OA1091 - We are honored to welcome Somali-American author and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin for the first of a 2-part Thanksgiving episode dedicated with gratitude to the incredible efforts that so many naturalized Americans have made to be a part of this country. Abdi has recorded the full story of his life in his book Call Me American , in which he details the long journey from his escape from being forced into service as a child soldier in war-torn Somalia to his years as a refugee in Kenya before ...
Nov 27, 2024•1 hr 2 min•Ep. 1091
OA1090 - It's an ALL GOOD NEWS EPISODE! It exists, and there is plenty of it. Positive vibes only for today's dose of practical hope. And right when you think it can't get any better, the Footnote Fetish returns! Matt has found yet another bizarre RFK Jr animal-related scandal, this one far from the headlines at the intersection of election and avian law. Also Thomas Takes the Bird Exam! 2024 Popular Vote Tracker , Cook Political Report Alvin Bragg’s letter to NY judge Juan Merchan opposing Trum...
Nov 22, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1090
OA1089 - Trump's Staff Infection, part 3 plus T3BE48 ! In this installment of Fashwatch’s continuing review of Trump’s incoming legal team, we take a closer look at what we know about the top spots in his DOJ and some of the other most important lawyers in any Presidential administration: White House counsel, Solicitor General, and the US Attorney for the Southern District of New York. 1. “ How a Corporate Law Firm Led a Political Revolution,” David Enrich, The New York Times (8/25/22) Check out...
Nov 20, 2024•1 hr 9 min•Ep. 1089
OA1088 - Trump's Staff Infection Vol. 2 With special guest Lydia Smith! Matt explains why only lawyers can truly destroy the rule of law before Lydia reviews what Project 2025 has planned for the Department of Justice. We then consider Donald Trump’s intention to make his favorite Florida (Congress)man our next Attorney General without or without Senate approval. Who is America’s Worst Matt, and could this weird loser really be the angel of Trump’s retribution? Mandate for Leadership, Project 20...
Nov 18, 2024•54 min•Ep. 1088
OA1087 - We examine how the incoming President and his administration are already breaking the law with his transition team before taking on his announced intention to subvert the Constitution--and his own political party--through an unprecedented clown car of forced recess appointments. From the Defense Secretary the National Guard determined they couldn’t trust with a gun around Joe Biden to the Attorney General who just resigned from Congress to avoid the details of what he has been doing wit...
Nov 15, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1087
OA1086 - We're modifying the schedule a little! Introducing fash-watch with Lydia. We're going to keep a very watchful eye on Trump's incoming government. We're starting this week with the EPA Administrator Lee Zeldin and UN Ambassador Elise Stefanik. But don't worry! After that, we're still on with Heather and the regularly scheduled bar exam failure! Make sure to find openargs on Bluesky and play T3BE there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! If you’d like to ...
Nov 13, 2024•1 hr 25 min•Ep. 1086
OA1085 - Matt has put together a preliminary list of things Joe Biden can and should do in the lame duck period. Will he? Let's make him. After that, we examine something that he should absolutely not do courtesy of the aspiring fascists of the National Review. As a little treat. Trump has made more than 100 threats to prosecute or punished perceived enemies," NPR News (10/22/22) “Biden Should Pardon Trump,” Mark Antonio Wright, National Review (11/6/24) Check out the OA Linktree for all the pla...
Nov 11, 2024•49 min•Ep. 1085
OA1083 - What does it mean to be a legal podcast at a time when the rule of law itself is in play? We reflect on this moment before answering a few patron questions and taking a closer look at the current state of each of the three criminal cases against Donald Trump as of this week. “A Sitting President’s Amenability to Indictment and Criminal Prosecution, ” DOJ memo dated 10/16/2000. Docket for Jack Smith’s appeal of Judge Cannon’s 11th Circuit Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to g...
Nov 08, 2024•51 min•Ep. 1083
Hey folks, this is more of an SIO, but I recorded a solo show because I have to debunk this myth about Kamala losing 10-15m Democratic votes. The truth is not at all that. I also have a million other thoughts that I really just want to get out there and that I hope will be helpful. Matt and I will be back on Friday. Also, I'm not charging Patreon for this one since it's on SIO. Thanks.
