The Trump-Epstein Legal Breakdown You Didn't Know You Needed
Opening Arguments
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...
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T3BE78: Following the Interpleader
Opening Arguments
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, , 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!
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PORN LAW: When Your Kink Is Strict Scrutiny but the Court Only Goes Intermediate
Opening Arguments
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...
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ICE Just... Decided Millions of People Are Ineligible for Bail. This Is Bad. Like, Really Bad.
Opening Arguments
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. Maria Sachetti and Carol...
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T3BE77: If a Chandelier Falls and You Aren’t There to See It, Did the Liability Even Happen?
Opening Arguments
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, , 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!), please pledge at !
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Let’s Talk Space Law! It’s Law, but From OUTER SPACE!
Opening Arguments
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. , Michelle Hanlon, New York Times (12/7/2024) (signed 10/30/2020) Michael O’Shea, The Walrus (8/13/2020) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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What a Surprise, the Racist Bastards Want to Denaturalize Zohran Mamdani
Opening Arguments
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. (6/27/25) (7/10/2025) ...
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T3BE76: Accidental Evidence
Opening Arguments
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, , 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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When You're So Bad At Your Job, You Make the Supreme Court Look Good By Comparison
Opening Arguments
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 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!
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SIO484: Lawsuit Alleges Voting Irregularities in 2024. Is There Any There There?
Opening Arguments
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 !
info_outlineOA1170 - 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
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Government’s Motion to Clarify in D.H.S.. v. D.V.D.: (filed shortly after we recorded on 6/27/25)
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The U.S. Supreme Court’s order in D.H.S. v. D.V.D. (6/23/25)
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Letter filed by Government Accountability Project on behalf of Erez Reuveni (6/25/25)
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Oral arguments before New York’s First Appellate Division (3/26/25)(clip starts at 19:29)
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Federal magistrate Barbara Holmes’s detention review decision in U.S. v. Kilmar Abrego Garcia (6/22/25)