Comedy, case law, chaos. Practicing attorney and TikTok gal @rebmasel breaks down bizarre, chaotic, and intriguing cases and anecdotes from the legal field you've (probably) never heard of. Listen to Reb's hilarious and informative takes on the weird, the awesome, the horrifying, the inspiring, and the everything-in-between happening inside and outside the courtroom.
***NOT LEGAL ADVICE***
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Join Rebmasel as she delves into the chaotic and often contradictory legal interpretations of what constitutes a 'deadly weapon' across different US jurisdictions. From a man releasing a raccoon in a bar and a woman attacking deputies with honeybees, to a wife hitting her husband with a plastic chair and an alligator thrown through a drive-thru, this episode dissects real-world cases. It highlights how courts grapple with defining dangerous instruments, even considering non-lethal weapons or body parts, and emphasizes the lack of consistent legal standards.
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Thinking of dabbling in a bit of crime? Annoying your neighbor? Getting back at a crazy ex? Scamming people? Couponing? Pulling a prank? Putting a piece of paper inside a mailbox? Dressing up as a USPS postal worker for fun? Wherever your criminal exploits may take you, try your very best to adhere to one not-so-simple rule: DO NOT MESS WITH THE MAIL. These are the USPIS Postal Inspectors. Reb Recommends: Tales of a Gay Postal Inspector: You Can't Make This Stuff...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) "Here, a husband and wife have been marinating in a mutual hatred so intense as to surely amount to a personality disorder requiring treatment." –Judge Joseph W. Quinn Divorce is messy. Bruni v. Bruni (2010) is messier. Listen to Reb raise a glass to the unholiest of matrimonies. (***You can find an extremely helpful diagram of the people involved in this case and their relationship to one another at the 30-minute mark of the YouTube video for this episode!) *** ...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) In 1870, a dog named Old Drum is shot and killed by his owner’s neighbor in Missouri. In 1457, a sow and her piglets are put on trial for the murder of a child. In 2016, a parrot repeats the words “Don’t shoot!” in his murdered owner’s voice, and many more...Humans aren't the only ones contributing to chaos in our courtrooms. Animal (Court)House. Let’s get into it. CLICK HERE to PREORDER Reb's book: The Book They Throw At You—A Sarcastic Lawyer's Guide* To The Un...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) **CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC DESCRIPTIONS OF TORTURE** On March 15, 2025, President Trump announced the Venezuelan criminal gang Tren de Aragua was conducting "irregular warfare" against the United States and that members would be deported under the Alien Enemies Act of 1798. The Trump Administration quickly began deporting people allegedly affiliated with the gang—without any semblance of due process—via direct flights to a notoriously deadly El Salvadoran prison....
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) An Alcatraz Island kidnapper is hired by the child he kidnapped 30 years later. Listen to Reb snatch the (kinda heartwarming but mostly traumatizing?) details of Waley v. United States (9th Cir. 1949). *** CLICK HERE to PREORDER Reb's book: The Book They Throw At You—A Sarcastic Lawyer's Guide* To The Unholy Chaos of Our Legal System, *God No, Not Actual Legal Advice *** Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and T...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Do cats have free speech rights? How did Blackie the Talking Cat cause this much (legal) trouble? Reb finds out in Miles v. City Council of Augusta, Georgia (11th Cir. 1983). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and Twitter ! Huge shoutout to Alyssa, our new Rebuttal Podcast editor! *** 0:00 - Intro 2:35 - CASE BEGINS 6:16 - Blackie's lore 12:40 - Blackie takes CASH ONLY 16:23 - Blackie supports the family<3 1...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) The FBI threatens to put innocent people on the No Fly List unless they agree to become unpaid FBI informants spying on their (also innocent) communities. Why? Because the FBI pretty much guarantees that random, erroneous, overinclusive, islamophobic nominations to the No Fly List will be approved, and since the process is cloaked in secrecy, there wasn't a clear way to stop them. Until now. Fikre v. FB I (2013) and Tanzin v. Tanvir (2020) are only two of many ca...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) What do Henry Ford's Model-T car, banning alcohol in the United States, and the FBI have in common? We needed all three to (1) catch American gangster John Dillinger and (2) make it federally legal to steal planes...FOR 26 YEARS. Learn how to legally steal a plane in 1926 and destroy evidence in 2007! Don't believe it? Well, the U.S. Supreme Court already does! Listen to Reb fly the skies and dump some fish in McBoyle v. United States (1931) and Yates v. United S...