Best Josh Barro Podcasts (2025)

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One-Way Ticket to South Sudan 39:51

Play Pause

42m ago39:51

39:51

More shadow docket news on this week’s show: The Supreme Court’s conservative majority blocked an order from a federal judge in Boston that had imposed due process requirements when the Trump administration tries to deport migrants to countries other than their countries of origin. As is often the case with shadow docket orders, the judges in the m…

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Of And Concerning 42:38

7d ago42:38

42:38

It’s been a big week for some of the dumber litigation we follow around here. It’s not all dumb — we start with an update on California’s litigation over the deployment of the National Guard in Los Angeles, where the state has gotten relief at the trial court level but faces a tough road in the appeals courts. And we look at a case in Boston where …

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Newsom v. Trump 43:29

13d ago43:29

43:29

Donald Trump has activated the National Guard in California over the objections of Governor Gavin Newsom, and Newsom has sued, claiming the activation is illegal. Ken and Josh discuss Newsom's chances of prevailing against the president's broad authority to use the military for various purposes. Meanwhile, union leader David Huerta has been charged…

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The Lindell Defense 47:38

21d ago47:38

47:38

In the ongoing defamation trial of Mike Lindell, who accused Dominion Voting Systems employee Eric Coomer of personally conspiring to steal the 2020 election from Donald Trump, Lindell isn't bothering to argue that his claims were true. Instead he's saying he believed them at the time he said them. Is that a good defense? Plus: a federal appellate …

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My "I Didn't Make the Fed Unconstitutional" Shirt Is Raising Questions Already Answered By My Shirt 26:16

28d ago26:16

26:16

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week’s show is heavy on economic policy. Yay! We discuss a ruling from the U.S. Court of International Trade that many of Trump’s beloved tariffs are illegal and then, a strange shadow-docket order in U.S. v. Wilcox, a case about the National Labor Relations …

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Itty Bitty Diddy Committee 14:56

1M ago14:56

14:56

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show This week, we look at the indictment of Judge Hannah Dugan and the end of Ed Martin's reign at the US Attorney's office for the District of Columbia. For paying subscribers, we have an update on family business at the Sean Combs trial, where James Comey's daughter…

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Voir Diddy 47:19

2M ago47:19

47:19

This week on the show: Jury selection for Sean Combs' eight-week RICO trial, which is moving along very quickly for for a complex federal criminal case. Plus: a ruling in the Alien Enemies Act cases, a ruling that gets at the heart of the policy question: whether there is an “invasion” or “predatory incursion” that triggers presidential powers unde…

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Please Forget My Oopsie 28:39

2M ago28:39

28:39

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show We've got a lot for paid subscribers this week: Updates on several removal cases, a look at the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan, our first look at the litigation over Trump's tariffs, a cautionary tale about what happens when you accidentally file your internal delib…

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The Emerging Presumption of Irregularity 43:20

2M ago43:20

43:20

This week, Ken and I have a discussion of Harvard’s lawsuit fighting the Trump Administration’s effort to punish the university for failing to submit to what amounted to a demand to place the university in a kind of federal receivership. We look at the Supreme Court's middle-of-the-night, weekend rebuke to the Trump administration, ordering a halt …

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Please Explain What You Mean By 'Effectuate' 40:51

3M ago40:51

40:51

The Supreme Court is getting increasingly involved in the sprawling litigation over Donald Trump’s many aggressive executive orders. In J.G.G. vs. Trump — the case seeking to prevent removals under the Alien Enemies Act — the high court issued an emergency ruling saying detainees are entitled to due process but they must seek it through petitions f…

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Venue and Jurisdiction 26:09

3M ago26:09

26:09

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show There has been a cat-and-mouse game about venue in several of the cases brought by people protesting the Trump administration’s efforts to remove their visas and remove them from the country. For example: if you thought your client was in New York when you filed y…

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Please Don't Hit Me 47:06

3M ago47:06

47:06

Paul Weiss is the third law firm to come under attack from the Trump administration and the first one to cut a deal, agreeing to certain terms about its practices in exchange for Trump withdrawing an executive order that effectively aimed to bankrupt the firm. The firm had different things to say about the agreement than Trump did — and we discuss …

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Please Take Judicial Notice that Drake Is a Little Bitch 45:07

