Opening Arguments

Opening Arguments Media LLC
  • 4.3 (3.5 k)
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Opening Arguments

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. HACE 2 DÍAS

    Blake Lively v Justin Baldoni

    That's right, we interrupt your regularly scheduled rapid response Friday (sorry...) to give you the first episode in the new Gavel Gavel series!!! And, Gavel Gavel is now PUBLIC! The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni might feel like just "celebrity gossip," but there is so much here. It has fiercly divided the internet, with one group certain that Justin Baldoni is a sexual harsser, and the other group certain that Blake Lively and Ryan Reynolds are devious plotters who lied about an innocent man in order to take over a movie. How are we to know the truth? Well, fortunately there are going on thousands of pages of legal documents to comb through. The answers are there, for the few among us that are willing to actually read them. This series will do just that. 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!

    1 h y 14 min

  2. HACE 4 DÍAS

    ‘Run for Something’ Is Stronger Than Ever. We’re Going to Need It.

    OA 1130 and T3BE60 - We're so excited to kick off this episode with an interview with Amanda Litman, the co-founder and President of an amazing organization called Run for Something. We discuss who they are and how they support folks in state and local races in all 50 states, answer questions for those who may be listening and considering throwing their hat in the ring to run for political office, and get energized from Amanda's contagious hope for what can very much come in 2026 and 2028 if we put in the work now. After our chat with Amanda, Thomas meets up with Professor Heather Varanini to reveal the answer to T3BE59, and tackle the next question! Be sure to stick around for our T3BE winners and patron shoutouts! If you're feeling inspired and hopeful after today's show, consider making a donation to Run for Something to help elevate progressive leaders in state and local elections across the country! And if you're thinking you might Run for Something, check out their resources to help you along every step of the way! 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!

    1 h y 4 min

  3. HACE 6 DÍAS

    But Who Lawyers the Lawyers?

    OA1129 - From the Department of Justice to DOGE to elected officials around the US, attorneys who swore to uphold and defend the law are working overtime on the bureaucratic front lines of Donald Trump’s campaign to actively degrade and destroy it. But what if those lawyers knew that there could be real consequences for their ability to practice law in the future for illegal, bad faith, and/or unethical conduct? That question is at the heart of the 65 Project, a non-profit organized to introduce real consequences to the kind of lawyering which is greasing the skids in our long slide into authoritarianism. Managing Director Michael Teter joins to explain how the Project came together, how they decide whether misconduct merits a bar complaint, and how their mission has changed since the 2024 election. Donation page for the 65 Project Ethics complaints filed by the 65 Project 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!

    52 min

  4. 21 FEB

    We Have a King Now I Guess. Cool. Cool.

    Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get up to 3 bags free with any new Trade subscription at drinktrade.com/OA OA 1128 - First: an urgent question from a patron on Trump’s latest executive power grab. Matt explains the history of the “unitary executive theory” and the Federalist Society-backed movement to give the President more power than an actual king.  Then: Rutgers Law professor Katie Eyer studies, teaches, and litigates the law of anti-discrimination with a specialty in LGBTQ rights. She joins to discuss the current state of the law in the shadow of the Supreme Court’s forthcoming decision in U.S. v. Skrmetti and the wake of Donald Trump’s recent anti-trans executive orders. Which, if any, of these orders should we actually be concerned about? What does it mean that the fight for trans lives is now becoming a federal issue?  Can Trump really just instruct the federal government to ignore the Supreme Court’s extension of employment protections to LGBTQ employees in Bostock v. Clayton County? Professor Eyer takes up these questions and many more as we find reasons both for concern and for hope. “Ensuring Accountability for All Agencies,” (2/18/25) “Interrogating the Historical Basis for a Unitary Executive,” Daniel D. Birke, Stanford Law Review (Jan. 2021) Professor Katie Eyer (Rutgers Law bio) Anti-Transgender Constitutional Law, 77 Vanderbilt L. Rev. __ (2024) (forthcoming) Transgender Constitutional Law, 171 U. Pa. L. Rev. 1405 (2023) Bostock v. Clayton County, 590 US ___ (2020) 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!

