Best Everything is Awful and Nothing is Good Podcasts (2025)

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Could Tylenol Sue Trump and RFK Jr. for Libel? 55:41

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2h ago55:41

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OA1193 - Could Tylenol sue RFK Jr. for libel? Does the pressure the FCC put on Disney/ABC to fire Jimmy Kimmel constitute a First Amendment violation? Is the Trump administration really going to charge rural hospitals $100,000 for the privilege of being able to hire foreign doctors? In today’s Rapid Response Friday we answer all of these recent pat…

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HBO released a new Adnan Syed doc episode and it is shockingly dishonest 1:49:05

1h ago1:49:05

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We watched the newly-released final episode of HBO’s The Case Against Adnan Syed, and we have questions. Are the producers really trying to pin the murder of Hae Min Lee on a Black man with obvious mental health issues who was already cleared as a suspect--and did they really need to show the world a fully-nude photo of him to make that case? What …

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KATZ RULES EVERYTHING AROUND ME 57:18

2d ago57:18

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OA1192 - This week in Still Good Law: Katz v. U.S., the 1967 Warren Court case which on its face decided that the Fourth Amendment may apply to a public phone booth. But that’s hardly all: the federal prosecution of nationally-famous bookie Charles Katz also completely changed the entire framework for how U.S. courts understand and interpret the la…

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The Kirkstag Fire 1:03:07

5d ago1:03:07

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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 t…

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Charlie Kirk sucked and we won't be pretending otherwise 1:02:44

7d ago1:02:44

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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 bey…

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Miranda v. Arizona, and the Fascinating Science of False Confessions 1:05:42

9d ago1:05:42

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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 Styro…

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It’s Still the Shadow Docket, Despite Kavanaugh’s Pathetic Rebrand Attempt 56:59

14d ago56:59

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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 ignori…

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LAM1009: My Cousin Vinny 54:52

13d ago54:52

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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 greate…

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Do You Swear You're Not A Subversive Person? 54:53

16d ago54:53

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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 deter…

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BREAKING: Federal Courts Correctly Notice Color of Sky, Pope’s Religious Affiliation 1:01:52

21d ago1:01:52

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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 E…

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Douchebag Ben Shapiro knock-offs keep thinking they're smarter than Ketanji Brown Jackson 1:12:08

23d ago1:12:08

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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 …

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Brown v. Board v. Science 59:31

22d ago59:31

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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 g…

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Did a Federal Judge Really Just Shutter Alligator Alcatraz? 1:01:40

26d ago1:01:40

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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-d…

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Maxwell's Silver Yammer, Part 2 1:53:18

28d ago1:53:18

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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 here! Complete enhanced audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's proffer session with DOJ deputy Todd Blanche on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version) Maxwell transcripts and source audio from DOJ US v Maxwel…

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The Ghislaine Maxwell Interview Was Institutional Corruption Like We've Never Seen Before. Truly. 1:37:02

1M ago1:37:02

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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 “pro…

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Republicans Are Messing with Texas 1:05:23

1M ago1:05:23

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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 Repre…

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The Boston Globe put out two bootlicking Trump op-eds in one week. What are we DOING 1:19:09

1M ago1:19:09

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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 o…

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The Most Important LGTBQ Rights Case You’ve Never Heard Of 55:51

1M ago55:51

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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 M…

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What Can We Do To Stop ICE? 59:13

1M ago59:13

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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 …

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“ICE Is No Gestapo!” Complain Gestapo Enthusiasts 1:20:52

1M ago1:20:52

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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 boun…

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Project 2025, Six Months Later 55:21

1M ago55:21

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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, ho…

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Why the Whole Alligator Alcatraz Thing Is Somehow Worse Than It Sounds 1:00:34

2M ago1:00:34

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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 institutio…

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NYTimes lets awful Harvard Law prof lie his ass off for some reason 1:24:03

2M ago1:24:03

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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 o…

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LEARY V. US (1969): Turn On, Tune In, and Drop Everything You Thought You Knew About Timothy Leary 1:16:47

2M ago1:16:47

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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…

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Entrenched Power Hates It When Actual Progressives Are in Office 55:38

2M ago55:38

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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 r…

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Alan Dershowitz tries to pull a literal "nothing to see here" on Epstein 1:15:40

2M ago1:15:40

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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 Epstei…

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Chesa Boudin Grew up Visiting His Parents in Prison. He Later Became San Francisco DA. 48:35

2M ago48:35

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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 C…

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The Trump-Epstein Legal Breakdown You Didn't Know You Needed 59:22

2M ago59:22

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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…

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T3BE78: Following the Interpleader 43:51

2M ago43:51

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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, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at…

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PORN LAW: When Your Kink Is Strict Scrutiny but the Court Only Goes Intermediate 54:36

2M ago54:36

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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 sc…

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ICE Just... Decided Millions of People Are Ineligible for Bail. This Is Bad. Like, Really Bad. 59:48

2M ago59:48

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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 actua…

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T3BE77: If a Chandelier Falls and You Aren’t There to See It, Did the Liability Even Happen? 49:13

2M ago49:13

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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, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patro…

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Let’s Talk Space Law! It’s Law, but From OUTER SPACE! 50:23

2M ago50:23

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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. Prof. Mi…

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What a Surprise, the Racist Bastards Want to Denaturalize Zohran Mamdani 57:48

