Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas! The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!
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The Kirkstag Fire
09/19/2025
The Kirkstag Fire
OA1191 - In today’s Rapid Response Friday, we examine some of the legal questions raised as the Trump administration throws as much political capital as possible behind the recent assassination of Turning Point USA leader Charlie Kirk and their implications for the future of the First Amendment rights they claim to revere Kirk for championing. Is there any legal basis for Trump to designate a “domestic terrorist group,” let alone one that even his FBI has previously admitted doesn’t exist? Matt looks back to the first Trump term to try to understand what is coming. We then examine how the states are getting around the FDA’s limitations on the COVID-19 vaccine and the latest in Trump’s litigious war on the media before closing things out with a fun footnote on the only other time in US history that a US President has sued someone for libel. Independent media matters more than ever now that mainstream media is compromised beyond any ability to report the truth about this administration. Support the show, join the community, and enjoy bonus content and ad-free listening at Don't forget to leave a 5-star review and share the show with your friends! (filed 9/16/2025) (federal definition of “domestic terrorism”) “ (1/5/2021) Dara Lind, ProPublica (5/14/2021) DHS Field Information Report (10/18/2019) “ (complaint filed 9/15/2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Charlie Kirk sucked and we won't be pretending otherwise
09/17/2025
Charlie Kirk sucked and we won't be pretending otherwise
VR 7 - Part 1 of 2. Vapid Response Wednesday has been blessed with a surplus of truly awful takes in the days following the murder of MAGA luminary Charlie Kirk. After a brief reminder of who this man actually was in his own words, we go on to see who has achieved honors in categories ranging from Worst Obituary to Most Pretentious Response and beyond. (Next up: more of the worst, but also some of the best responses to this moment.) You can also watch this episode on ! Owen Anderson, The Blaze (9/14/25) The Editors, The Free Press (9/12/25) John Daniel Davidson, The Federalist (9/12/25) M.D. Kittle, The Federalist (9/12/25) Erin Reed, The Advocate (9/11/25) Elizabeth Spiers, The Nation (9/12/25) 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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Miranda v. Arizona, and the Fascinating Science of False Confessions
09/15/2025
Miranda v. Arizona, and the Fascinating Science of False Confessions
OA1190 - “You have the right to remain silent.” Anyone who grew up on American crime dramas can recite the rest of these famous warnings from memory, but do you know the whole story of Miranda v. Arizona (1966)? In today’s entry in our “Still Good Law” series Matt and Jenessa voluntarily waive their rights, cautiously accept a cigarette and a Styrofoam cup of bad coffee from an alcoholic cop with a dark past, and spill everything they know about the most important criminal case in Supreme Court history. Matt provides the background on Ernesto Miranda’s literal life (and death) of crime and the circumstances of his arrest, interrogation, and appeal to the Warren Court while Jenessa breaks down the science of false confessions and why not just having but knowing our Fifth and Sixth Amendment rights is so important for all of us. (1966) Gary Stuart (2008) 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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It’s Still the Shadow Docket, Despite Kavanaugh’s Pathetic Rebrand Attempt
09/12/2025
It’s Still the Shadow Docket, Despite Kavanaugh’s Pathetic Rebrand Attempt
OA1189 - The Supreme Court’s next term may not start until October, but their infamous shadow--sorry, “interim”--docket is in rare form as they issue snap decisions on everything from exactly where one 14-year-old boy can pee to just how openly racist ICE gets to be. Matt and Jenessa review which major precedents the conservative majority is ignoring to enable Trump’s worst policies this week before getting on to some Epstein-related legal updates and a radical new development from the Board of Immigration Appeals with massive implications for Trump’s mass deportation plans. Finally, Matt drops a footnote to address one of our nation’s least pressing legal questions: is it really true that a wedding in Kentucky can be legally officiated by a dead bear once described as “filled to the brim with cocaine”? (9/8/2025) SCOTUS order (with Kavanaugh concurrence and Sotomayor dissent) in (9/8/25) , 21 I&N 216 (BIA 2025) P.S. Matt messed up his audio and is very sorry about it!
