The Completely Unnecessary Killing of Marcellus Williams
Opening Arguments
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at We begin by considering Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's claim that Israel's recent unprecedented operation against Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies was a violation of international law. Was this one of the most sophisticated military intelligence operations in history or an indiscriminate act of terror? Did the US Supreme Court just allow Missouri to execute an innocent man? We consider the evidence against Marcellus Williams as well as the many legal and Constitutional issues with his...
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OA Bar Prep With Heather! T3BE42
Opening Arguments
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at The answer for T3BE41 is coming your way, and we launch our next Bar Prep question with Heather! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at !
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How the 5th Circuit Won by Losing, with Steve Vladeck
Opening Arguments
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at We are excited to welcome Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck back to Opening Arguments for a look back at how the Supreme Court responded to the infamously unruly--and increasingly more extreme--Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in its last term. How did the 5th “win by losing,” and why is there still cause for future concern even after SCOTUS reversed all but three of the eleven cases it took up from them? What kind of messages are the high court justices trying to send back to the 5th, and why...
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We Find John Roberts' Lack of Integrity Disturbing
Opening Arguments
OA1070 Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at We begin today’s show with updates on two small victories for the power of art against the Donald Trump legal-industrial complex before turning to our main story: the biggest leak of internal communications in Supreme Court history. We review what we can learn about how Chief Justice John Roberts has been managing his (and the Court’s) public image from the extremely unauthorized release to the New York Times of memos that we were never supposed to read. Also, Fulton County...
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OA Bar Prep With Heather! T3BE41
Opening Arguments
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at The answer for T3BE39 is coming your way, and we launch our next Bar Prep question with Heather! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at !
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The Surprising History of the Supreme Court Footnote
Opening Arguments
OA1069 Matt is doing a bit of blending of work and pleasure today, by sharing with everyone his footnote fetish. Let's all make this a safe place for Matt to share his more controversial proclivities. Joining us is the author of the , Peter Charles Hoffer. Professor Hoffer is Distinguished Research Professor of History at the University of Georgia. Unlike the justices, Professor Hoffer is an actual historian. Listen and find out not only the fascinating footnote history, but also yet more reasons why originalism and "history and tradition" are not good ways for untrained amateur...
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Trump’s Sentencing Delay Sucks but Is Probably the Right Call
Opening Arguments
OA1068 We begin with a quick review of some of the stranger legal issues raised in this week’s Presidential debate, including such mysteries as whether it is legal to murder babies upon delivery and the factual guilt of the Central Park Five 22 years after they were exonerated by DNA evidence and a third-party confession. In our main story, we review the chaos that the Supreme Court’s legalization of Presidential crime is already causing in Donald Trump’s hush-money case and discuss the relative merits of pushing his sentencing back until after the November election. Finally, Matt drops...
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OA Bar Prep With Heather! T3BE40
Opening Arguments
The answer for T3BE39 is coming your way, and we launch our next Bar Prep question with Heather! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at !
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Adnan Syed Remains a Convicted Murderer
Opening Arguments
OA1067 After some of the strangest post-conviction twists in US legal history, the Supreme Court of Maryland has just reinstated Serial killer Adnan Syed’s conviction for the murder of his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee 25 years ago. We begin by revisiting Matt’s first-ever legal podcasting deep dive with Thomas on Serious Inquiries Only (SIO354) shortly after Syed’s conviction was initially reinstated by the Maryland Appellate Court last April. How accurate were his predictions for what Maryland’s highest court would do with this, as well as for the fallout which might...
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Dave Rubin/Tim Pool - “Oops! I Got Paid $400,000 a Month by Russia to Do Propaganda! I’m a Victim!”
Opening Arguments
OA1066 Privyet, fellow citizens! We begin with a quick look at recent events following Jack Smith’s new superseding indictment in Trump’s January 6th case in DC. Why are Trump’s lawyers saying that Clarence Thomas “directed” them to file a motion to dismiss? And does DC federal judge Tanya Chutkan even care that this defendant who happens to be charged with four counts of trying to overturn an election is running for President at all? Then in our main story: In an indictment filed this week, the Department of Justice has charged two Russian state media operatives with...
info_outlineThe answer for T3BE39 is coming your way, and we launch our next Bar Prep question with Heather!
Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs!
If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!