Nov 07, 2024•57 min
Hey folks, it's bad. MAGA is on track to win everything. Matt and I got on for some unfiltered, unedited talk.
Nov 06, 2024•31 min
OA1083 - the last episode before the election! So Matt thought it would be a great time to give a final round up of the actual policy differences between Trump and Harris. Are these two candidates really any different? Yes. Obviously yes. What a stupid question. First day on Earth or something? Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !...
Nov 04, 2024•53 min•Ep. 1083
OA1082 - Donald Trump recently promised that he and House speaker Mike Johnson have a “little secret” about how they are going to win next week’s election. Is he just trolling, or have Republicans identified real vulnerabilities in our federal election system? We assess the legal realities surrounding one particularly doomerist prediction in The Nation to try to understand just how concerned we really should be. The Washington Post has just revealed that Elon Musk has his own little secret: his ...
Nov 01, 2024•54 min•Ep. 1082
It's OA Bar Prep with Heather! First we get the answer to last week's Mario Kart easement question, and then we get question 46 - The Fraudulent Flight to Florida Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !
Oct 30, 2024•54 min•Ep. 45
OA1081. We're taking a broad survey of the 2024 elections, starting with the many, many 2020 election deniers who are still in--and seeking--public office. How many of these people are still around, and how many are up for re-election? What kinds of threats to democracy are still built into the system and how could we do better? What would real reform look like, and what is it going to take to get there? “ The Story of Election Denial in America," ElectionDeniers. org SCOTUS decision in FEC v. C...
Oct 28, 2024•44 min•Ep. 1081
OA1080 - As a weary nation watches the world's richest man try to buy a federal election in plain sight, we stop to consider the question which has so long plagued Elon Musk: There's gotta be a crime here, right? Somewhere? There has been plenty of debate this week about the legality of Musk’s $1 million daily lottery for registered US voters in swing states, but there is something far more insidious going on in this story beyond the headlines. Matt explains how the Federal Elections Commission ...
Oct 25, 2024•59 min•Ep. 1080
It's OA Bar Prep with Heather! First we get the answer to last week's pizza predicament, and then we get question 45 - the case of the uneasy easement! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !
Oct 23, 2024•56 min•Ep. 45
OA1079 - An OA Spooktacular! But also a normal episode. We continue our ongoing series on fascism and the law with a fresh perspective on a familiar American legal horror story. Matt explains the terrifying legal context surrounding the 1692 Court of Oyer and Terminar which sentenced dozens of innocent Massachusetts colonists to hang for the extremely real felony of practicing witchcraft--and an unexpected defense strategy which could have spared them. What can the most terrifying run of wrongfu...
Oct 21, 2024•49 min•Ep. 1079
OA1078 - The Supreme Court is back from their vacation and is set to ruin a bunch of lives again! They start off with Glossip v. Oklahoma , another opportunity for the Republican ghouls on the Court to execute a potentially innocent man. But not to worry, Matt's Footnote Fetish(tm) will bring us wayyyy back into happy territory, as a favorite character from OA past is in the news in the best way! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! If you’d like to support the sh...
Oct 18, 2024•49 min•Ep. 1078
It's OA Bar Prep with Heather! We get the answer to last week's hot firefighter question, and then a new question involving pizza and promised payment! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !
Oct 16, 2024•43 min•Ep. 44
OA1077, Part 2 of Matt's MAGA is Fascist series. The MAGA movement has just taken a hard turn to the extreme right with openly fascist messaging from Donald Trump about “migrant crime,” “occupied cities,” and “bad genes.” We take a moment to absorb this alarming reality before Matt also explains how US immigration policy has always been the leading edge of American protofascism--and why Adolf Hitler personally admired it--before taking a look at Trump’s actual 2024 immigration promises and what ...
