Opening Arguments

Opening Arguments Media LLC
  • 4.3 (3.6K)
  • POLITICS
  • UPDATED SEMIWEEKLY

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!

  1. 12H AGO

    Um... Epstein might not have killed himself...

    OA1233 - We are not conspiracy theorist type people. But... yeah man I don't know. But also, so much more in these files to talk about. If you know anything about the federal government’s 2007 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein you know that it was bad. But newly-released documents from the Epstein files show that it was actually much worse than that! Thanks to a newly-released legal memo, a draft indictment, and internal emails between prosecutors we now have a much better understanding of the disagreements within US Attorney for the District of Southern Florida Alex Acosta’s office as they finalized the terms of a much-too-friendly agreement between the US government and a billionaire pedophile which a federal appeals court would later call “a national disgrace.” Matt has the receipts for this special emergency episode. You can also watch this episode on YouTube! Steve Bannon’s Interview with Jeffrey Epstein (directly downloaded from the DOJ) Investigation into the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida’s Resolution of Its 2006–2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation (Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, 2020) Incident Report (Palm Beach Police Department, 2006)  Epstein indictment draft (United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, 2007) Appendix in The People of the State of New York v. Jeffrey E. Epstein (2013) Opinion - Alex Acosta acted with professionalism and integrity in handling the Jeffrey Epstein case (Miami Herald, 2/16/2019)  Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    1h 45m

  2. 2D AGO · BONUS

    So... I guess DoJ needs to arrest itself for releasing CSAM in the latest Epstein files?

    E21 - CONTENT WARNING / TRIGGER WARNING: references to child sex abuse, child  sex abuse  materials, survivor accounts Watch this episode on YouTube! The Epstein Files have been released--or have they? Days after the Department of Justice’s delayed and poorly-redacted release of millions of new documents connected with the world’s most infamous sex trafficker, we sit down for a first look at what is (and isn’t) in here. We begin with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s attempt to fight for the right to party with Jeffrey Epstein before evaluating the DOJ’s efforts to comply with its Congressional mandate to release the files more than a month after they were supposed to. We also look at a heartbreaking journal from an anonymous survivor to  try to understand before Matt pulls out some selections from keyword searches which implicate Elon Musk, mega-financier Leon Black, magician David Copperfield,  sitting Secretary of the Treasury Howard Lutnick, former Obama administration lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, and many more.  Also: what to make about the wilder allegations you may have heard involving Donald Trump, and what it means to “be in the Epstein files” at all. NEXT TIME: the most disgusting plea deal in American history somehow gets… worse?  Epstein Files Transparency Act, PL 119-38 (11/19/2025) Epstein Library search page, DOJ.gov (CW/TW) Anonymous survivor’s  journal, removed from DOJ Epstein Library but backed up to Archive.org on 2/1/26 (CW/TW)

    1h 27m

  3. 4D AGO

    Gavel Gavel - Liz Skeen on Luigi Mangione's Case WITH 1/30 RULINGS UPDATE

    OA1232 - Hey OA-ers, this episode was a Gavel Gavel bonus, but we wanted to be sure everyone was updated on what's going on with the Luigi Mangione trials. New York public defender Liz Skeen is here to break it all down! And since the judge made some rulings on 1/30, I've got an update for ya! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    57 min

  4. JAN 30

    All of a Sudden SCOTUS Cares About the Real World Effects of Their Decisions

    OA1231 - The DHS funding battle is important, but really can't accomplish what you might hope it can. When it comes to the Fed, ALL OF A SUDDEN the court cares about the real world effects of their decisions. And a figure skating related footnote!

    58 min

  5. JAN 28

    The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult, Part 2

    Part 2 of 2. OA 1230 - Seeing all the obstacles to holding government officials accountable, Congress created Section 1983, allowing citizens to sue for money damages for violations of their civil rights. We cover how that works, the one weird trick it uses to get around state sovereign immunity, and how that accidentally created the infamous qualified immunity doctrine that has made police seemingly unaccountable. We also discuss proposed reforms that might fix issues of qualified and sovereign immunity. 42 U.S.C § 1983 Pierson v Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967) Graham v Conner, 490 U.S. 386 (1989) Pearson v Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009) Kisela v Hughes, 584 U.S. 100 (2018) Barnes v Felix, 605 U.S. 73 (2025) Barnes v Felix, 138 Harvard L. Rev. 291 (2025). Julia Yoo, The Problem with Policing in the United States, ADVOCATE (Feb. 2021). David J. Ignall, Making Sense of Qualified Immunity: Summary Judgment and Issues for the Trier of Fact, 30 Cal. W. L. Rev. 201 (1994). (NOTE: Good review for basics, but note the date!) Bivens v. Six Unknown-Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971) Egbert v Boule, 596 U.S. 482 (2022) S. 122 Qualified Immunity Act of 2025 119th Cong. (2025) S. 3186 Constitutional Accountability Act 119th Congr. (2025) H.R. 6091 Bivens Act of 2025 119th Congr. (2025) H.R. 4944 Ending Qualified Immunity for ICE Agents Act 119th Congr. (2025) Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026 (no bill number assigned yet) Gelinas, S. (2026, January 18). Markey, Pressley renew push to end qualified immunity after ICE shooting death. Athol Daily News. Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    1h 11m