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LAM1009: My Cousin Vinny
09/11/2025
LAM1009: My Cousin Vinny
Just because everything else is terrible out there right now, we treated ourselves to our second consecutive Law’d Awesome Movie. By popular patron demand: it’s My Cousin Vinny! We had a great time talking about this one. Actual New York Italian-American Jenessa Seymour joins to provide dead-ass balls accurate cultural context for one of the greatest Brooklyn couples ever put to film, and Matt shares his perspective as both an actual practicing courtroom lawyer and a guy who is weirdly obsessed with end credits songs that tell you about the movie you just watched. Thanks again to patrons for this one! , Dale Launer (1992)(full script)(PDF) ” Andy Greene, Rolling Stone (3/7/22)
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Do You Swear You're Not A Subversive Person?
09/08/2025
Do You Swear You're Not A Subversive Person?
Continuing their "Good Law" series, Matt and Jenessa talk about Baggett v. Bullitt. This case held that "a State cannot require an employee to take an unduly vague oath containing a promise of future conduct at the risk of prosecution for perjury or loss of employment, particularly where the exercise of First Amendment freedoms may thereby be deterred." Jenessa gives a fascinating science breakdown on cognitive dissonance and what the effect of these vague oaths actually is. It's counter-intuitive and very interesting!
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BREAKING: Federal Courts Correctly Notice Color of Sky, Pope’s Religious Affiliation
09/05/2025
BREAKING: Federal Courts Correctly Notice Color of Sky, Pope’s Religious Affiliation
For this week’s Rapid Response Friday we take up three major judicial rulings pushing back against executive overreach on three completely different topics: removals under the Alien Enemies Act, the use of the National Guard to conduct domestic law enforcement, and the imposition of tariffs as an executive action under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Also: it turns out a DC grand jury really can't indict a ham sandwich, and why Brazil is so much better at prosecuting insurrectionists than the US is. (9/2/25) (9/2/25) (8/29/25)
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Douchebag Ben Shapiro knock-offs keep thinking they're smarter than Ketanji Brown Jackson
09/03/2025
Douchebag Ben Shapiro knock-offs keep thinking they're smarter than Ketanji Brown Jackson
VR6 - For today’s Vapid Response Wednesday, Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review two examples from a newly-popular genre of lazy right wing op-eds: insecure white guys complaining about Supreme Court justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. What is with these losers who are so obsessed with trying to prove that one of the most qualified nominees to the high court in our lifetimes isn’t fit for the job? We take dark-money sugar baby Josh Hammer up on the joke to compare his life achievements to someone who began her SCOTUS career with four times as much courtroom experience as John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett combined--before moving on to trying to even understand what Federalist weirdo Shawn Fleetwood thinks he is saying. Josh Hammer, Newsweek (7/1/2025) Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist (8/20/2025) from the Southern Poverty Law Center (4/7/22) Watch on !
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Brown v. Board v. Science
09/02/2025
Brown v. Board v. Science
OA1186 - We continue our series on some of our favorite Warren-era Supreme Court decisions with the one Warren-era decision--and very likely the only Supreme Court decision that is still good law--that most people can name from memory. The desegregation of American schools in Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954) stands today as one of the greatest moments of justice in American legal history, but did you know that it was also an equally important moment for social science? Matt tees up the legal and historical context and Dr. Jenessa Seymour, Esq. brings her unique background as both a lawyer and a PhD in neuroscience to provide a singular perspective on the science behind Brown and what it has meant for both law and science in the 71 years since then. (1954) , James T. Patterson (2001)
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Did a Federal Judge Really Just Shutter Alligator Alcatraz?
08/29/2025
Did a Federal Judge Really Just Shutter Alligator Alcatraz?
