Let’s Go Around the Law Office and Say What We’re Thankful For
Opening Arguments
OA1211 - For this special Thanksgiving episode, we take a break from the news for Matt to share his gratitude in short interviews with just a few of the staff, attorneys, and partners who make his Boston immigration law firm's work possible. Stop in to meet everyone from George the office emotional support dog to Matt's long-time friend and law partner Nicole as we discuss the daily work of deportation defense in 2025 and how everyone is looking out for their mental health throughout this unprecedented crisis. Finally in today's footnote: Matt's former student and current research assistant...
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The Tragedy of True Crime
Opening Arguments
OA1210 - This week we welcome journalist and author John J. Lennon, who is calling in from New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility where he is serving 25 years to life for murder. Lennon’s extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us tells his own story alongside that of three other men whose crimes were sensationalized by the media--including Manhattan “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers--after they were convicted for murders which they unquestionably committed. It challenges us to consider what life is like for the subjects of these...
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SCOTUS Made Gerrymandering So Easy, You’d Have to Be a Texas Republican to F It Up
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OA1209 - Are you done with legal doomerism? Us too. Take some time away from doomscrolling and join Matt and Jenessa for Rapid Response Friday as we consider four stories of legal corruption and authoritarianism failing in the face of honest federal judges, and a footnote about how one brave prison nurse exposed even more corruption in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s special treatment by the Trump administration. , Northern Dist. of NY (7/9/25) in U.S. v. New York (8/4/25) Judge Mae D’Agostino’s in U.S. v. NY (11/17/25) , Eastern Dist. of VA (9/25/25) Judge...
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Epstein files reveal he was BFFs with Steve Bannon and offered him USE OF THE ISLAND. and his house.
Opening Arguments
VR14 - Part 2 of the Epstein files We continue our first look at some highlights from last week's massive release of more than 20,000 pages of material from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released by the House Oversight Committee, including Steve Bannon and ASU professor Lawrence Krauss among others. We also consider Megyn Kelly's appalling response before leaving the last word where it belongs: with the women who have come forward to tell their stories on behalf of themselves and those who will never be able to. held outside the US Capitol (9/3/25) Check out the OA for all the...
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Emails reveal Larry Summers went to Epstein for advice on women. He STILL teaches at Harvard.
Opening Arguments
OA1208 - We go beyond the Trump-related content in the latest round of Epstein disclosures by the House Oversight Committee to explore what we can learn from the many people in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit who flattered, patronized, and enabled him. Part 1 of 2. Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect (7/13/2020) , Dahlia Lithwick & Susan Matthews, Slate (10/5/2018) , Yale Law Women Board (10/2020) Watch this episode on YouTube here: Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Reminder to Congress: Impeachment Exists. And It's the Only Acceptable Response to the Epstein Cover-up
Opening Arguments
OA1207 - We record a late-breaking reaction to the recent massive round of documents released from Jeffrey Epstein's estate and discuss how Trump may have just reached his most impeachable moment so far. Matt then shares some incredible news about how the end of Chevron deference has allowed federal judges to frustrate the administration's detention and deportation policies, and Jenessa gets into a lawsuit which challenges RFK Jr's replacement of the CDC’s vaccine advisory board with people who don't advise vaccines. Finally, a footgoat [sic] on how one woman’s quest to keep an unusual pet...
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Kat Abughazaleh - Indicted by Trump's DoJ for Protesting ICE while running for Congress
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Kat Abughazaleh spent years reporting on right-wing media and movements, and she is now running to represent Illinois's 9th District in Congress on an explicitly anti-authoritarian platform. Kat joins to talk about her uniquely candid platform and community-based campaign, the state of the Democratic Party, how ICE is terrorizing Chicago during the most intensive urban immigration enforcement operation in US history, and much more. at Media Matters for America
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Turns Out Our Civil Rights Come From... A Parking Garage in Wilmington, Delaware?
Opening Arguments
In our continuing Still Good Law series, Jenessa explains how a dispute arising from a parking garage in Wilmington, Delaware became the foundation for one of the most important concepts in civil rights: determining that a private or quasi-public individual or entity is operating “under color of law.” How does this concept help to hold law enforcement and other governmental agencies accountable, and how is it holding up in 2025? , 365 U.S. 715 (1961) , 365 US 167 (1961)
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GOOD THINGS HAPPENS! 100% GOOD NEWS OA DAY!
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OA1205 - It’s another good news Friday! Voting rights expert Jenessa runs down some of the highlights of the off-year blue sweep in this week’s elections, as well as some recent unsung national victories for voting and disability rights. Matt then checks in on the Supreme Court’s oral arguments from the challenge to Trump’s unprecedented tariffs and why it is looking like he might actually lose his administration’s first attempt to defend one of his second administration’s policies on the merits. Finally, in today’s footnote: Why a federal judge recently decided that a...
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Night of the Living Op-Ed! (A Belated Spooktacular)
Opening Arguments
VR12 - Yes, we absolutely thought this was coming out pre-Halloween. Halloween may be over, but NEVERTHELESS THE SPOOKTACULAR PERSISTED! In this Vapid Response double feature, Thomas, Matt, and Lydia are haunted by two ghoulish takes from the past: FEATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON: Politico’s insanely longform access journalism piece from August 2024 on how Project 2025 was so totally over, just never happening, nothing to see here EROSSERHEAD: New York Times resident traditional conservative Ross Douthat’s 2015 analysis of why Donald Trump is definitely not a fascist We then...
info_outlineOA1210 - This week we welcome journalist and author John J. Lennon, who is calling in from New York’s Sing Sing Correctional Facility where he is serving 25 years to life for murder. Lennon’s extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us tells his own story alongside that of three other men whose crimes were sensationalized by the media--including Manhattan “Preppy Killer” Robert Chambers--after they were convicted for murders which they unquestionably committed. It challenges us to consider what life is like for the subjects of these documentaries and re-enactments after the credits have rolled, and to ask what our national obsession with true crime is costing them--and all of us.
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The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us, John J. Lennon (2025)
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The New York Times review of The Tragedy of True Crime, Pamela Colloff (9/23/25)
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“A Convicted Murderer’s Case for Gun Control,” John J. Lennon, The Atlantic (8/21/2013)
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“The True Crime Stories You See on TV Are Leaving Out Something Big,” John J. Lennon, Slate (10/13/2025)
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“When Your Crime Becomes a Dick Wolf Show,” John J. Lennon, Rolling Stone (7/19/2025)