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 Case That Ended Forced Institutionalization (Mostly)
02/23/2026
The Case That Ended Forced Institutionalization (Mostly)
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 for all the places to go and things to do!
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Small DoJ Energy
02/20/2026
Small DoJ Energy
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, in today’s footnote: can you sue your ex for telling millions of people about your enormous penis? We debate whether a former football player’s claims are giving BDE or legal shrinkage. of Nakima Levy Armstrong, Don Lemon, Georgia Fort, et al in connection with January 18, 2026 protest at Cities Church (Jan 24, 2025) The , 18 USC 248 with copy of the Immigration Judge’s order terminating Mohsen Mahdawi’s removal proceedings attached (Feb. 17, 2026) preventing Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s re-detention by ICE (Feb. 17, 2026) , filed Jan. 6, 2026 at the 1988 Democratic National Convention Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Alan Dershowitz Thinks the Age of Consent Is Too High — and Other Epstein Creeps, in Their Own Words
02/18/2026
Alan Dershowitz Thinks the Age of Consent Is Too High — and Other Epstein Creeps, in Their Own Words
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 defense team, eventually resulting in Epstein's "sweetheart deal" (attachment in linked email, June 28, 2007). Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Election News Is Great! Election LAW News Is... Mixed.
02/16/2026
Election News Is Great! Election LAW News Is... Mixed.
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 election conspiracy theories. It’s gross. We’ll survive. John Hanna & Julie Carr Smyth (Feb. 1, 2026). , Associated Press. Amy Howe (Feb. 4, 2026). , SCOTUSBlog. (docket and SCOTUSBlog coverage), SCOTUSBlog. (docket and SCOTUSBlog coverage), SCOTUSBlog. , Congress.gov. . Congress.gov. Domestic Mail Manual amendment explanation (Nov. 24, 2025). , Federal Register. Dan Mooney, , National Association of Postal Supervisors (Aug. 19, 2025) Regional Transportation Optimization (RTO) initiative. (Feb. 2, 2025). , Federal Register. , . - Time of election (Dec. 24, 2025). , National Conference of State Legislatures. Evan Lee (Jan. 15, 2026) , SCOTUSBlog. , 607 U.S. __ (2026). (docket and SCOTUSBlog coverage), SCOTUSBlog. Amy Howe (Nov. 10, 2025). , SCOTUSBlog. (Election Law) (docket and SCOTUSBlog coverage), SCOTUSBlog. Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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We’ve Only Now Seen a Fascist Ice Memo Kept Secret Since May
02/13/2026
We’ve Only Now Seen a Fascist Ice Memo Kept Secret Since May
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?) Finally in today’s footnote: Matt shares how his attempt to mail some pants from the U.S. Virgin Islands revealed a weird loophole in Trump’s emergency tariff orders which is now forcing some U.S. citizens to pay international duties on domestic shipments. Int. Dec. #3400, Board of Immigration Appeals (June 11, 1999) (memo attached at Ex. 1)(Jan. 6, 2026) preserving Temporary Protected Status for Haitians in the U.S. (2/2/2026) The White House (July 30, 2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Minnesota NoICE - Matt Went to Minneapolis and Has So Much to Tell Us
02/11/2026
Minnesota NoICE - Matt Went to Minneapolis and Has So Much to Tell Us
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 three hours of research has convinced her that sanctuary jurisdictions, the people of Minneapolis, and Antonin Scalia have gotten it all wrong. website Lionel Shriver, The Spectator (Jan 2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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In 2024, the Bronze Was Unfairly Taken from Jordan Chiles. A Recent Court Win Means She Might Get It Back
02/09/2026
In 2024, the Bronze Was Unfairly Taken from Jordan Chiles. A Recent Court Win Means She Might Get It Back
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 Federation, Technical Regulations 2024: 2025: from Swiss Federal Court. Further reading: Richard McLaren, , 15 Marq. Sports L. Rev. 175 (2004). Video of the relevant floor routines, plus a time stamp for when they all attempt the infamous Gogean leap: Rebeca Andrade: 0:55; Simone Biles: 0:53; Jordan Chiles: 1:29; Ana Bărbosu: 1:06; Sabrina Maneca-Voinea: 1:49; Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Um... Epstein might not have killed himself...