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) At 10:27PM on December 3, 2024, South Korea's President Yoon Suk Yeol went live on television while his country was sleeping to declare martial law. His country fought back. After all was said and done, Yoon's martial law proclamation lasted only 6 and a half hours. Hawaii's lasted three years. Internment camps, forced labor, military tribunals, and a pause on all constitutional and due process liberties. Curfews, blackouts, barbed wire covering the beaches. Deat...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Out of nowhere, your front door explodes. You see a man with a gun run through your door and up the stairs, firing shots at the police chasing after him. Luckily, you run for cover before a SWAT team begins their "protocol" to flush him out - explosives, toxic gasses, grenades, BearCat armored tanks, robots, and chemical weapons hit every inch of your home. Eventually, the situation is secure. The neighborhood is safe. Police followed "all necessary protocol." Yo...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Reb hits you with rapid fire summaries of 13 lawsuits filed in 2003 that are unhinged enough to make it on Rebuttal (the legal sanctuary of chaos and calamity, of course). *** 0:00 - Intro / Life update 4:16 - The Docked Dog Tail Case 8:55 - The Condom Soup Case 10:48 - Port-A-Potty Prison 12:32 - Depose The Parrot 13:59 - Suing The Casino Instead of Your Husband 15:43 - Convicted Felon Wants His Playstation Back 17:18 - BREAKING: Lightning Loves Cars 18:16 - Kid...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) A chicken farmer, World War II, and 150 suicidal chickens were the only ones up to the task to answer this question for the Supreme Court. No, I'm not joking. This is United States v. Causby (1946). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and Twitter ! *** 0:00 - Intro 00:40 - Case begins 3:00 - The Takings Clause 3:30 - The Causbys and their crime scene coop 7:26 - The Causbys get a (good) lawyer / Lower court case...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Being a lawyer is a stressful job, and we all handle the anxiety of this high-pressure field in different ways. Some enjoy pilates, others indulge in junk food, a few find relief at the bottom of a liquor bottle. But in 2023, one lawyer's preferred method of "blowing off steam" made headlines. It read: "BREAKING: LAWYER SUSPENDED FOR POOPING IN A PRINGLES CAN AND THRO-" Listen at your own risk to find out the rest. Reb washes her hands and unpacks Ohio Bar v. Bla...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) On December 31, 1918, Colonel Luke Lea of the 114th Field Artillery Regiment handed his commanding officer a request for leave from his post in Allied-occupied Luxembourg. He would not say where he was going or what he intended to do, though he assured the general he had nothing to worry about. General Spaulding called it the "strangest request for leave he had ever read," but approved it anyway. After all, Luke Lea was not just an excellent officer, he was also ...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) In America, unaccompanied children are forced to represent themselves in immigration court. That's right. Children as young as infants to teenagers. Each year, thousands of immigrant children are placed into court proceedings in which government prosecutors seek to deport them unless those children can prove they have a right to stay in the United States. While the U.S. government may provide pillows and booster seats for children who are too small for the chairs...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) In 500 BC, corrupt judges were treated a little differently than the ones we have today. The punishments have changed, but one question remains the same: What do we do when judges can't stop taking bribes? Hold onto your birthday suit, Reb is slicing open The Judgment of Cambyses (~530 BC). (Side note: A 30-MINUTE EPISODE CAN YOU BELIEVE IT?!) Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and Twitter ! *** 00:00 - Intro 0...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) A paid informant who should've been fired, a police officer who LOVES a good eraser, and a dad who can't stop bragging about his poor sons. Grab a bag of baking soda and a large Coke and hear Reb snitch on Albright v. Oliver (1994). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and Twitter ! *** 0:00 - Intro 2:26 - Legal mumbo jumbo you should know before we begin 9:00 - Reb's rant on wrongful arrests 13:31 - Why do malic...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) What do you call a 6-week period in which you and a handful of very recent acquaintances get drunk every day at lunch, sleep through the afternoons, sell weed to each other, smoke weed with each other, and whip out a few bags of cocaine to snort when the time feels right? For a group of twelve people in Florida in 1987, they would call it jury duty. That’s right. Since 1987, jury misconduct stories only got crazier and crazier...including one where a jury convict...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) In the early hours of Saturday, May 15, 2010, Kalief Browder and a friend were returning home from a party in the Belmont section of the Bronx. He was 16 years old. Browder saw a police car driving toward them. More squad cars arrived, and soon Browder and his friend were squinting in the glare of a police spotlight. An officer said they had robbed a man. “I didn’t rob anybody,” Browder replied. “You can check my pockets.” . . . Reb shares the cases of Kalief Bro...