Opening Arguments

OA1289 - Is Disney/ABC’s bold new legal action against the Trump administration one of the most important First Amendment challenges  of our lifetimes, or just another Mickey Mouse operation? Matt explains. Also an explainer on the legally questionable end of Temporary Protected Status for El Salvador, a new ICE purchase that will truly shock you, and a footnote on how the lawyer who put himself in a fancy Star Wars-themed Superbowl ad turned to the Dark Side. FCC order to ABC affiliates noting that ABC is under investigation for violations of FCC rules and “discriminatory” hiring (4/28/2026) Complaint in ABC et al v. FCC et al, filed 8/18/2026 User manual for Compliant Technologies’s G.L.O.V.E. The Kentucky Hammer’s 2020 Super Bowl commercial Complaint in White v. Isaacs & Isaacs, filed 6/2/2026 Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

VR41 - What does a “moderate conservative” sound like in August 2026? Thomas and Matt take a closer look at two very different self-proclaimed “moderates” representing the best and brightest in MAGA apologism. We begin with some low points from Tim Pool’s recent appearance on the gimmicky “Surrounded” debate series before taking on our main story:  a National Review cover piece by Dan McLaughlin on the “broken” asylum system which demonstrates exactly the kind of finely nuanced understanding of U.S. immigration policy you might expect from the man better known to golden-era Twitter users as The Baseball Crank.

OA1288 - What happens when a hotheaded cop who isn’t interested in putting in much effort to solve a crime meets up with another cop who thinks computers are infallible? A man with no criminal record who lives 300 miles from the crime scene and has no conceivable connection to the crime gets arrested. Hear the ACLU lay out the case for strict guardrails on the use of facial identification software, and training officers to… like do their job at all. Bonus: Learn about Jenessa’s doppleganger / who to blame if she ever gets arrested. Compl., Dillon v. City of Jacksonville Beach, No. 2:26-cv-1936-JES-KRH, (M.D. Fla. 07/13/26) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1287 - Today on Rapid Response Friday:  Todd “Two Taints” Blanche flexes his new freedom as two Tates blanch at the loss of theirs, and a lawsuit over a cinematic heist starring Nicolas Cage. Applicability of Executive Privilege to Presidential Communications with Private Advisers, Office of Legal Counsel (8/10/2026) Second Superseding Indictment in United States of America v. Southern Poverty Law Center Inc. and Heidi Beirich, Middle District of Alabama (8/11/2026) Secretary Rubio Terminates Green Cards of Foreign Nationals Tied to Infamous Iranian Regime Propagandist, U.S. Department of State (4/11/2026) One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention, The Nation (8/11/2026) Andrew and Tristan Tate’s Motion for Release Pending Extradition Proceedings and Opposition to the Government’s Request for Detention In the Matter of the Extradition of Emory Andrew Tate, Southern District of Florida (8/7/2026) Response in Opposition to Andrew Tate’s and Tristan Tate’s Motion for Release Pending Extrad

VR40 - This Vapid Response Wednesday, we note the end of Ross Douthat’s 17-year run as the resident New York Times conservative columnist with a drive-by review of some of his most willfully clueless work--and a closer look at his recent farewell message in which he provides a fitting capstone to a long career of willfully ignoring everything about how and why the American right went full MAGA. You can WATCH this episode, too! “Europe’s Minaret Moment,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (12/6/2009) “Confessions of a Columnist,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (1/2/2016) “The Necessity of Stephen Miller,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (1/27/2018) “There Will Be No Trump Coup,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (10/10/2020) “Why Do So Many Americans Think the Election Was Stolen?” Ross Douthat, New York Times (12/5/2020) “How Donald Trump Made the Fantasy Real,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (1/9/2021) “Why Nikki Haley Would Be the Most Dangerous President,” Ross Douthat, New York Times (1/20/2024) “What Would

OA1286 - NYU Law professor and Strict Scrutiny co-host Melissa Murray joins to discuss (among many other things) her new book, Sonia Sotomayor’s dance moves, and why actually reading the Constitution matters now more than ever.  Professor Murray’s book The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader is this month’s OA Book Club selection, and we’ll be meeting to discuss it via Zoom on August 30, 2026 at 4:30 PM EST. This is a perk available to patrons at ALL tiers! The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader, Melissa Murray (2026) “Of Might and Men,” Leah M. Litman, Melissa Murray, Katherine Shaw, Michigan Law Review, Vol. 122 Issue 6 (2024) “A Podcast of One’s Own,” Leah M. Litman, Melissa Murray, Katherine Shaw, Michigan Journal of Gender & Law, Vol. I, Issue  The Trump Indictments: The Historic Charging Documents With Commentary, Melissa Murray and Andrew Weissman (2024) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go an