3M ago45:07

45:07

The latest, most brutal entry in the rap battle between Kendrick Lamar and Drake comes in the form of a motion to dismiss. Drake, you will remember, sued Lamar’s record label (which is also Drake’s record label) for defamation, alleging that Lamar’s hit single “Not Like Us” defames him by calling him a pedophile. But as UMG’s attorney Rollin Ransom…

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At Least Everyone Knows How to Pronounce It Now 30:22

3M ago30:22

30:22

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show For all subscribers: we have a discussion of President Trump’s jihad against Perkins Coie, and Long-Suffering Federal Judge Beryl Howell’s lack of patience for it. And we talk about the arrest of green card-holder Mahmoud Khalil at Columbia University — and the ef…

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Worthwhile Canadian Invective 48:32

4M ago48:32

48:32

Megan, Ben and I react to Donald Trump’s very long address to Congress, the topic he did not want to talk about for very long (inflation), the tariffs he seems to realize people are skeptical about, and his emerging feud with the Premier of Ontario. Megan also discusses what she hated most about the speech (it had to do with RFK Jr.) and Ben identi…

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Short Staffing 40:29

4M ago40:29

40:29

Acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia Ed Martin continues to make bizarre and political use of the DOJ for Trump’s political purposes — this time, he's trying to impanel a grand jury to hear evidence about heated political remarks Sen. Chuck Schumer made in 2020 about Supreme Court justices. It hasn't worked, and neither has his effort to…

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The New George Santos 39:50

4M ago39:50

39:50

The Trump administration continues to ice out the Associated Press, and now the AP is suing. We discuss how the administration changed its argument (not great, from a policy perspective, but it may actually put the White House on stronger legal ground). Ed Martin — the conservative activist serving as acting US Attorney for the District of Columbia…

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Reaping and Sowing 1:14:40

4M ago1:14:40

1:14:40

I'm back again with another talkative podcast for the political center with Mike Pesca, Ben Dreyfuss and Megan McArdle. This week we’re (unsurprisingly) focused on the ongoing actions of DOGE: the firings and freezes that Megan correctly identifies as less a cost-cutting effort than a strategy to punish and diminish institutions that Republicans se…

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Not Like U.S. Attorneys 38:13

4M ago38:13

38:13

Emil Bove's weaponization of the Justice Department is leading to resignations, including of a former protégé; Pam Bondi's bark is worse than her bite; Alex Spiro is a good lawyer. This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe…

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Everyone Is Fired 42:42

5M ago42:42

42:42

This week: more firings — dozens of DOJ line prosecutors who worked on January 6 cases. Trump’s flurry of executive actions has drawn a flurry of litigation, much of it related to the Administrative Procedure Act. States and grantees are suing to stop the OMB funding pause, and finding success so far. Unions representing government workers are suin…

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The Reign of Elon 1:10:58

5M ago1:10:58

1:10:58

We’re back again with another podcast with views from (and disagreements within) the center about Elon Musk, who has been the prime mover behind a lot of the news this week— efforts to cull the federal workforce, the (illegal?) pause on grants foreign and domestic, and the apparent shutdown of USAID. Plus: Trump’s sudden announcement (and sudden pa…

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Settlements and Separations 34:42

5M ago34:42

34:42

Just a week and a half back into the presidency, Donald Trump has seen to it that various federal prosecutors who were involved in prosecuting him have been fired. Can he do that? Also: the DOJ continues to drop cases against defendants who enjoy Trump’s political favor, so other defendants and convicts are trying to curry Trump's favor, including …

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A Centrist Look at Trump Week One 1:16:59

5M ago1:16:59

1:16:59

I’m back in your ears this week — testing out an idea. There’s a lot of political chat shows out there aimed at slices of the ideological spectrum, but the middle is underserved. Shouldn’t we have a show to digest the news, hash out some civil disagreements, talk a little bit about how the right and left are screwing things up, and also have a litt…

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Thank You For Suing, Drake 21:22

5M ago21:22

21:22

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show It's the first Serious Trouble of the new Trump administration. We start with a discussion of pardons: the ones Joe Biden gave on his way out of office and the ones Donald Trump gave on his way in. For premium subscribers: the Jack Smith reports (the one about the…

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Unconditional Discharge 30:19

5M ago30:19

30:19

The Supreme Court declined to save Donald Trump from being sentenced in his New York criminal case, but the justices said that decision was in part because there wasn’t much to save him from: Judge Juan Merchan had indicated that he would sentence Trump to an unconditional discharge, i.e. no punishment. In other Trump-criminal-case-wind-down news, …