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Do political assassinations even happen in the U.S. anymore? Apparently yes. Yes, they do. Get ready to change your middle name, sue Puerto Rico for speaking Spanish, move to a hog farm in Tennessee, and learn that write-in ballots never win (except for the rare, *bloody* exception). Reb brings a murder weapon to the voting booth in Tennessee v. Byron (Low Tax) Looper (2000). TRIGGER WARNING for sexual assault/abuse. Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter !...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Beef between rappers keeps music alive and well. But what happens when a video of you lip syncing to rap lyrics at a party helps put you away for murder? Hear all about it with Reb at the Texas Court of Criminal Appeals in Larry Jean Hart v. Texas (2024). Follow @RebuttalPod on Instagram and Twitter ! Follow @Rebmasel on TikTok , Instagram , and Twitter ! *** 0:00 - Intro 4:01 - Sneak peek of Hart v. Texas (2024) 4:37 - Background - Can lyrics be used as evidence...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Since Biblical times, self defense has been simple. Guard your castle. Retreat to the wall. Defend yourself. The U.S. stole its common law from the English, and the elements of self defense didn't change. Until.......Florida. Why did Florida change its slogan from the Sunshine State to the Kill At Will State? Aren't Stand Your Ground Laws a good thing? How old is the Castle Doctrine? Whose castle is it anyway? Reb lowers the drawbridge on the madness and teaches ...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Humans have been digging moats, slingshotting arrows, poisoning food, and laying spikes for thousands of years — and modern day booby traps are still alive and well. But what do an Indiana Jones-inspired hot tub contraption and a haunted house’s 20-gauge shotgun have in common? Vengeance. This episode starts the engine for Episode 24’s deep dive into self-defense, "Stand Your Ground" laws, defense of property, and the Castle Doctrine. But first, listen to Reb pic...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) There are 3 reasons one of the most important 4th Amendment rules in America exists as it does today: (1) Boxers in the criminal underworld, (2) A bomb in the house of famous boxing promoter Don King, and (3) Dollree "Dolly" Mapp - The young black woman who dated bad boys and stood up to an all-white police force in Baltimore...and won. What started as a mobster/boxer gambling ring turned into a 4-year battle over...you guessed it...nude magazines. Come with Reb ...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) We protect the witnesses from the public, but who protects the public from the witnesses? Peek behind the curtain of the Witness Protection Program and prepare to be shocked, afraid, and bamboozled. Take cover with Reb and start questioning everything and everyone in United States v. Wilson (1981). **CONTENT WARNING at 58:52 for violence against children** *** SOURCES [chronological order by reference or cite]: United States v. Wilson (1981) Secord v. Schlachter ...
(WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Most people would like to keep their heads. Thomas Donaldson isn't one of them. This mathematician and computer scientist wanted his cut off, and he wanted it to be done while he was still alive. Bring a warm jacket and follow Reb into the frozen head refrigerator for Donaldson v. Lungren (1992). INTRO/REB CHAT: 0:00-19:32 CASE STARTS: 19:32 *** Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices...
( WATCH THIS EPISODE ON YOUTUBE ) Breathing through chemical smoke has been described as “drowning on dry land.” When one imagines chemical warfare, they often imagine a striking image of filthy soldiers choking in trenches on the frontlines through thick fogs of yellow-green gas. In 1993, the Convention on Chemical Weapons sought to end chemical warfare as we know it. 20 years later, the international treaty the U.S. signed in 1997 to ban and stop the creation, sale, and export of chemical weap...
Pararescue is the most highly decorated Air Force-enlisted force, executing the most perilous, demanding, and extreme rescue missions at anytime, anywhere around the globe. Their motto is: " These Things We Do, That Others May Live. " Pararescue Staff Sergeant James D. Pou was so legendary, he became the "gold standard" for how the Air Force drills its trainees. He died a hero. So why did the June 2, 1993 L.A. Times headline read: "Bigamist, Deserter Escapes From Air Force Brig"....? Grab a para...
Plug your nose and cross your heart - a rotting corpse is on the stand. 1,126 years ago, Rome was going through Popes like napkins at a BBQ cook-off. Most of them were killed, tortured, maimed, spit on...by each other. Eventually, Desperate Housewives and the Catholic Church collided to exhume a body and strap him to a chair. Why did we put a dead body on trial in 897 AD...and again in 2013? Oh, and can you marry someone after you die? As always, Reb gives you the answers, blessings, and vengean...