3M ago57:48

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OA1172 - It’s been two weeks since the Supreme Court decided that babies in only half of the US get to be born as citizens. We try to make sense of what they left behind in one of the most important shadow docket cases in history, and how concerned Samuel Alito should really be that the actual text of the 14th Amendment might still prevail in the e…

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T3BE76: Accidental Evidence 47:42

3M ago47:42

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Professor Heather Varanini is here to get us ready for the Bar Exam with the next question!If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron a…

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When You're So Bad At Your Job, You Make the Supreme Court Look Good By Comparison 54:34

3M ago54:34

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OA1171 - Today's episode is a nice, fun departure from the doom and gloom. Oral arguments in a recent SCOTUS case went terribly wrong. And for once, it wasn't the court itself that was looking like a clown show. The case was AJT v Osseo and it involved disability rights. So naturally, I had to invite everyone's favorite disability rights advocate a…

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SIO484: Lawsuit Alleges Voting Irregularities in 2024. Is There Any There There? 49:02

3M ago49:02

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Hey folks, I'm taking a little time off! Hope you enjoy this SIO in the meantime. Thank you! Part 1: The Legal Stuff Dr. Jenessa Seymour is here to break down something that even our moms are spreading on social media: a group in New York claims to have uncovered discrepancies in the vote count for the 2024 election, and they're suing over it! Dr. …

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No Way, Bove 55:18

3M ago55:18

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OA1170 - This Rapid Response Friday it’s Boh-vey (yes that is how you pronounce it, probably) all day--as in former Trump defense attorney and current Trump henchman Emil Bove, now up for a seat formerly occupied by Samuel Alito on the Third Circuit. Matt ties together several different stories from the news--from January 6th to the Eric Adams pros…

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T3BE75: Can I Interest You in a Lettuce Farm? 35:40

3M ago35:40

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If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and th…

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How Do the Good Lawyers Not Burn Out? 1:06:18

3M ago1:06:18

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OA1169 - We had our first live video QnA of the new era! It was so good that I really thought more folks should hear it. Thank you to all who attended and we look forward to the next one! If you'd prefer to watch it, it's available on YouTube.

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Clarence Thomas Is an Even Worse Doctor Than He Is a Judge 53:57

3M ago53:57

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OA1168 - Did the Karen Read trial just become the most expensive drunk driving prosecution in US history? We then briefly discuss legal issues around the arrest by ICE of New York mayoral candidate Brad Landry, and Matt fills in the most important missing detail of a story which nearly the entire media got wrong this week. And in our main story: th…

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I Like My Bar Exam Questions Like I Like My Coffee 49:17

3M ago49:17

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T3BE74 First an exciting announcement! We're bringing back the original Q&A format where everyone can hang out for the livestream, but patrons get the extra special opportunity to ask questions in advance! Be sure to join us on YouTube on Sunday, June 22nd, at 3pm Pacific/6pm Eastern! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on…

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This Law Student Refused to Let Big Firms Get Away with Quiet Complicity 38:44

3M ago38:44

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OA1167 - Georgetown law student Mari Latibashvili is the co-founder of the GU Law Coalition for Justice, which recently made national headlines by organizing law students to refuse interviews and job offers from law firms which have given in to the Trump administration’s war on the legal profession. We discuss (among other things) this remarkably s…

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Troops in LA; Abrego Garcia's Trumped Up Charges 57:43

4M ago57:43

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OA1166 - We consider the legal realities behind this week's most important stories, from the unprecedented statutory justification for Trump sending troops into California to why a wrongfully-deported man’s return to the US is--bad, actually? Matt then serves up a digestif of a note en bas de page about one of the most audacious counterfeiters in F…

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The Part of Collections Collector 50:24

4M ago50:24

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T3BE73 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go…

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Federal Workers: Rise Up, Fight Back! 1:00:29

4M ago1:00:29

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OA1165 - Anna Chu is the Executive Director at We the Action, a nonprofit that recently collaborated with labor and democracy partners like the American Federation of Government Employees and Democracy Forward, to launch Rise Up: Federal Workers Legal Defense Network. This Network connects federal workers who are being illegally terminated to pro b…

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Three Unanimous Supreme Court Decisions, and Why They Sound Bad But Aren't Really 55:54

4M ago55:54

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OA1164 - After a brief conversation from the front lines about the chaotic state of US immigration enforcement as of June 2025, we examine three unusual recent 9-0 decisions authored by three of our favorite Supreme Court justices. Join us behind the headlines to learn why Matt agrees that stopping a lawsuit against gun manufacturers, potentially o…

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Adverse Possession Is 9/10ths of the Law 51:14

4M ago51:14

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T3BE72 If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate T3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go…

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75% of Exonerated Women Were Convicted of Crimes That Didn't Even Happen (!) 55:41

4M ago55:41

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OA1163 - No really. That's a real stat. It may actually be WORSE than that. So uh... how in the hell? Professor Valena Beety is here to break it down. She's done a ton of great work in this area, and has a new legal research paper, "Unfit": Gender, Ableism and Reproductive Wrongful Convictions by Valena Elizabeth Beety, which goes into this and muc…

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Courts Handed Trump Some Huge Losses This Week 1:01:06

4M ago1:01:06

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OA1162 - It’s all good news from our favorite branch of government today! We review recent judicial wins in everything from illegal deportations to tariffs to the Trump administration’s wars on international students, private law firms, and common-sense understandings of the expression “foreign policy.” Plus, Matt shares a footnote from the front l…

Everything Is Awful And Nothing Is Good Podcasts