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I Am Not In Serious Trouble 39:43

6M ago39:43

39:43

It’s already a busy 2025 for some of our favorite characters. On this episode: Rudy Giuliani has been held in contempt in proceedings in Judge Lewis Liman’s courtroom, where he has stalled the liquidation of his assets for the benefit of two women he defamed. Donald Trump gets an "unconditional discharge" penalty from Judge Juan Merchan and is tryi…

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Petite Policy 27:45

6M ago27:45

27:45

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Welcome to the first Serious Trouble episode of 2025! For all subscribers this week, Ken and Josh discuss Luigi Mangione’s indictments in both Pennsylvania and New York, and he’s also the subject of a federal criminal complaint. Both New York and the Feds look eag…

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An Expensive Settlement 48:35

6M ago48:35

48:35

This is our last episode of 2024! We'll be back right after the new year to discuss new messes. Today, we look at the substantial settlement that Disney-owned ABC has agreed to pay over George Stephanopoulos’s repeated assertions that Donald Trump had been found “liable for rape” by a jury or juries. And Trump sues CBS, Ann Selzer and the Des Moine…

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Six-Pack Abs Can't Save You Now, Luigi 41:17

7M ago41:17

41:17

People get really weird when a murder suspect is hot, huh? Luigi Mangione needs to be extradited to New York, and he’s resisting that — we discuss why it can make sense for a defendant to delay the inevitable. Also in New York, Daniel Penny has been acquitted of criminally negligent homicide in the killing of Jordan Neely. Juries can get weird. Plu…

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Pardon Me For All That I Have Done 24:04

7M ago24:04

24:04

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Joe Biden has committed the ultimate act of snowplow parenting: a presidential pardon for his son, and not just for the specific acts he faced charges over, but for anything he did between 2014 and five days ago. This week, Ken and I discuss exactly how unusual th…

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Diss Isn't RICO 45:56

7M ago45:56

45:56

Did you know Ken is a huge Kendrick Lamar fan? Well, not really. But he is psyched that Lamar and Drake have produced some truly hilarious litigation to discuss. Their beef goes back years, and they have traded diss tracks — in Kendrick's latest, he calls Drake a “certified pedophile” who’s “tryna strike a chord and it’s probably A Minor.” Is that …

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Matt Gaetz Pulls Out 16:42

7M ago16:42

16:42

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Wouldn’t you know we recorded this show Thursday at 11am Eastern, just in time for Matt Gaetz to withdraw his candidacy for Attorney General a bit after noon? Don’t worry — we went back and recorded a new beginning of the episode, tossing out the now moot (probabl…

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The Aftermath 28:46

8M ago28:46

28:46

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Last week’s presidential election, which has made Donald Trump once again the president-elect, will obviously have profound effects on the various criminal cases against him. On this show, we cover the Department of Justice winding down the two federal prosecution…

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Young Thug Pleads Out 40:39

8M ago40:39

40:39

For your Election Day listening pleasure, we have an episode for you covering the news that has arisen in the lead-up to the election: * Updates on Eric Adams, Arizona Attorney General Kris Mayes says her office is looking into whether Donald Trump illegally threatened Liz Cheney at a rally in Arizona. * Young Thug, the Atlanta rapper who has stood…

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Michael Avenatti Is Still a Bad Lawyer 23:37

8M ago23:37

23:37

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show For all listeners, we have updates this week on Michael Avenatti, Aileen Cannon, Laura Loomer and Bill Maher. Our valued paying subscribers (thank you for your support!) will also hear about: the Central Park Five lawsuit against Donald Trump, Rudy Giuliani being …

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Twelve Busybody Idiots 42:20

8M ago42:20

42:20

SpaceX is suing the California Coastal Commission for objecting to a plan to increase the frequency of SpaceX launches from Vandenberg Space Force Base. The commissioners did raise some concerns that actually relate to the Pacific coastline, but they also mouthed off about how they dislike SpaceX CEO Elon Musk’s general political activities. And Ju…

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XL Brief 19:14

9M ago19:14

19:14

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show The long memo Jack Smith promised is here: a 185-page document laying out evidence he’d like to present in his January 6-related case against Donald Trump. The memo has to be so long because the Supreme Court decision on presidential immunity was so complex and va…

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To Be On Safe Side, Please Delete All Messages You Send Me 38:20