Oct 14, 2024•53 min•Ep. 1077
OA 1076: In the wake of the devastation left by hurricanes Helene and Milton, we examine the state of FEMA’s Congressional funding. Has disaster relief actually become a “partisan” issue, or is this really just a Republican thing? How are these funds distributed, and why can’t Congress ever seem to fully fund anything? Matt explains why the current state of Congressional appropriations has him looking for flights to Denmark. Then: Why is Ron DeSantis’s Department of Health threatening to bring c...
Oct 11, 2024•51 min•Ep. 1076
It's T3BE43! First, Heather gives us the answer to last week's question about the 6th amendment right to a jury trial, and then we get a fun question involving an issue not talked about enough: discrimination against hot firefighters. Get 15% off OneSkin with the code OPENING at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !...
Oct 09, 2024•45 min•Ep. 43
Is it okay to call Trump a “fascist”? Is our democracy itself really on the line next month? And what might our legal system look like after a second Trump term? We look behind the headlines to begin to examine the nuances of these questions in this first of several planned episodes on the current state of the American right. The Anatomy of Fascism, Robert Paxton (2004) “The Rise of Competitive Authoritarianism,” Steven Levitsky and Lucan A. Way, Journal of Democracy (April 2002) They Thought Th...
Oct 07, 2024•53 min•Ep. 1075
OA1074: We begin with a quick look at JD Vance’s cringiest moment during this week’s VP debate. Does the junior senator from Ohio know anything about immigration law--let alone vice presidenting? In our main story: Two of last term’s worst U.S. Supreme Court decisions surrounding “official acts” have been playing out in real time this week in two of the most important criminal prosecutions in the US. First, special counsel Jack Smith has just filed a monster of a brief in the DC case against Don...
Oct 04, 2024•57 min•Ep. 74
Calling an audible here for reasons explained in the intro! Instead of T3BE this week, here is the very best day of Eli Bosnick playing Michael Cohen for Gavel Gavel. This was the infamous day of the Trump Trial when Todd Blanche start cross examination in the stupidest, weirdest way imaginable. Enjoy! Get 15% off OneSkin with the code OPENING at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !...
Oct 02, 2024•2 hr 13 min•Ep. 73
Get 15% off OneSkin with the code OPENING at https://www.oneskin.co/ #oneskinpod Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at https://surfshark.com/OPENING OA1073 - This week we are serving up the sticky Turkish delight which is the US Attorney for the SDNY’s 53-page speaking indictment against NYC mayor Eric Adams. Matt proudly explains why Boston is historically better at (among other things) corruption than New York before we get into the quid and the qu...
Sep 30, 2024•1 hr 1 min•Ep. 1073
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at https://surfshark.com/OPENING We begin by considering Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez's claim that Israel's recent unprecedented operation against Hezbollah's pagers and walkie-talkies was a violation of international law. Was this one of the most sophisticated military intelligence operations in history or an indiscriminate act of terror? Did the US Supreme Court just allow Missouri to execute an innocent man? We consi...
Sep 27, 2024•50 min•Ep. 1072
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at https://surfshark.com/OPENING The answer for T3BE41 is coming your way, and we launch our next Bar Prep question with Heather! Right now, the best place to play (if you aren't a patron...) is at reddit.com/r/openargs ! If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law !...
Sep 25, 2024•42 min•Ep. 42
Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at https://surfshark.com/OPENING We are excited to welcome Georgetown law professor Steve Vladeck back to Opening Arguments for a look back at how the Supreme Court responded to the infamously unruly--and increasingly more extreme--Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in its last term. How did the 5th “win by losing,” and why is there still cause for future concern even after SCOTUS reversed all but three of the eleven ca...
Sep 23, 2024•49 min•Ep. 1071
OA1070 Secure your privacy with Surfshark! Enter coupon code OPENING for 4 months EXTRA at https://surfshark.com/OPENING We begin today’s show with updates on two small victories for the power of art against the Donald Trump legal-industrial complex before turning to our main story: the biggest leak of internal communications in Supreme Court history. We review what we can learn about how Chief Justice John Roberts has been managing his (and the Court’s) public image from the extremely unauthori...
Sep 20, 2024•55 min•Ep. 1070