    59 min

  5. 19 FEB

    The Thursday Night Massacre, Part 2

    Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get up to 3 bags free with any new Trade subscription at drinktrade.com/OA OA1127 + T3BE59! Our breakdown of the Thursday Night Massacre continues, with Liz Skeen. Then, it's T3BE time! 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 things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

    1 h y 42 min

  6. 18 FEB

    The Thursday Night Massacre

    Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get up to 3 bags free with any new Trade subscription at drinktrade.com/OA! OA1126 - Law'd Awful Boves We interrupt your regularly-scheduled LAM for readings and commentary on the documents at the heart of what has quickly become one of the most shocking events in the 155-year history of the U.S. Department of Justice: the openly corrupt dismissal of all charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams in exchange for his cooperation with Donald Trump’s immigration crackdown. Gavel Gavel contributor Liz Skeen joins to share her perspective as both a New York City lawyer and resident as we work through the dueling letters which have been publicly released so far from former US Attorney for SDNY Danielle Sassoon, Acting Deputy AG Emil Bove, and former Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten together with DOJ’s motion to dismiss. Former U.S. Attorney for SDNY Danielle Sassoon’s letter offering her resignation if DOJ continues to move forward with filing a motion to dismiss the federal criminal case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams (2/12/25) Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove’s response to Danielle Sassoon’s letter (2/13/25) Former Assistant US Attorney Hagan Scotten’s letter of resignation (2/14/25) DOJ’s Rule 48(a) motion seeking to dismiss all pending charges against Eric Adams (2/14/25) 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!

    57 min

  7. 14 FEB

    Drinking from the Firehose of Fascism

    OA1125 - (NOTE: Acting US Attorney for SDNY Danielle Sassoon’s resignation letter and DOJ acting deputy Emil Bove’s acceptance of that letter were published while we were recording this episode, and hours before the Trump administration was enjoined by a DC federal judge from suspending international aid. The news hose never stops!) For this Rapid Response Friday, we do our best to answer some of your questions about waves hands in the general direction of DC.  Why is the media reporting the illegal attempts to fire (among others) the head of the Office of Special Counsel and 17 investigators general like a normal federal HR issue? Did FEMA really just straight-up steal $80 million from New York City’s bank account? Is it now legal to bribe foreign companies abroad and act as an unregistered foreign agent at home? Why are we sending Venezuelan asylum seekers with no criminal records or gang affiliations to Guantanamo Bay just weeks after DHS Secretary Kristi Noem promised that it would only be housing the “worst of the worst”? And just where exactly is the “Gulf of America” anyway? These and other questions from the week’s news are answered within. Memo from AG Pam Bondi outlining DOJ enforcement priorities (2/5/25)  RI federal judge’s order finding Trump administration in violation of his previous injunction against the federal spending freeze (2/10/25) “Air Jordan Tattoo Prompts ICE to Send Venezuelan Migrant to Guantanamo Bay,” Pablo Manriquez, Migrant Insider (2/9/25) “First They Came For the Venezuelans,” Matt Cameron, DEPORTNATION (2/12/25) 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!

    51 min

  8. 12 FEB

    DoJ Memo Written In Crayon On Olive Garden Kids Menu Directs SDNY to Drop Eric Adams Case

    OA1124 and T3BE58 - Emil Bove drafted an insanely stupid and corrupt memo ordering SDNY to stop prosecuting the case against the insanely stupid and corrupt (and guilty) Mayor Eric Adams. This is absolutely a scandal and we have lost the ability to properly articulate how much of a scandal this is in light of all the other nonstop scandals. But, unlike mainstream media, AT LEAST WE'RE TRYING. We've brought in the big guns - Liz Skeen (and Matt joining on a Wednesday!) Then, it's the usual Thomas Takes the Bar Exam, with Heather Varanini! Question 58. 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 things to do! To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

    59 min
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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!

Información

  • Creador
    Opening Arguments Media LLC
  • Años de actividad
    2016 - 2025
  • Episodios
    1.1 k
  • Clasificación
    Explícito
  • Mostrar sitio web
    Opening Arguments

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