise the very few rights US citizens have coming back into the country. Then in our main story: This week the Supreme Court heard arguments over birthright citizenship--or did it? Matt explains how they might do something even worse than expected while still striking down Trump's attempt to end the  Constitutional right to citizenship for everyone born on US soil by executive order.  Finally, we polish off today's episode with a meaty footnote about the lies and tyranny of a very different kind of would-be monarch. Oral arguments in Trump v. CASA (5/15/25) Trump v. CASA docket  Western District of PA federal judge Stephanie Haines's ruling upholding the application of the Alien Enemies Act to members of Tren de Aragua “Sense of the community” memo dated 4/7/25 finding that Tren de Aragua is not working with the Venezuelan government Complaint in Coleman et al v. Burger King  

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