02/06/2026
Um... Epstein might not have killed himself...
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 finalized the terms of a much-too-friendly agreement between the US government and a billionaire pedophile which a federal appeals court would later call “a national disgrace.” Matt has the receipts for this special emergency episode. You can also watch this episode on ! (Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, 2020) Palm Beach Police Department, 2006) United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, 2007) Opinion - Miami Herald, 2/16/2019) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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So... I guess DoJ needs to arrest itself for releasing CSAM in the latest Epstein files?
02/04/2026
So... I guess DoJ needs to arrest itself for releasing CSAM in the latest Epstein files?
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 with its Congressional mandate to release the files more than a month after they were supposed to. We also look at a heartbreaking journal from an anonymous survivor to try to understand before Matt pulls out some selections from keyword searches which implicate Elon Musk, mega-financier Leon Black, magician David Copperfield, sitting Secretary of the Treasury Howard Lutnick, former Obama administration lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, and many more. Also: what to make about the wilder allegations you may have heard involving Donald Trump, and what it means to “be in the Epstein files” at all. NEXT TIME: the most disgusting plea deal in American history somehow gets… worse? , PL 119-38 (11/19/2025) , DOJ.gov (CW/TW) , removed from DOJ Epstein Library but backed up to on 2/1/26 (CW/TW)
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Gavel Gavel - Liz Skeen on Luigi Mangione's Case WITH 1/30 RULINGS UPDATE
02/02/2026
Gavel Gavel - Liz Skeen on Luigi Mangione's Case WITH 1/30 RULINGS UPDATE
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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All of a Sudden SCOTUS Cares About the Real World Effects of Their Decisions
01/30/2026
All of a Sudden SCOTUS Cares About the Real World Effects of Their Decisions
OA1231 - The DHS funding battle is important, but really can't accomplish what you might hope it can. When it comes to the Fed, ALL OF A SUDDEN the court cares about the real world effects of their decisions. And a figure skating related footnote!
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The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult, Part 2
01/28/2026
The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult, Part 2
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. , 386 U.S. 547 (1967) , 490 U.S. 386 (1989) , 555 U.S. 223 (2009) , 584 U.S. 100 (2018) , 605 U.S. 73 (2025) , 138 Harvard L. Rev. 291 (2025). Julia Yoo, , ADVOCATE (Feb. 2021). David J. Ignall, , 30 Cal. W. L. Rev. 201 (1994). (NOTE: Good review for basics, but note the date!) , 403 U.S. 388 (1971) , 596 U.S. 482 (2022) 119th Cong. (2025) 119th Congr. (2025) 119th Congr. (2025) 119th Congr. (2025) (no bill number assigned yet) Gelinas, S. (2026, January 18). . Athol Daily News. Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult
01/26/2026
The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult
Part 1 of 2. OA 1229 - What happens when a government worker does you wrong? How is it different to prosecute and sue them? When does qualified immunity come in to play? We discuss the steps involved in prosecuting and suing someone for a simple battery, and how that differs for a regular person versus a state actor. We cover how and when defenses can be raised, federal and state sovereign immunity, suing in official versus personal capacity, the difference between absolute and qualified immunities, and the ways this will apply differently to criminal prosecution versus civil litigation. , 7 AD3d 607 [2d Dept 2004] (Elements of civil battery in NY) (NY criminal “battery”) (Florida self-defense as an affirmative defense and immunity) (Ohio self-defense as a standard defense) (NY justification defenses) Roger Fairfax, , 52 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 397 (2017). Michael Gentithes, , U. Ill. L. Rev. 989 (2025). , 135 U.S. 1 (1890) Gregory C. Sisk, , 439 Okla. L. Rev. 58 (2005). Miles McCann, , National Association of Attorneys General (Nov. 11, 2017) State Sovereign Immunity - Generally, Interstate Commission for Juveniles, , 209 U.S. 123 (1908) , 416 U.S. 232 (1974) , 411 U.S. 693 (1973) , 414 U.S. 488 (1974) , 136 Harvard L. Rev. 1456 (2023). 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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Greenland Is Ice and ICE Is Nazis
01/23/2026
Greenland Is Ice and ICE Is Nazis