9M ago38:20

38:20

Federal prosecutors allege that New York mayor Eric Adams accepted tens of thousands of dollars of free business-class upgrade on Turkish Airlines as part of a broader scheme to receive illegal support from foreign nationals (including concealed political donations from Turks) in exchange for official favors, including from the Fire Department of N…

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Superseding Indictment 23:40

9M ago23:40

23:40

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Ryan Wesley Routh has been charged with attempting to assassinate a major presidential candidate. Ken and Josh discuss how proving Routh’s intent to kill the former president might be challenging (had he not left a note expressing his intent), and we talk about wh…

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RICO Freak-Off (feat. Sean 'Puffy' Combs) 33:41

9M ago33:41

33:41

We were kind of expecting Sean Combs to get indicted sooner or later, but we weren’t expecting the indictment to be for RICO. Federal prosecutors allege that Combs, as the leader of the “Combs Enterprise,” led a criminal organization for purposes including coercing female victims to have sex with male prostitutes at drug-fueled orgies known as “fre…

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Reversible Error 23:49

10M ago23:49

23:49

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Josh and Ken discuss developments in the Data Colada-Francesca Gino-Harvard case, Sarah Palin's defamation case against the New York Times (for free subscribers), and (for paying subscribers) the different philosophies the judges have about how the presidential el…

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One Weird Trick 41:34

10M ago41:34

41:34

You probably saw the moronic TikTok trend in which check fraud became trendy and was rebranded as a “glitch” that allowed you to get large amounts of money out of any Chase ATM, even if you had little cash in your account. It’s federally illegal, it’s illegal in every state, and “I saw it on TikTok” isn’t a defense. Still, that doesn’t necessarily …

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Take Two 25:20

10M ago25:20

25:20

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Jack Smith is attempting to salvage his two federal prosecutions of Donald Trump with a superseding indictment that removes evidence about Trump’s presidential acts from the document backing his charges over Trump’s effort to steal the 2020 election. The new indic…

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Oh, You! 41:06

10M ago41:06

41:06

George Santos has pleaded guilty and will likely be sentenced next February to several years in federal prison. Santos also lost his copyright claim against Disney over his Cameo videos that were broadcast on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Disney had less luck trying to argue that a customer whose wife died of an allergic reaction would have to arbitrate any w…

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Hacks 47:12

11M ago47:12

47:12

Elon Musk has produced some new legal issues for us this week. He has sued a coalition of advertisers for colluding to boycott the Twitter platform, saying this is an antitrust violation, and Musk is also the subject, along with Donald Trump, of a labor law complaint before the National Labor Relations Board, filed by the United Auto Workers. Plus:…

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Hot Hot Scheduling Action 47:27

11M ago47:27

47:27

As we’ve discussed, the Supreme Court threw a major wrench into the various prosecutions of Donald Trump with their ruling on presidential immunity. The RICO prosecution in Atlanta was already so hopelessly fucked that they probably won’t need to think about it for a couple of years, and the documents case in Florida is, for now, dismissed. But in …

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Defamation Claims 36:02

11M ago36:02

36:02

On this week's episode, Josh and Ken delve into two defamation cases where Trump has survived motions to dismiss, and the close legal questions that allowed those cases to proceed. They also look at a civil lawsuit where Hunter Biden is making headway, and at Hunter's effort to rely on Aileen Cannon's favorable ruling toward Donald Trump to fight h…

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Bad Week for Prosecutors 31:45

12M ago31:45

31:45

Well, it’s been a more eventful week than usual. President Trump was shot in the ear at a rally — a shocking security failure by the Secret Service, and now the subject of an FBI investigation; there is much to look at even though there is no shooter to pursue. Ken and Josh discuss why “stochastic terrorism” isn't a useful concept when talking abou…

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He'll Be An Old Thug By The Time This Trial Is Over 31:23

12M ago31:23

31:23

We’ve had some time to digest the Supreme Court decision on immunity, so this week Ken and I talked through the various criminal proceedings involving Donald Trump to discuss how they’ll be impacted. The short answer is: a lot. Also in this episode: Missouri has sued New York, saying the Manhattan DA’s prosecution and associated gag order have depr…

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Donald Trump Wins The Immunity Idol 20:52

12M ago20:52

20:52

This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show Remember when most people thought that the Supreme Court would find a way to help Donald Trump without making crazy new law? Well. About that. Ken explains why the Supreme Court’s decision on Donald Trump's appeal in the January 6 prosecution is the worst of all p…