OA1185 - The rule of law has never been put more to the test in this country, and we do our best to keep up with at least a few of the most important decent developments. We begin with a brief review of the current status of wrongfully-deported Salvadoran asylum seeker Kilmar Abrego Garcia. Why is the Trump administration desperately trying to re-deport this Central American man whom they already fully admit was deported to hell by mistake to… Uganda? Matt explains. Then: Did a federal judge really just shutter Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”? We consider the history of this surprisingly significant swampland and why an environmental challenge to its existence was so much easier to win than one based in due process, while also celebrating a major win for native rights. Another major presidential first this week: for the first time in US history, the President has claimed the authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Could this one decision really have global economic consequences? How much does it matter that Trump has done literally the one thing that the Supreme Court has ever told him *not* to do? We review some basics to try to understand the full magnitude of what this all means for our current moment before moving on to today’s footnote: an outstanding decision from a Virginia federal judge which should stand as a model for how the judiciary can stand up to American fascism. (8/21/2025) (8/26/2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Maxwell's Silver Yammer, Part 2
08/27/2025
Maxwell's Silver Yammer, Part 2
VR5 Part 2 - we continue our analysis of Ghislaine Maxwell's podcast interview on the Todd Blanche Experience. Make sure you caught part 1! Watch the video ! on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version)
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The Ghislaine Maxwell Interview Was Institutional Corruption Like We've Never Seen Before. Truly.
08/27/2025
The Ghislaine Maxwell Interview Was Institutional Corruption Like We've Never Seen Before. Truly.
Due to unprecedented corruption not getting enough of a call out, Vapid Response has taken over the Monday slot this week! It's VR5 Part 1. The Trump administration's corruption of the US Department of Justice hit new depths last week when it released audio and transcripts from convicted Jeffrey Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's so-called “proffer session” with current top DOJ deputy (and former Trump defense attorney) Todd Blanche. OA NYC bureau chief Liz Skeen joins to help us understand just how completely unprecedented everything about this interview and its public release have been, and we discuss why DOJ's flagrantly stupid efforts to minimize the President's well-known close ties with the most notorious sex trafficker in modern US history portends a new level of American authoritarianism. Watch the video ! on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version)
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Republicans Are Messing with Texas
08/22/2025
Republicans Are Messing with Texas
OA1184 - The saying pretty explicitly tells us to don't, and yet here they are not don'ting. This week on Rapid Response Friday: why is a Texas lawmaker filing a habeas petition asking a federal court to release her from the state capitol building? What’s the deal with redistricting, and is Texas’s plan to tip the balance in the U.S. House of Representatives actually legal? Jenessa brings her voting rights expertise to explain why this plan is so bad that state Democratic leaders had to go on the lam on threat of arrest to try to stop it. We then briefly discuss the import of Attorney General Pam Bondi pulling back from her attempt to take over DC’s entire police force before Matt takes on a couple of little-noticed immigration policy memos in which the Trump administration has given itself dangerously broad new powers to determine things like an immigrant’s “good moral character” and “anti-American” activities and associations. Finally in today’s footnote: it’s Columbia-on-Columbia violence as the West Coast sportswear company goes to war with the East Coast Ivy League university over some IP nonsense which gives Matt yet another excuse to be correct about fonts. Texas state representative (filed 8/19/25) “,” USCIS (8/15/25) “,” USCIS (8/19/25) (complaint filed 7/23/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Boston Globe put out two bootlicking Trump op-eds in one week. What are we DOING
08/20/2025
The Boston Globe put out two bootlicking Trump op-eds in one week. What are we DOING
VR4 - It’s a Boston doubleheader for this Vapid Response Wednesday as Thomas, Lydia, and Matt take on two truly awful takes from the pages of Matt’s hometown paper last week within 24 hours of each other. But first: a vintage amuse douche from Tucker Carlson on the evils of the National Guard’s occupation of DC--in January 2021 (and apparently no other time)! Then in today’s main stories: (1) Conservative opinion-haver Heather Mac Donald on why she supports Trump’s absolute right to send American military personnel to occupy American cities just because he wants to. (2) Project 2025 collaborator Hillsdale College dispatches its finest journalistic mind to explain why Donald J. Trump (yes, that Donald J. Trump) is 2025’s best possible candidate for a Nobel Peace Prize (yes, that Nobel Peace Prize). Heather Mac Donald, Boston Globe (8/13/25) “”, Radley Balko (8/13/25) John J. Miller, Boston Globe (8/14/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Most Important LGTBQ Rights Case You’ve Never Heard Of
08/18/2025
The Most Important LGTBQ Rights Case You’ve Never Heard Of
OA1183 - We continue our ongoing look at some of our favorite Warren Court-era Supreme Court cases with this one-line 1958 decision finding as a matter of law that one of the most important LGTBQ magazines in U.S. history was not publishing obscenity. We begin by trying to find anything resembling smut in the archived pages of ONE magazine before Matt explains a bit more about the history of obscenity law in the U.S. and how Roth v U.S. changed everything just before ONE’s cert petition was taken up. Jenessa gets into the proven psychological benefits of being allowed to be who you are in public, and we consider the state of obscenity law today and who still might want to use it. in On e, Inc. v. Oleson immediately reversing 9th Circuit (1/13/1958) , Internet Archive
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What Can We Do To Stop ICE?
