The Docket

A curated feed of interesting and important legal filings covering everything from Donald Trump's criminal trials to state court opinions, recorded without commentary by a professional narrator. If you've ever read a news story about some major revelation with a phrase similar to "...according to documents recently filed in court", then this is the place to hear those documents. All Content. No Commentary. Episodes post frequently, but are irregular in length as they depend on the length of the underlying filings.

Episode 35: Part Two of Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report 01/15/2025

Episode 34: Part One of Special Counsel Jack Smith's Report 01/14/2025

Episode 33: The US House Report on Matt Gaetz, Part 4 01/03/2025

Episode 32: The US House Report on Matt Gaetz, Part 3 01/03/2025

Episode 31: The US House Report on Matt Gaetz, Part 2 01/03/2025

Episode 30: The US House Report on Matt Gaetz, Part 1 01/03/2025

Episode 29: Jack Smith Responds to Trump Claims of Immunity from Criminal Prosecution 12/31/2023

Episode 28: Maine Secretary of State Bars Trump from 2024 Primary Ballot 12/29/2023

Episode 27: Jack Smith Moves To Exclude Certain Evidence and Defenses from DC Trump Trial 12/28/2023

Episode 26: Jack Smith Responds to Trump's Argument that the Supreme Court Should Delay Hearing His Immunity Claim 12/21/2023

Episode 26: Jack Smith Responds to Trump's Argument that the Supreme Court Should Delay Hearing His Immunity Claim In November 2023, in his ongoing criminal case in the District Court for the District of Columbia, Donald Trump filed a motion to dismiss the case based on an assertion of immunity for his acts as President. The judge assigned to the case, Tanya Chutkan, denied this motion. In early December 2023, Trump filed an "interlocutory appeal"- an appeal filed before final judgement of a case- to the DC Court of Appeals, arguing that the motion should have been granted. The effect of this appeal, by the rules of procedure for the Federal courts, is to halt most aspects of the ongoing criminal case in the DC District Court, while the appeal is heard. Knowing that regardless of what result came out of the court of appeals, that the judgement would be appealed to the Supreme Court, Special Counsel Jack Smith filed a petition to the US Supreme Court asking them for a "writ of certiorari before judgement", which is how the Supreme Court agrees to take up a case that has not yet been resolved in the lower courts. The Supreme Court will grant certiorari before judgement in cases of extreme importance that require prompt resolution. Smith's request was filed and Trump responded with arguments asserting tha the Supreme Court should not issue a writ of certiorari before judgement, but should instead wait for the appeals process to be completed- which could take months, even years. On December 21, 2023, Smith filed a reply to Trump's response, laying out the reasons why the court should take up the case immediately. This episode is an audio narration of that reply. Please note that most citations are omitted or simplified for the sake of listenability. A link to the full document with all citations and footnotes is available in the show notes. In addition, please note that in the audio, "Respondent" refers to Donald Trump, while "Petitioner" is the Special Counsel. A link to the full petition document: For updates on The Docket please visit docketpod.com or find us on Threads and Instagram as DocketPod. If you found this useful or interesting, please consider subscribing to The Docket and supporting my Patreon at Thank you! /episode/index/show/655cd826-fcf2-46ea-8ad7-33781aa61874/id/29192143

Episode 25: Colorado Supreme Court Rules that Donald Trump is Barred from the Presidency. 12/20/2023

Episode 25: Colorado Supreme Court Rules that Donald Trump is Barred from the Presidency. In September of 2023, a group of Republican and unaffiliated voters in Colorado filed a lawsuit against the Secretary of State of Colorado, asserting that the Secretary was not allowed to include Donald Trump's name on the presidential primary ballot for the 2024 election, because Trump had violated the 13th Amendment to the Constitution by engaging in an insurrection against the United States on January 6, and was therefore barred from holding the office of President. At the conclusion of that case, District Court Judge Sarah B. Wallace ruled that Trump DID engage in insurrection, but that Section 3 of the 14th Amendment did not apply to the office of the President, and ordered the Secretary of State to place Trump on the ballot. Upon appeal, the Supreme Court of the State of Colorado took up the case. On December 19, 2023 They issued a ruling that affirmed the district court's conclusion that Trump did engage in insurrection, but overturned the part of the ruling which concluded that the Presidency was not covered by Section 3 of the 14th Amendment, and therefore that Donald Trump was constitutionally inelegible to be President, ordering that Trump not be allowed on the ballot. The ruling was immediately stayed pending a likely appeal to the US Supreme Court. This episode is an audio narration of the Colorado Supreme Court's decision. Please note that footnootes and most citations are simplified or omitted entirely to improve listenability. The audio also does not include the three dissenting opinions which were published at the same time. The original document including all citations, footnotes and the dissenting opinions is available at the following link: This concludes this episode of The Docket. I hope you enjoyed this episode. For updates on The Docket please visit or find us on Threads at . If you found this useful or interesting, please consider subscribing to The Docket and supporting my Patreon at - your contributions help make sure I can bring you more of these narrations. /episode/index/show/655cd826-fcf2-46ea-8ad7-33781aa61874/id/29175213