OA1285 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: regulators, mount up! We take a closer look at the actual documents provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche which convinced John Cornyn and Thom Tillis to change their votes, how deregulation caused a national cyclospora outbreak (and the legal response to it), and state efforts to stop the “prediction market” racket which the Commodity Futures Trading Commission has been all too happy to ignore. And in today’s footnote: three very different cases which prove why prediction markets shouldn’t be a thing at all. Documents provided to the Senate Judiciary Committee by Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche on August 2, 2026 “Cyclospora is easy for doctors to miss. The US made it even harder to spot,” Dr. Robert B. Shipner, The Guardian (7/16/2026) Complaint in Null v. Taylor Farms, filed 7/21/206 Complaint in New York v. Kalshiex LLC, filed 7/31/2026 Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to d

VR39 - Vapid Response Wednesday returns with a tasteful pairing of stories about alleged anti-Italian discrimination that go together like chianti and red sauce. Today's specials include: Aperitivo: a tasteless morsel from the least deserving recipient in the history of the Mark Twain Prize for American Humor Primo: a chef’s kiss Washington Examiner oped on how NYC mayor Zohran Mamdani “erased” Little Italy Secondo: a spicy molto grosso meatball of a Boston lawsuit over alleged anti-Italian-American discrimination gives a federal court indigestion Dolce: our patrons! Listen ad-free and support the show at patreon.com/law “Mayor Mamdani, Why Did You Erase Little Italy?” Anthony Colombo Jr., Mike Crispi, Gerard Marrone, Washington Examiner (7/10/26)  Second Amended Complaint in North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of Boston, filed 3/7/24 Order on Defendant’s Motion to Dismiss in North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City of Boston(12/20/24) North End Chamber of Commerce et al v. City o

OA1284 - Can a modern court implement modern solutions? It really depends on your perspective. Despite some baffling misconceptions about how… anything works, the Justices seem to be doing a pretty good job of ultimately deciding that yes, police do in fact need a warrant to deeply invade your digital privacy. While Kavanaugh appears to have the entire concept of data storage and search queries upside down and backwards, Gorsuch asks complex questions about metadata versus true content, how data is stored in individual accounts, and what other types of data would be exposed if police were allowed to search your location information without a warrant… and yet they both ultimately vote to protect your privacy. It’s a weird world out there folks. Cases discussed: United States v. Jones Carpenter v. United States Chatrie v. United States Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Apologies for being a little late on this one!Donald Trump sued the IRS, an agency he currently runs, for leaking his own tax returns, and asked for a cool $10 billion. Thomas, Lydia, and Matt dig through the actual complaint and a judge's increasingly suspicious rulings, all timed suspiciously close to Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing. It is dumber, and more corrupt, than it sounds. Cases discussed: Trump v. IRS Littlejohn leak case Patrons at patreon.com/gavelpod can listen to Part 2 right now!

LAM1015 - Jimmy Smits stars as a gambling, sports-shooting Supreme Court Justice with a law clerk paid to fend off his advances, in NBC's forgotten 2010 flop Outlaw. Thomas, Matt, and Lydia can barely get through a single scene without stopping to ask what this show thinks a Justice actually does. This free 45-minute preview only scratches the surface of how bad it gets. $2+ Patrons already have this full episode, plus an early part 2 of Jenessa's 4th Amendment privacy deep dive, at patreon.com/law. Friday brings a Gavel Gavel crossover on the ruling that blew up Trump and Todd Blanche's corrupt IRS settlement. Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1282 - Is anything private any more? Depends which Supreme Court Justice you ask. To kick off a series of episodes around data privacy and the law, first Jenessa walks us through a string of Supreme Court cases addressing 4th Amendment rights and technology. In part 1, we cover landmark cases with wiretapping, beepers, GPS trackers, thermal imaging, and more. Stick around for part 2 to hear how the modern composition of the court is responding to the proliferation of new technologies. Cases discussed: Olmstead v. United States Katz v. United States United States v. Knotts United States v. Karo Kyllo v. United States Riley v. California United States v. Miller Smith v. Maryland United States v. Jones Part 2 of this breakdown drops early for patrons at patreon.com/law. Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1281 - As we wait on the final vote tally for Attorney General nominee Todd Blanche, we take a look at written responses which he recently provided into the record to answer a wide range of Senate questions the day after his hearing concluded. We also take a closer look at how the 5th Circuit is trying to make a recent Clarence Thomas concurrence into law, and how Thomas’s retrograde reading of the Constitution’s Commerce Clause could end federal firearms charges and potentially take one of the pillars of the entire federal criminal punishment system along with them. Finally in today’s footnote: AI in the courtroom hits an unbelievable new low. “Questions for the Record” for Todd Blanche issued after his confirmation hearing, with Blanche’s responses (7/17/2026) U.S. v. Hemani (6/18/2026) En banc order from the 5th Circuit Court of Appeals in USA v. Squire (2026) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1280 - Peter O’Neil was preparing for retirement after decades of practicing law when he learned that he was autistic at the age of 65. This realization inspired his memoir My So-Called Disorder: Autism, Exploding Trucks, and the Big Daddy of Rock and Roll, in which he looks back at his life and legal career to better understand how his neurodiversity played a role in both his most significant personal challenges and the unique professional talents which helped him to take on some of the largest corporations in the US as a products liability attorney. In this unusual intergenerational exchange between lawyers on the spectrum, Peter and Matt discuss their experiences and appreciate the ways that these so-called “disorders” have made them who they are. Peter O'Neil is the author of My So-Called Disorder, Autism, Exploding Trucks, and the Big Daddy of Rock and Roll, this month's OA Book Club pick. Join him live for book club on July 26th at 4:30pm Eastern, for patrons at any level at patreon.com/law. Check ou