08/15/2025
What Can We Do To Stop ICE?
OA1182 - DC is under full federal occupation. California is putting the Trump administration’s unprecedented deployment of the National Guard to support federal immigration enforcement on trial. And a major challenge to a critical provision of the Voting Rights Act is on the line in front of the Supreme Court. It’s Rapid Response Friday, and we’re here for all of it. Finally, Matt breaks down THE BIG FREEZE--a new collective approach to stopping the rapid coming expansion of ICE which every decent person can do something to be a part of. Nothing is inevitable, and none of us are alone. (President’s emergency authority over Metropolitan Police at p.85) Complaint in (6/9/25) “, DEPORTNATION (8/15/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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“ICE Is No Gestapo!” Complain Gestapo Enthusiasts
08/13/2025
“ICE Is No Gestapo!” Complain Gestapo Enthusiasts
VR3 - It ’s Thomas, Lydia, and Matt versus the entire National Review editorial board! Join us as we take on the conservative magazine’s recent op-ed on why it is extremely rude to compare masked American federal agents of today who refuse to identify themselves as they grab innocent families off of the street and shove them into unmarked vans bound for concentration camps to masked Nazi German agents of 1933-1945 who refused to identify themselves as they grabbed innocent families off the street and shoved them into vans bound for concentration camps. Matt explains with historical examples why ICE is not NOT the Gestapo as we consider what we can learn from Nazi history. We celebrate the recent return of Maryland father Kilmar Abrego Garcia to the US after his illegal deportation to El Salvador with a take so bad that it is hard to believe that the whole thing wasn’t actually published in The Onion. What was the audience for this willfully obtuse Newsweek op-ed praising the DOJ for finding a way to bring Abrego Garcia back other than the fact that the Supreme Court told them to, and what is this trying to say to them? Has this thing already aged worse than Stephen Miller? Finally: updates from Martha’s Vineyard (last week’s patron-only story) as Epstein attorney Alan Dershowitz and his crusade to bring down the considerable weight of the law against people who refuse to serve him tasty Polish food. (8/6/25) " (6/11/25) “ Justin Baragona, The Independent (8/7/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Project 2025, Six Months Later
08/11/2025
Project 2025, Six Months Later
OA1181 - In this episode recorded almost exactly six months into the Trump administration, we check in on the progress of the Heritage Foundation’s infamous playbook to remake every part of the federal government in the second Trump administration. What is Project 2025, and who was behind it? How many of its goals have already been accomplished, how many are in progress, and what’s left? , The Heritage Foundation (2023) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Why the Whole Alligator Alcatraz Thing Is Somehow Worse Than It Sounds
08/08/2025
Why the Whole Alligator Alcatraz Thing Is Somehow Worse Than It Sounds
OA1180 - We begin with some much-needed reminders that good things are still happening and the rule of law is still (mostly) holding on before turning to a recent Trump executive order on homelessness which reads like something out of a (not very good) Batman movie. Jenessa explains how this development fits into the history of long-term institutionalization of vulnerable and unhoused people in the US as we work through what this thing is actually trying to do. In an unfortunately not-at-all-unrelated story, Matt then breaks down the situation with Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz” (aka “Gator Gitmo”), the pending challenges to this completely new (and totally illegal) approach to state-based immigration detention, and where this is all going. Finally, in today’s footnote: has ChatGPT finally made its first hallucinatory appearance in a judicial opinion? We investigate not just one but two recent instances of federal judges who have now joined the many lawyers caught using AI to do their homework. The White House (7/25/25) , filed 6/27/25 , filed 7/16/25 (7/22/25) declining to clarify decision of July 20, 2025 (8/1/25) (7/22/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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NYTimes lets awful Harvard Law prof lie his ass off for some reason
08/06/2025
NYTimes lets awful Harvard Law prof lie his ass off for some reason
