Three Unanimous Supreme Court Decisions, and Why They Sound Bad But Aren't Really
Opening Arguments
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...
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Adverse Possession Is 9/10ths of the Law
Opening Arguments
T3BE72 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at and play there! Check out the OA 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 .
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75% of Exonerated Women Were Convicted of Crimes That Didn't Even Happen (!)
Opening Arguments
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, , 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: , , ,
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Courts Handed Trump Some Huge Losses This Week
Opening Arguments
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. (4/18/25) (5/26/25) (5/23/25) Judge Michael Fabiarz’s o (5/28/25) decision from the Court...
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You're a...... CROOK Captain Hook
Opening Arguments
T3BE71 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at and play there! Check out the OA 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 .
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The Battle Over Cop City
Opening Arguments
OA1161 - Micah Herskind is an activist, Harvard law student, and most recently a co-editor of the essay collection 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. , ed. Micah Herskind, Mariah Parker, & Kamau Franklin (2025) , Fulton County Superior Court (8/29/2023) Hanah Riley & Micah Herskind, Inquest (4/24/25) Check out the OA for all the...
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A 'Pay What You Can' Law Practice? Prosecutors Say That Encourages Crime.
Opening Arguments
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...
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Can a Priest Rat You Out?
Opening Arguments
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, , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at and play there! Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!),...
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It Took Years, but Guatemala Held a Brutal Dictator Accountable. What Can We Learn?
Opening Arguments
OA1159 - We are so pleased to have Temple Law on the show to discuss her work in shining light and digitally preserving 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. (February 1999) Check out...
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The Birthright Citizenship Case Is Actually Something Differently Terrible
Opening Arguments
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. ...
info_outlineOA1146 - We begin with a quick review of SDNY Judge Dale Ho’s scathing 78-page (!) order dismissing all federal charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams at DOJ’s request to see how it compared to our recent predictions. Then in our main story, Matt breaks down a true legal nightmare from this week’s news and goes beyond the headlines to explain why ICE’s recent admission that it accidentally sent a man on a one-way ticket to hell with no intention of ever returning him is actually even worse than it sounds.
Also featured: Trump and DHS Secretary Kristi Noem face actual for-real legal consequences for their bigotry against Venezuelan immigrants, 1,000 UK artists combine to form the world’s most boring supergroup to protest the legalization of AI art theft, Matt yearns for the open road, and Congressional Republicans assert the power to stop time itself.
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Judge Dale Ho’s order dismissing all federal criminal charges against NYC mayor Eric Adams with prejudice (4/2/25)
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“Imposing Duties to Address the Flow of Illicit Drugs Across Our National Border” (2/1/2025)
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NDCA Judge Edward Chen’s order in National TPS Alliance v. Noem (3/31/25)
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