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The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult, Part 2

Opening Arguments

Release Date: 01/28/2026

The Case That Ended Forced Institutionalization (Mostly) show art The Case That Ended Forced Institutionalization (Mostly)

Opening Arguments

OA1238 - Dive in to an “old” case from the 90’s that secured a critical right for people with disabilities: The right to be free from unnecessary institutionalization. Learn about some of the more obscure portions of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the different ways we can define discrimination, and what happens when a majority of  judges just cannot agree to sign on to an entire opinion. 527 U.S. 581 (1999) ; 42 U.S.C. § 12101(a)(2, 3, & 5) ; 42 U.S.C. § 12132 Jesse Jackson (July 18, 1989). (regarding the Americans with Disabilities Act). Check out the OA...

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Opening Arguments

OA1237 - The U.S. Department of Justice is not sending their best these days. From the problematic indictments of journalists Don Lemon and Georgia Fort for their coverage of the protest of a church in Minnesota whose pastor runs the local ICE field office to the unexpected dismissal of Mohsen Mohdawi’s deportation proceedings to a bizarre argument (and more good news) in Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s custody proceedings, we are continuing to see what happens when authoritarian lawyering meets actual federal judges applying actual federal law to the facts and parties before them.  Finally,...

info_outline Alan Dershowitz Thinks the Age of Consent Is Too High — and Other Epstein Creeps, in Their Own Words show art Alan Dershowitz Thinks the Age of Consent Is Too High — and Other Epstein Creeps, in Their Own Words

Opening Arguments

E23 - For today's amuse douche: a savory sample of our favorite Harvard Law professor’s extremely normal 2015 explanation of his appearances in Jeffrey Epstein’s flight logs. We then take on an almost painfully normal 1997 Dersh LA Times oped in which the lawyer who would go on to secure one of the best plea deals a pedophile has ever received complains about all of those pesky age of consent laws. Finally: some of the worst reactions from men exposed in the Epstein files.  ! “ Yale News, Feb 5, 2026 “, Alan Dershowitz, LA Times (1997)(retrieved from .)  for Epstein's...

info_outline Election News Is Great! Election LAW News Is... Mixed. show art Election News Is Great! Election LAW News Is... Mixed.

Opening Arguments

OA1236 - Elections grab bag! Election news has been accumulating, so Jenessa helps us get caught up on what’s going on. Who’s winning elections? What’s going on with redistricting? Heard something confusing about the mail? Trump back on his bullshit again? Good news, mixed news, debunking alleged bad news, bad news with plans for how to turn things around; we’ve got it all. Updates since we recorded: The SAVE America Act passed the House. Also the affidavit for the warrant in Georgia was unsealed. We’ll talk about it soon, but the short version is these people really still believe in...

info_outline We’ve Only Now Seen a Fascist Ice Memo Kept Secret Since May show art We’ve Only Now Seen a Fascist Ice Memo Kept Secret Since May

Opening Arguments

OA1235 - Today on Rapid Response Friday: Matt’s still on island time, so it’s a good-news-only kind of day as we review (1) the historic termination of deportation proceedings against Tufts grad student Rumeysa Ozturk, (2) new judicial restraints on ICE, (3) a DC federal judge’s outstanding rebuke to DHS Secretary Kristi Noem’s attempt to deport 350,000 Haitians, and (4) a Republican revolt on Trump’s emergency tariffs. (Also: just how stupid is the super-secret memo which ICE has apparently been using to justify breaking into some immigrants’ homes without a judicial warrant?)...

info_outline Minnesota NoICE - Matt Went to Minneapolis and Has So Much to Tell Us show art Minnesota NoICE - Matt Went to Minneapolis and Has So Much to Tell Us

Opening Arguments

VR22 - Matt reports in just a few miles from--and this is true--Epstein Island to provide a recap of his recent visit to Minnesota days after Alex Pretti’s murder for the first major gathering of state legislators joining forces to stop federal overreach since 1814. How are the people of Minneapolis and their elected leaders holding up on the front lines of the Department of Homeland Security’s war on America, and what can we learn from their example?  Finally, in today’s Vapid Response: professional centrist (and amateur constitutional scholar) Lionel Shriver explains how nearly...

info_outline In 2024, the Bronze Was Unfairly Taken from Jordan Chiles. A Recent Court Win Means She Might Get It Back show art In 2024, the Bronze Was Unfairly Taken from Jordan Chiles. A Recent Court Win Means She Might Get It Back

Opening Arguments

Take a break from the downfall of democracy and instead get outraged at the deep injustice of a year-long feud over a bronze medal in women’s gymnastics. This story’s got everything: bravery, racism, the best and the worst of sportsmanship, bad blood that’s been brewing since the Cold War, and, somehow, the Swiss Federal Court. Come for the weird gymnastics scoring rules, stay for the legal analysis of international arbitration rules. Rory Carroll (August 5, 2024). Reuters. International Gymnastics Federation, Code of Points 2022-2024: 2025-2028: International Gymnastics...

info_outline Um... Epstein might not have killed himself... show art Um... Epstein might not have killed himself...

Opening Arguments

OA1233 - We are not conspiracy theorist type people. But... yeah man I don't know. But also, so much more in these files to talk about. If you know anything about the federal government’s 2007 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein you know that it was bad. But newly-released documents from the Epstein files show that it was actually much worse than that! Thanks to a newly-released legal memo, a draft indictment, and internal emails between prosecutors we now have a much better understanding of the disagreements within US Attorney for the District of Southern Florida Alex Acosta’s office as they...

info_outline So... I guess DoJ needs to arrest itself for releasing CSAM in the latest Epstein files? show art So... I guess DoJ needs to arrest itself for releasing CSAM in the latest Epstein files?

Opening Arguments

E21 - CONTENT WARNING / TRIGGER WARNING: references to child sex abuse, child  sex abuse  materials, survivor accounts Watch this episode on ! The Epstein Files have been released--or have they? Days after the Department of Justice’s delayed and poorly-redacted release of millions of new documents connected with the world’s most infamous sex trafficker, we sit down for a first look at what is (and isn’t) in here. We begin with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s attempt to fight for the right to party with Jeffrey Epstein before evaluating the DOJ’s efforts to comply...

info_outline Gavel Gavel - Liz Skeen on Luigi Mangione's Case WITH 1/30 RULINGS UPDATE show art Gavel Gavel - Liz Skeen on Luigi Mangione's Case WITH 1/30 RULINGS UPDATE

Opening Arguments

OA1232 - Hey OA-ers, this episode was a Gavel Gavel bonus, but we wanted to be sure everyone was updated on what's going on with the Luigi Mangione trials. New York public defender Liz Skeen is here to break it all down! And since the judge made some rulings on 1/30, I've got an update for ya! Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!

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Part 2 of 2.

OA 1230 - Seeing all the obstacles to holding government officials accountable, Congress created Section 1983, allowing citizens to sue for money damages for violations of their civil rights. We cover how that works, the one weird trick it uses to get around state sovereign immunity, and how that accidentally created the infamous qualified immunity doctrine that has made police seemingly unaccountable. We also discuss proposed reforms that might fix issues of qualified and sovereign immunity.

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