VR2 - Vapid Response Wednesday returns live on video for another round of bad-faith legal takes from the American right’s leading--well, let’s just go with “minds.” We begin with a quick check-in on the divided state of the U.S. “sovereign citizen” movement via a short explainer video in which one of its leading grifters denounces a whole new set of grifters who are promoting the concept of an “American State National.” We then plumb new depths of dumbassery from Harvard Law school professor/crypto-theocrat Adrian Vermeule. In a recent New York Times op-ed, Vermeule has called out the true villains of the American judiciary: lower court judges who aren’t doing exactly what Adrian Vermeule imagines the Supreme Court has told them to do. Matt breaks down why this column doesn’t provide a single example of the trend it purports to be exposing, and Lydia has the details on one of MAGA’s favorite legal scholars. Who is Adrian Vermeule, what is “Catholic integralism,” and why is a man who has previously gone to so much effort to hide his true beliefs behind “common-good Constitutionalism” showing his entire ass in the pages of the NYT? Then, we preview a *patron-only* bonus where we go into overtime to witness the spectacle of Alan Dershowitz’s lengthy but extremely unconvincing arguments as to why everyone should be required to sell him pierogi under force of law. If you want to be sure to not miss that, you'll have to go to patreon.com/law! Watch this episode on YouTube! "?" Kelby Smith (Youtube link) The New York Times, Adrian Vermeule (7/25/25) SCOTUS shadow docket order in SCOTUS shadow docket order in SCOTUS shadow docket order in SCOTUS shadow docket order in (11/09/2020) to Students re: The Rule of Law under the Trump Administration (03/30/2025) 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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LEARY V. US (1969): Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Everything You Thought You Knew About Timothy Leary
08/04/2025
LEARY V. US (1969): Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Everything You Thought You Knew About Timothy Leary
OA1179 - Dr. Timothy Leary is best remembered today as the Harvard psychologist who told America to “turn on, tune in, and drop out” with psychedelics in the 1960s. But did you know that “the High Priest of LSD” was also one of the most famous people ever to bring a criminal case to the U.S.. Supreme Court? Jenessa shares her scientific perspective on Leary’s “research,” and Matt explains how a minor California marijuana possession charge led to Leary’s unbelievable life on the run as an international fugitive across four continents and his eventual association with not just one but three of the era’s most notorious radical groups. We then review Dr. Leary’s conviction under the Marihuana [sic] Tax Act of 1937 and how Leary v. U.S. changed everything about drug enforcement. (Also discussed: the unexpected origin of the Beatles song “Come Together,” the benefits of podcasting on acid, and what psychedelic research and regulation might have looked like in an alternate Leary-free timeline.) , 395 U.S. 6 (1969) opposing passage of the Marihuana Tax Act of 1937 (7/10/1937) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Entrenched Power Hates It When Actual Progressives Are in Office
08/01/2025
Entrenched Power Hates It When Actual Progressives Are in Office
OA1178 - Our conversation with former San Francisco DA Chesa Boudin continues with a closer look at the accomplishments of his term, what progressive prosecutors can realistically expect to be able to do within the constraints of the current system--and why they are the last people who should expected to do it--and what was really behind the 2022 recall campaign which removed him from office. at UC Berkeley Law , SSRN Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Alan Dershowitz tries to pull a literal "nothing to see here" on Epstein
07/31/2025
Alan Dershowitz tries to pull a literal "nothing to see here" on Epstein
VR1 - Welcome to Vapid Response Wednesday! Rather than explaining law in the news as we have for years on Rapid Response Friday, Thomas, Lydia, and Matt are going on the offensive in this live video series to respond and react to the stupidest takes that we can find--and we’ve got just the guy for our first pick! We begin with former Jeffrey Epstein defense attorney Alan Dershowitz’s recent piece in the Wall Street Journal in which he literally claims that “there is nothing more to see here” on the Epstein case while filling in the facts of what we know from reliable reporting and court records. What is Dersh not telling us here about his own involvement with Epstein, the unbelievably corrupt federal non-prosecution agreement which he secured for his client in 2007, and all of the other many reasons that he might not be a trustworthy source on this question? We then take on one of Matt’s all-time favorites: a well-known 1996 video presentation from far-right immigration restrictionist organization NumbersUSA in which founder Roy Beck takes the stage to set the Guinness world record for Biggest Strawman Made Entirely Out of Gumballs. Alan Dershowitz, The Wall Street Journal (7/15/2025) Connie Bruck, The New Yorker (7/29/2019) NumbersUSA (originally distributed in 1996, uploaded to YouTube in 2010) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Chesa Boudin Grew up Visiting His Parents in Prison. He Later Became San Francisco DA.