OA1279 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: A federal judge rips up the corrupt “settlement” Trump reached with his own IRS at the unprecedented request of a group of 35 former federal judges just in time time for aspiring Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing, humanizing the latest victims of ICE, and a metafootnote about a DC judge who hates footnotes nearly as much as Matt loves them. The Agenda: Williams' IRS ruling Blanche confirmation hearing Salgado Araujo shooting Duran Guerrero shooting Boasberg's footnote crusade Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

VR38 - This week in Vapid Response Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review some truly awful takes from a MAGA economist on the true cause of low crime rates, Rep. Nancy Mace on her extremely real and not-at-all-racist concerns about the dangers of judges with dual citizenship, and a then-20-year-old Rolling Stone columnist in 1969 on his immediate disdain for what would become one of the greatest rock albums of all time. “Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Really is Slashing Violent Crime,” John R. Lott, Jr, The Federalist (July 9, 2026) FBI’s National Crime Victims Survey data “Governing America means loyalty to America,” Rep. Nancy Mace, Newsweek (July 4, 2026) Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s preliminary injunction order in League of Women Voters v DHS Judicial nominee Sparkle Sooknanan’s responses to Sen. Lindsay Graham’s judicial questionnaire (March 20, 2024) “The Top 15 Bullshit Album Reviews That Rolling Stone Magazine Had the Balls to Publish,” Reel Harmonies (July 14, 2014) Check out the OA Linktree for

OA1278 - On its face, the decision in Watson is a pretty narrow ruling. Some states allow ballots postmarked on or before election day, but arriving after election day, to be counted. The court decided they can continue to do so. But at stake was so much more. Bubbling under the surface, election deniers were trying to open a door to far more aggressive limitations on voting rights. With this decision, that door is quite firmly shut… by Barrett? Come hear Jenessa try to survive the cognitive dissonance of finding an ACB opinion extremely well-written, thorough, and appropriately critical of out-of-context half-assed attempts at historical analysis in the dissent. Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1277 - We continue our coverage of the Trump administration’s criminalization of dissent with a brief update on the sentencing of the last remaining Prairieland defendant and a closer look at similar federal prosecutions of ICE protesters in Minneapolis, Spokane, and a number of other jurisdictions. Matt then explains how the DOJ just complicated a case against someone alleged to have leaked the second Jack Smith report in the funniest possible way. Finally, in today’s footnote: that one time that Dan Crenshaw and William Shatner tried to make Starfleet happen. “Final federal Prairieland ‘antifa’ defendant sentenced to six years after helping shooter evade arrest,” The Dallas Morning News (6/6/2026) Indictment in United States v. Stuckart et al., Eastern District of Washington (7/9/2025) “DOJ Targets Anti-ICE Demonstrators with Conspiracy Charges,” PBS Newshour on Instagram (3/31/2026) Indictment in United States v. Sant et al., District of Minnesota (6/11/2026) Trump’s Spaghetti-Against-the-Wall

VR37 - Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh both wrote furious, error-riddled columns attacking the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling in Trump v. Barbara. And so Thomas, attorney Matt Cameron, and producer Lydia ran the columns through an AI detector and their BS detectors to see just how fake and how BS they were. Spoiler: it's a lot.

OA1276 - Who could have predicted this? Us! The Trump administration has made their complete disdain for people with disabilities clear since day one. We’ve called it out before, and the natural progression of those efforts came to a head mid-June when they announced their intention to turn over governance of special education to RFK Jr in HHS (least trusted man in America when it comes to the needs of your child with a disability), continue dismantling the Department of Education overall, further reduce their investigations of educational discrimination, and, just two days later, their commitment to overturning major protections against forced institutionalization. What’s happening, how did we get here, why does it matter, and what can anyone do about it? Tune in to find out. OA episode callbacks: 1238 Deep dive on Olmstead 1180 the history of forced institutionalization and “ugly laws”, and the executive order “Ending crime and disorder on America’s streets” 1141 The Section 504 protests 1171 A.J.T.