OA1228 - On this week's Rapid Response Friday: we take on all of your legal questions about this whole Greenland thing--including how a 1916 diplomatic treaty with Denmark also enabled some of Jeffrey Epstein’s worst crimes. Also discussed: what it took to finally force Lindsay Halligan to stop telling everyone that she was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and how a Minnesota judge designed her unique order to protect Minneapolis protesters and observers from ICE’s lawless violence. Finally, in today’s footnote: is it enough that McDonald’s can promise that their most elusive sandwich is “100% pork”? We dig into a recent lawsuit over the McRib to see if there is any meat on the bone. Alberto J. Mora, Just Security (1/16/2026) officially striking Lindsay Halligan’s appearance from the record and requiring that she stop “masquerading” as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1/20/2026) (1/16/2026) , Eastern District of Illinois (12/25/2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Silky Shah has been fighting ICE for its entire existence
01/21/2026
Silky Shah has been fighting ICE for its entire existence
E20 - Detention Watch Network executive director Silky Shah has been organizing against ICE on the ground to fight throughout the agency’s entire 23-year existence. We are excited to welcome her and her unique perspective to Opening Arguments to discuss both the urgency and the hope of our current moment, the challenges faced by organizers and advocates, what lawyers can (and can’t) do in the face of a lawless system, and imagining life after ICE. You can also watch this episode on ! , Silky Shah (2024) Silky Shah, Truthout (1/20/2025) website Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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RFK Jr. Is Practically Running a Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Almost No One Is Talking About It
01/19/2026
RFK Jr. Is Practically Running a Tuskegee Syphilis Study and Almost No One Is Talking About It
OA1227 - Come play the worst ever round of the Connections game and figure out what on earth Tuskegee Alabama, the CDC, Southern Denmark University, and the West African country of Guinea-Bissau all have in common, as RFK Jr. continues his campaign of “just asking questions” that we already have the answer to. . Heller, J. (July 25, 1972; republished May 10, 2017). Associated Press. . Centers for Disease Control. (September 4, 2024). . (Department of Health and Human Services regulations to implement the National Research Act and create Institutional Review Board policies). . World Health Organization (July 23, 2025). . Godoy, M. (December 26, 2025). NPR. . Lovelace Jr., B., Edwards, E., Fattah, M., & Bendix, A. (January 5, 2026). NBC News. Støvring, H., Ekstrøm, C.T., Schneider, J.W., & Strøm, C. (2025). Vaccine, 68, 1-4. . Department of Health and Human Services. (December 15, 2025). Schreiber, M. & Lay, K. (December 19, 2025). The Guardian. . Szabo, L. (December 18, 2025). Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy. . Offord, C. (December 18, 2025). Science Insider. . Southern Denmark University. Further reading: Qiao, H. (2018). , 2, 46-51. U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. International compilation of human research standards. University of North Carolina. Nuremberg Code. Torrance, R.J., Mormina, M., Sayeed, S., Kessel, A., Yoon, C.H., & Cislaghi, B. (2024). Journal of Medical Ethics, 51, 1-4. Barchi, F. & Little, M.T. (2016). . BMC Medical Ethics, 17, 1-25. Salhia, B. & Olaiya, V. (2020). . JCO Global Oncology, 6, 959-965. Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Behold My Articles of Impeachment, Three
01/16/2026
Behold My Articles of Impeachment, Three
OA1226 - We begin with a review of the unprecedented lawsuit that Minnesota has filed against ICE with the extreme leftist radical demand that they obey the law and U.S. Constitution. How much power do states have to limit federal operations, and what are the chances a court order might put some guardrails on the largest enforcement operation in ICE history? We then consider the legal and political merits of articles of impeachment filed against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., and Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem. Finally: we honor the passing of civil rights hero Claudette Colvin, whose bravery as a 15-year-old on a Montgomery, Alabama bus nine months before Rosa Parks refused to give up her seat put the final nail into the “separate but equal” justification for racial segregation established by the Supreme Court in Plessy v. Ferguson. , complaint filed 1/12/2026 Rep. Shri Thaneder (12/9/2025) “,” Rep. Haley Stevens (12/10/2025) “ Rep. Robin Kelly (1/13/2026) ProPublica (11/14/2025) Robert G. Natelson, The Federalist Society (6/19/2018) “” (NPR, 1/13/2026) , 142 F.Supp. 707 (1956)(aff’d per curiam by U.S. Supreme Court 12/20/1956) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Let's see how the arguments against #AbolishICE have aged...
