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945 episodes
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Opening Arguments Opening Arguments Media LLC
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Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas!
The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!
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Did Biden Do a Good Immigration Thing?
OA1043
This week: good immigration news! The Biden administration announced on June 17th that it will be moving forward with a plan to offer a pathway to citizenship for immigrants married to U.S. citizens who have been in the country for more than 10 years through a special “parole-in-place” program. Why does current U.S. immigration law make it so difficult--and sometimes impossible--for so many people who are in loving long-term relationships with U.S. citizens to “do it the right way?” Matt breaks down the legal and historical context of the most important executive action on immigration policy since Barack Obama created the DACA program in 2012. We then speak with Emily, a U.S. citizen whose husband stands to directly benefit from this policy, for a firsthand account of the realities of living in immigration limbo.
Official White House announcement of the new parole-in-place program (June 17, 2024)
Extreme Hardship Considerations and Factors (USCIS Field Manual)
If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law! -
OA Bar Prep with Heather! T3BE29
The answer for T3BE28 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!
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A Critical Race Theory Analysis of Critical Race Theory Bans
OA1042
Several years ago, Christopher Rufo created a bogeyman that rallied the Right across the United States to seek bans in educational environments of "divisive concepts" such as Critical Race Theory. Since the entire effort was obviously... racist, the CRT bans themselves are just perfect for a CRT analysis, and Caroline Mala Corbin is here to lead us in a classic OA Deep Dive!
Caroline is a law professor at the University of Miami, focusing on the First Amendment's speech and religion clauses, reproductive justice, and the principle of equality that should run through it all. Be sure to check out the full article that was published recently in the UC Irvine Law Review!
If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!
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Harvey Weinstein's NY Conviction Was Overturned. So Who Effed Up?
OA1041
NY defense attorney Liz Skeen is here to break this decision down. Did the Court mess it up? Or is something more complicated and unexpected happening? The answer might surprise you.
Content note/trigger warning. For exactly what you'd think.
If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law! -
OA Bar Prep with Heather! T3BE28
The answer for T3BE27 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! -
Hunter Biden's Trial Is Everything MAGA Thinks The Trump Trial Was
OA1040
We begin in Florida with yet more of Judge Aileen Cannon's efforts to delay Donald Trump's federal case, including a demand for Jack Smith to be nicer to Trump's lawyers and her decision to allow non-parties to join the fun and make arguments in an upcoming hearing about whether Smith was properly appointed to prosecute Trump at all.
Hunter Biden's federal trial began this week in Delaware on charges relating to his purchase and possession of a gun which he owned for 11 days in 2018. Matt breaks down the history of this investigation, the charges, and how this case ended up going to trial before a quick time jump in which we return to review what we know one week into these proceedings. How does this trial compare to the one which concluded a week earlier with the conviction of a former President Donald Trump--and would these charges ever have been brought against someone whose last name wasn’t Biden?
11th Circuit order instructing the clerk's office to stop taking complaints about Judge Cannon
Mar-A-Lago search warrant
Jack Smith's Motion for Modification of Conditions of Release
Quick Facts on 18 U.S.C. § 922(g) Firearms Offenses (US Sentencing Commission)
Delaware indictment of Robert Hunter Biden (gun charges)
“How to Think About the Hunter Biden “Laptop,” Marcy Wheeler (6/6/2024)
If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!