Alito Fails to Understand a Kids' Book — and Other Fascist Mega-Fails of the Week!
Release Date: 04/25/2025
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_outlineOA1153 - It's good news Friday! Here are some stories about American fascists losing or otherwise showing their asses in court, including (among others):
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The Supreme Court comes through strong for immigrant justice at 1 AM on a Saturday morning
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Samuel Alito fails to properly interpret a book written at a fourth grade level after having his Easter ruined by immigrant justice
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DOJ accidentally files an embarrassing internal memo into the record
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Sarah Palin’s tries and fails to sue the New York Times for libel for the second time
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one federal judge stops Trump's attempt to do the SAVE Act through an executive order, while another reverses an ICE kidnapping
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Neil Gorsuch does a genuinely good thing for non-citizens through a simple act of textualism
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DOJ pulls out one of the most ridiculous excuses for violating a court order in US legal history
Finally, a meta-footnote on why Matt is ready to join the calls to impeach national hero James Boasberg for his radical views on the utility of (what else) footnotes.
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SCOTUS’s decision in Monsalvo-Velasquez v. Bondi (4/22/25)
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Vermont federal district court order returning Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont
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Courtlistener docket for D.V.D. v. DHS
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Courtlistener docket for American Oversight v. Hegseth
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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.