01/14/2026
Let's see how the arguments against #AbolishICE have aged...
E19 - In the wake of Renee Nicole Good's murder, we've seen a terrible number of bad takes: from the events of that day, the overall purpose of I.C.E., and what the law says about where we go from here. Matt, Thomas, and Lydia come together to start with perhaps the biggest douchebag in the United States as part of our amuse douche (TM), followed by a pair of articles touching on why the Left was wrong about ICE in 2018 and is apparently at fault to this day for all horrors committed by ICE (eyeroll). Finally, we finish it up with questions from our amazing patrons! Watch this episode on ! "" (Nate Bruggeman & Ben Rohrbaugh, The Philadelphia Inquirer), 3/23/2018 "" (Dan McLaughlin, National Review), 1/10/2026 Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Does OA Owe Amy Coney Barrett An Apology?
01/12/2026
Does OA Owe Amy Coney Barrett An Apology?
OA1225 - Jenessa is here to dig deeper into Van Buren v. United States as we explore the implications and meaning when legislative deliverables, legal analysis, work industry, and general common sense push and pull in different directions. We had a lot of questions and comments on the original Van Buren episode from the community, so we thought it would be fun to spend some more time and battle it out! - Daniel Harawa, SCOTUSBlog (Dec 26, 2025) US v Rodriguez, 628 F.3d 1258 (11th Cir. 2010) US v Nosal, 676 F.3d 754 (9th Cir. 2012) US v Nosal, 844 F.3d 1024 (9th Cir. 2016) Further reading: W. Cagney McCormick, , 16 SMU SCI. & TECH. L. REV. 481 (2013). Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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PROSECUTE AND ABOLISH ICE
01/09/2026
PROSECUTE AND ABOLISH ICE
OA1224 - In this episode recorded only hours after an ICE officer killed U.S. citizen Renee Nicole Good in Minneapolis with extreme impunity, we contrast mirror-universe opposite views of immunity and impunity: the Trump administration’s response to this tragedy as opposed to everything that they have done to rewrite the history of January 6, 2021 for this week’s fifth anniversary of the insurrection. And in today’s footnote: will Lindsay Halligan be the first lawyer in US history to have a bar complaint filed against her for lying to a federal court about being a US Attorney? The Trace, 12/8/2025 “,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (12/18/2025) , EDVA Judge David J. Novak (1/6/2026) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Dumbroe Doctrine, Part 2
01/06/2026
The Dumbroe Doctrine, Part 2
OA1222 and OA1223 - Actual sane coverage of Trump's kidnapping of a foreign leader OA NYC correspondent Liz Skeen joins Thomas and Matt for this emergency episode recorded the day after the US bombed Caracas in a truly unprecedented military operation to kidnap Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and transport them to Brooklyn to stand trial on federal narco-terrorism charges. We field dozens of patron questions as we try to understand how any of this could possibly be legal. How does this situation compare to the charges against former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, and how is Trump’s record on narcotrafficking these days anyway? What is in this indictment, and what kinds of defenses might Maduro have? Is the federal government going to let this defendant pay his lawyer? Should a federal court be able to consider that this defendant was illegally abducted from his country by the US military while acting as the head of state of a sovereign nation? What kinds of consequences could there be for Venezuelans in the U.S.? And what can we--and the world--do to stop Trump from doing anything like this again? Assistant Attorney General William P. Barr, Office of Legal Counsel (June 21, 1989) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The Dumbroe Doctrine
01/05/2026
The Dumbroe Doctrine
OA1222 - Actual sane coverage of Trump's kidnapping of a foreign leader PART 1 OA NYC correspondent Liz Skeen joins Thomas and Matt for this emergency episode recorded the day after the US bombed Caracas in a truly unprecedented military operation to kidnap Venezuelan president Nicolas Maduro and his wife and transport them to Brooklyn to stand trial on federal narco-terrorism charges. We field dozens of patron questions as we try to understand how any of this could possibly be legal. How does this situation compare to the charges against former Panamanian dictator Manuel Noriega and former Honduran president Juan Orlando Hernandez, and how is Trump’s record on narcotrafficking these days anyway? What is in this indictment, and what kinds of defenses might Maduro have? Is the federal government going to let this defendant pay his lawyer? Should a federal court be able to consider that this defendant was illegally abducted from his country by the US military while acting as the head of state of a sovereign nation? What kinds of consequences could there be for Venezuelans in the U.S.? And what can we--and the world--do to stop Trump from doing anything like this again? Assistant Attorney General William P. Barr, Office of Legal Counsel (June 21, 1989) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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A New Gavel Gavel Trial! U.S. v. Dunn - Assault with a Deli Weapon