07/29/2025
Chesa Boudin Grew up Visiting His Parents in Prison. He Later Became San Francisco DA.
OA1177 - We are excited to welcome former San Francisco District Attorney Chesa Boudin for the first half of this unique two-part interview! Chesa is a very notable representative of the “progressive prosecutor” movement. His time as SF DA shows both the promise of this movement, and the limitations. But before we dig into all that, we begin with Chesa’s unique background as the child of incarcerated parents and how this experience inspired him to dedicate his life to bringing a new approach to the criminal legal system. at UC Berkeley Law , SSRN To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at ! Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Trump-Epstein Legal Breakdown You Didn't Know You Needed
07/25/2025
The Trump-Epstein Legal Breakdown You Didn't Know You Needed
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 sue the Wall Street Journal for revealing his surprisingly artistic birthday wishes to his “pal,” why his administration is so intent on unsealing grand jury records which DOJ knows can’t be released, how this whole mess has reached the point that the Supreme Court might actually have a good legal reason to reverse Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell’s conviction (!), and why Trump might be about to pardon Maxwell even if it doesn’t. Also discussed: the history of Epstein’s astonishing 2007 non-prosecution agreement and its legacy, the real “Epstein files” that no one has been talking about, and how the President of France might be about to righteously bankrupt MAGA mouthpiece Candace Owens. Complaint in (filed 7/18/25) summarizing recent Epstein file review denying DOJ motion to unseal Epstein grand jury records in the Southern District of Florida (7/23/25) (signed 9/24/2007) to the U.S. Supreme Court (filed 4/10/25) Complaint in (filed 7/23/25) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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T3BE78: Following the Interpleader
07/24/2025
T3BE78: Following the Interpleader
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
07/22/2025
PORN LAW: When Your Kink Is Strict Scrutiny but the Court Only Goes Intermediate
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 & Politics. Zeve and a team of other researchers have recently published the leading findings on the actual effects of age verification on browsing habits, which he takes us through while also explaining some possibly less-restrictive alternatives to current verification methods. U.S. Supreme Court’s decision in (6/27/2025) Audio of SCOTUS oral arguments (1/15/2025) , David Lang Benjamin Listyg† Brennah V. Ross‡ Anna V. Musquera Zeve Sanderson (March 2024)
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ICE Just... Decided Millions of People Are Ineligible for Bail. This Is Bad. Like, Really Bad.
07/18/2025
ICE Just... Decided Millions of People Are Ineligible for Bail. This Is Bad. Like, Really Bad.
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 Leonning, The Washington Post (7/15/25) (via MSN) against ICE in Perdomo v. Noem (7/11/25) Board of Immigration Appeals decision in , 29 I&N Dec. 66 (BIA 2025) Alito’s majority decision in (2018) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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T3BE77: If a Chandelier Falls and You Aren’t There to See It, Did the Liability Even Happen?
07/17/2025
T3BE77: If a Chandelier Falls and You Aren’t There to See It, Did the Liability Even Happen?
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!
07/15/2025
Let’s Talk Space Law! It’s Law, but From OUTER SPACE!
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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