  6. JAN 26

    The Complicated Web of Immunities That Makes Accountability So Difficult

    Part 1 of 2. OA 1229 - What happens when a government worker does you wrong? How is it different to prosecute and sue them? When does qualified immunity come in to play? We discuss the steps involved in prosecuting and suing someone for a simple battery, and how that differs for a regular person versus a state actor. We cover how and when defenses can be raised, federal and state sovereign immunity, suing in official versus personal capacity, the difference between absolute and qualified immunities, and the ways this will apply differently to criminal prosecution versus civil litigation. Siegell v Herricks Union Free School District, 7 AD3d 607 [2d Dept 2004] (Elements of civil battery in NY) N.Y. Penal Law § 120 (NY criminal “battery”) Fla. Stat. § 776.032 (Florida self-defense as an affirmative defense and immunity) Ohio Rev. Code § 2901.05 (Ohio self-defense as a standard defense) N.Y. Penal Law § 35 (NY justification defenses) Roger Fairfax, The Grand Jury’s Role in the Prosecution of Unjustified Police Killings - Challenges and Solutions, 52 Harvard Civil Rights-Civil Liberties Law Review 397 (2017). Michael Gentithes, Harvesting the Grand Jury’s “Lay Expertise” in Officer-Involved Shootings, U. Ill. L. Rev. 989 (2025). In re Neagle, 135 U.S. 1 (1890) Gregory C. Sisk, A Primer on the Doctrine of Federal Sovereign Immunity, 439 Okla. L. Rev. 58 (2005). 28 U.S.C. § 2680(h) Miles McCann, State Sovereign Immunity, National Association of Attorneys General (Nov. 11, 2017) State Sovereign Immunity - Generally, Interstate Commission for Juveniles, https://www.juvenilecompact.org/bench-book/chapter-6-1 Ex Parte Young, 209 U.S. 123 (1908) Scheuer v. Rhodes, 416 U.S. 232 (1974) Moor v. County of Alameda, 411 U.S. 693 (1973) O’Shea v Littleton, 414 U.S. 488 (1974) Judicial Immunity at the (Second) Founding: A New Perspective on § 1983, 136 Harvard L. Rev. 1456 (2023). Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

    1h 3m

  7. JAN 23

    Greenland Is Ice and ICE Is Nazis

    OA1228 - On this week's Rapid Response Friday: we take on all of your legal questions about this whole Greenland thing--including how a 1916 diplomatic treaty with Denmark also enabled some of Jeffrey Epstein’s worst crimes. Also discussed: what it took to finally force Lindsay Halligan to stop telling everyone that she was the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia, and how a Minnesota judge designed her unique order to protect Minneapolis protesters and observers from ICE’s lawless violence. Finally, in today’s footnote: is it enough that McDonald’s can promise that their most elusive sandwich is “100% pork”? We dig into a recent lawsuit over the McRib to see if there is any meat on the bone. The US-Denmark Defense of Greenland Agreement (1951) “How Congress Can Preserve NATO and Greenland: Using 22 USC 1928f to Protect the Peace,” Alberto J. Mora,  Just Security (1/16/2026) Judge Novak’s order officially striking Lindsay Halligan’s appearance from the record and requiring that she stop “masquerading” as the U.S. Attorney for the Eastern District of Virginia (1/20/2026) Tincher v. Noem docket Judge Menendez’s preliminary injunction in Tincher v. Noem (1/16/2026) Complaint in Lynch et al v. McDonald’s, Eastern District of Illinois (12/25/2025) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    46 min

  8. JAN 21

    Silky Shah has been fighting ICE for its entire existence

    E20 - Detention Watch Network executive director Silky Shah has been organizing against ICE on the ground to fight throughout the agency’s entire 23-year existence. We are excited to welcome her and her unique perspective to Opening Arguments to discuss both the urgency and the hope of our current moment, the challenges faced by organizers and advocates, what lawyers can (and can’t) do in the face of a lawless system, and imagining life after ICE. You can also watch this episode on YouTube! Unbuild Walls: Why Immigrant Justice Needs Abolition, Silky Shah (2024)  “Congress Has Made ICE the Largest Law Enforcement Agency In The Country,” Silky Shah, Truthout (1/20/2025) Detention Watch Network website Donate directly to support Detention Watch Network Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

    1h 3m
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Hosts & Guests

4.3
out of 5
3,559 Ratings

About

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!

Information

  • Creator
    Opening Arguments Media LLC
  • Years Active
    2016 - 2026
  • Episodes
    1.2K
  • Rating
    Explicit
  • Show Website
    Opening Arguments

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