01/02/2026
A New Gavel Gavel Trial! U.S. v. Dunn - Assault with a Deli Weapon
Since it's been a while since we last did a GG crossover, I wanted to share the new trial we are doing over there! It's a new Gavel Gavel trial! We are excited to announce that we will be producing a totally new full trial re-enactment working from our EXCLUSIVE access to the transcript of the federal prosecution of Sean Dunn, better known to the world as the “Sandwich Guy” after being federally charged for assaulting a CBP officer with a fully-loaded 12-inch Subway sandwich on the streets of DC. But before we get to the meat of 2025’s Trial of the Century, legal sandwich artist Matt Cameron is here to slice up everything you need to know. From Dunn’s notably underreported motive to the significance of the date and location of the alleged assault to a shot-by-shot analysis of the only known video of the incident, we’ve got this one wrapped. agent near 14th and U in Washington DC on August 10, 2025 (filed 8/13/25) in his house by a swarm of federal agents posted on the official White House X account (8/14/25)
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LAM1010: The Rainmaker
12/31/2025
LAM1010: The Rainmaker
Here's a preview of Law'd Awful Movies!!! If you'd like the full thing, become a $2+ patron at patreon.com/law! LAM 1010 - After taking a break with a couple of things we actually enjoyed (Juror #2 and My Cousin Vinny), Law’d Awful Movies returns to form with the first two episodes of USA’s uniquely terrible adaptation of John Grisham’s classic 1995 legal thriller The Rainmaker. Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review the show’s bizarre and often cowardly divergences from the source material, its AI-level of understanding of how humans operate in the world and talk to one another--and, of course, the many ways that The Rainmaker gets the most basic elements of law (and lawyering) wrong.
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Van Buren v. US and Amy Coney Barrett’s So-So Textualism
12/29/2025
Van Buren v. US and Amy Coney Barrett’s So-So Textualism
OA1220 - What’s an FBI agent to do when a notorious low life reports a local cop is asking for a bribe? Turn him into a confidential information of course, and see how far you can get that dirty cop to go. A tale of two assholes, steadily making each others’ lives worse and worse, while one is wearing a wire. Now, why does the Supreme Court care about any of this? Half the conviction hinges on whether this cop “exceeded authorized access” under the Computer Fraud and Abuse Act (CFAA), and no one can agree what that means… including your cohosts. Hear Thomas try to figure out why Amy Coney Barrett is so obsessed with the definition of the word “so”, and Jenessa… defend Clarence Thomas?! This case is a hot mess, but the good news is everyone sucks here and no one wins. The relevant language: “The Act subjects to criminal liability anyone who “intentionally accesses a computer without authorization or exceeds authorized access,” and thereby obtains computer information. 18 U. S. C. §1030(a)(2). It defines the term “exceeds authorized access” to mean “to access a computer with authorization and to use such access to obtain or alter information in the computer that the accesser is not entitled so to obtain or alter.” §1030(e)(6).” Barrett’s ruling: “In sum, an individual “exceeds authorized access” when he accesses a computer with authorization but then obtains information located in particular areas of the computer—such as files, folders, or databases—that are off limits to him.” , 593 U.S. 374 (2021) , 940 F.3d 1192 (11th Cir. 2019) Full text of the CFAA: Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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Happy (Hot)Boxing Day! Trump Moves to Reclassify Weed — But Didn’t Biden Already Do That?
12/26/2025
Happy (Hot)Boxing Day! Trump Moves to Reclassify Weed — But Didn’t Biden Already Do That?
