They’re Going to End the Voting Rights Act. But at Least We Got to Hear KBJ Murder a Guy in Court
Release Date: 10/17/2025
35 Judges Say Trump's DOJ Committed Fraud on the Court
Opening Arguments
OA1267 - Is Trump’s 1.8 billion dollar “anti-weaponization” fund really done, or is there something else going on here? Also can a few dozen federal judges really reopen any given civil suit with one magic filing? We take a closer look before going behind the recent commutation of former Mesa County (CO) elections clerk Tina Peters’ sentence by Colorado governor Jared Polis to the actual legal basis behind her successful appeal of her sentence to the Colorado Appeals Court. Finally in today’s footnote: an NPR host’s lawsuit claiming that Google stole his voice. ,...
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Molly Hemingway's Alito Book Is EMBARRASSING Propaganda
Opening Arguments
VR34 - This week in Vapid Response: Vanilla Ice provides the platonic ideal of an amuse douche before we order up an excerpt of the worshipful new Alito biography by the editor-in-chief of The Federalist. We then take a closer look at MAGA’s desperate attacks on Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll as expressed in a recent piece in the Examiner. OA Book Club is coming for all patrons! Sign up now for ad-free listening at , and start reading our first selection ahead of our first live Zoom meetup later this month. “,” Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist (April 21, 2026) ,” Joe Concha, The...
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When Super Soaker Got Sued by a Totally Lame Squirt Gun
Opening Arguments
OA1266 - Can wearing a corset be considered a “public” use of the product? What makes someone (or some thing) an inventor? What is it exactly that makes the Super Soaker so rad? Get the answers to these questions and more from… patent law? Jenessa walks us through some of her favorite wacky cases (that also teach us core patent law concepts). , 104 U.S. 333 (1881) , 43 F.4th 1207 (2022) , 27 U.S.P.Q.2d 1280 (E.D. Pa. 1993) , 91 F.3d 166 (Fed. Cir. 1996) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Judge Eviscerates Blanche’s DOJ, Tosses Abrego Garcia Indictment
Opening Arguments
OA1265 - THIS IS SUCH A GOOD NEWS SHOW. Seriously. It was so good that Matt invented a new form of entertainment that you need to hear about. We've got Markwayne saying possibly THE dumbest thing a cabinet member has ever said. We've got a judge absolutely schooling Trump's corrupt DOJ and dismissing the bogus Kilmar Abrego Garcia indictment, AND we've got some interesting emolument talk. Can Florida just give Trump land?
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Did Trump’s DHS Just End Green Cards? Not Exactly.
Opening Arguments
VR33 - Did Trump’s DHS really just “end greencards” for people living in the US? Is everyone here on a visa going to have to return to their home countries--potentially with legal bars to returning of ten years or more--to process their cases? Who is the USCIS policy memo on “adjustment of status” to permanent residency which has caused massive amounts of fear and uncertainty in immigrant communities around the country this past weekend actually targeting, and who might still be able to get through? As always, the answers to these questions are much more nuanced than a 30-second...
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Woman in Labor Spent 3 Hours Fighting a Judge on Zoom to Avoid a Forced C-Section
Opening Arguments
OA1264 - Sherise Doyley was in the early stages of labor, in a hospital bed, preparing to deliver her baby, when nurses wheeled in a computer. On the screen was a judge, notifying her of an emergency order by the State of Florida to attempt to force her to undergo a C-section, instead of first attempting vaginal delivery. For 3 hours she advocated for herself, without an attorney, barely covered in a hospital gown. How was any of this legal? What is happening? Jenessa breaks down the history of our rights to make our own medical decisions and how that is legally modified in pregnancy, Lydia...
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The Biggest Scandal in US History. Todd Blanche Should Be in Prison. And Trump, Obviously.
Opening Arguments
OA1263 - Two of the most egregiously impeachable things ever to happen in the United States have just occurred on the same day this week: The so-called “settlement” between Donald Trump and his own IRS which guarantees his immunity from consequences for any financial a slush fund for his friends and family and A Texas federal judge forcing a Rhode Island hospital to turn over records for trans kids while also attempting to specifically limit where this order can be challenged--and making absurd threats to anyone who even thinks about talking about challenging it We...
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MAGA Says the ’60s Were Too Woke and Wants Racial Immigration Quotas Back
Opening Arguments
VR32 - As the economic effects of Trump’s war of choice in the Middle East begin to hit home, his party is playing the one card it has going into the midterms: the promise of fully restoring open white supremacy to the US immigration system. We begin with a sampler platter of amuse douche from a recent episode of Tim Pool’s podcast–mercifully free of Tim Pool–to get a sense of how the MAGA right is talking about immigration reform these days. Matt then gives a brief history lesson about the openly racist origins of the Immigration Act of 1924 and the Cold War origins of the 1965...
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When Alito’s Jurisprudence Is Kavanaughs All the Way Down
Opening Arguments
OA1262 - How are a car accident in California, a tax fraud case in Nevada, and two bus accidents in New York and Pennsylvania all connected to the Dobbs abortion case? Find out on this week’s accidental too-deep dive into state sovereignty. Jenessa read a bunch of extra cases just to be thorough, and accidentally uncovered Kavanaugh planting the seeds that would grow into the “egregiously wrong” “rule” for ignoring stare decisis. But also mostly we’ll talk about the weird world of state sovereignty, Clarence Thomas being obnoxious and ahistorical while accusing everyone else...
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We May Get All the Files on Renée Good's Killing... Because of a Different Case
Opening Arguments
OA1261 - Today on Rapid Response Friday: a new fight for reproductive rights reaches SCOTUS, (some) justice on ICE, and two very different kinds of dicks get their day in court. (N.B.: Shortly after this recording, the Supreme Court entered a full stay in the mifepristone case pending disposition of a certiorari petition 7-2 (Thomas & Alito dissenting).) , filed Oct 6, 2025 (5/14/26) , Fox10 (11/21/2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
info_outlineOA1199 - Voting rights expert Jenessa Seymour takes us through this week’s oral arguments in one of the most important cases before the Supreme Court this term: Louisiana v. Callais, which has the potential to end some of the most important protections in the Voting Rights Act and allow states to openly racially gerrymander their electoral districts. Also discussed: a related New York state case which may be affected by Callais, and a footnote on what one lying Chicago cop was willing to do to get out of dozens of traffic and speeding tickets--and how actual justice has finally caught up with him.
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Oral arguments in Louisiana v Callais(10/15/2025)
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52 U.S.C. § 10301 (Sec 2 of the Voting Rights Act)
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Thornburg v Gingles, 478 U.S. 30 (1986)
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Rucho v. Common Cause 588 U.S. 684 (2019)
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“Chicago Cop Who Falsely Blamed an Ex-Girlfriend for Dozens of Traffic Tickets Pleads Guilty but Avoids Prison,” Jennifer Smith Richards and Jodi S. Cohen, ProPublica (10/2/2025)
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