OA1219 - This year we are celebrating Boxing Day by not doing whatever people are supposed to do on Boxing Day and talking about weed instead. Did Donald Trump really just finish out 2025 by doing something good for US drug policy? We hotbox some Time Machine to revisit Matt’s analysis from last May of Joe “Grandaddy Purple” Biden’s announcement that he was initiating the long process to have the federal government to reclassify OG Kush from its current legal status as Green Crack down to the same category as metabolic steroids. We then return to the present to check in on the weirdly unreported story on how Biden’s efforts went from Blue Dream to Trainwreck in the year after his big announcement before evaluating Trump’s chances of turning cannabis policy Panama Red. Finally, in a seasonal footnote Matt shares the story of how the city of Boston fired the first shots on the War on Christmas… in 1659. of legal questions around plans to redesignate cannabis to Schedule III “ The White House (12/18/25) “The Penalty For Keeping Christmas,” (Boston, 1659)
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We knew the Epstein plea deal was awful. Newly released emails make it EVEN WORSE.
12/24/2025
We knew the Epstein plea deal was awful. Newly released emails make it EVEN WORSE.
E18 - Congress required the Department of Justice to release (nearly) everything it had from the investigations into Jeffrey Epstein and Ghislaine Maxwell by December 19th, so of course they pretended to do that on time on Friday afternoon and then waited until everyone was just about to start heading home for the holidays before actually dumping 30,000 pages of anything resembling actual substance into the record on Tuesday morning. We review and discuss new revelations on how much more time Trump spent on Epstein’s plane than we ever knew, the 30-year-old FBI report that could have changed everything, the astonishing correspondence between the prosecution and the Epstein defense team throughout his 2008 plea negotiations, and so much more. You can also watch this episode on ! (Camaron Stephenson) (NOV. 2020) from Judge Kenneth Marra in Jane Doe cases summarizing DOJ’s failure to advise Epstein survivors of the 2008 Non-Prosecution Agreement and plea Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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The 1968 Case That Proves the Charlie Kirk Firings Were Illegal
12/22/2025
The 1968 Case That Proves the Charlie Kirk Firings Were Illegal
OA1218 - What happens to your first amendment rights when you work for the government? Do you give it all up when you walk in the door? How do we balance the individual right of the worker to speak, against the government’s need to have a functioning work place? Pickering v Board of Education (1968) sets us up to understand how this all works… and why a teacher criticizing Charlie Kirk on their personal Facebook page probably isn’t a fireable offense. Patrons got exclusive content at the end of this one, only available at ! Can you apply these principles to eight cases that followed Pickering? Quiz yourself alongside Thomas! , 391 U.S. 563 (1968) , Robinson, E.P. (2024, July 5). Criminal libel. Free Speech Center at Middle Tennessee State University. 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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The Federalist Says Trump Should Model Horrifically Racist 1920s Immigration Policies. He Already Is.
12/19/2025
The Federalist Says Trump Should Model Horrifically Racist 1920s Immigration Policies. He Already Is.
OA1217 - Well, we recorded a bit late to make sure we caught Trump's "announcement" thingy and it was... nothing. But that's good! Matt also takes us through more travel bans that are going into effect and have been way underreported on. But The Federalist has a piece saying not only is this all great, but Trump should . There is no quiet part anymore. But fortunately, Matt has a fun footnote for us to bring us back up!
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The NYT's Biden border article could have been written by Steve Bannon. It is STUNNINGLY bad.
12/17/2025
The NYT's Biden border article could have been written by Steve Bannon. It is STUNNINGLY bad.
We begin with a delightful amuse douche from the lawyer of Colorado election tamperer Tina Peters unconditionally demanding her release from state prison because Donald Trump said so before a deep dive into our main story: an absurdly bad take from the New York Times--in both a lengthy print story and an episode of The Daily podcast--on how Joe Biden’s unwillingness to be a border fascist got a border fascist elected. Matt breaks down the real causes of the uptick in asylum seekers to the U.S. during Biden’s term in office (and its many unreported benefits to the economy and the nation) and provides the full context for the domestic and international law which the Times is openly arguing that Biden should have broken. You can also catch this episode on ! The New York Times, Christopher Flavelle (12/7/2025) , David Bier, Cato Institute (1/16/2025) Congressional Budget Office (July 2024) U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (Oct. 2025) Check out the OA for all the places to go and things to do!
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