Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

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 in our lifetimes isn’t fit for the job? We take dark-money sugar baby Josh Hammer up on the joke to compare his life achievements to someone who began her SCOTUS career with four times as much courtroom experience as John Roberts, Elena Kagan, Clarence Thomas, and Amy Coney Barrett combined--before moving on to trying to even understand what Federalist weirdo Shawn Fleetwood thinks he is saying.

1. “Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson is an Insult to the Supreme Court,” Josh Hammer, Newsweek (7/1/2025)

2. “KBJ Could Learn a Few Lessons in ‘Professionalism’ From Justice Barrett,” Shawn Fleetwood, The Federalist (8/20/2025)

3. Ketanji Brown Jackson’s career timeline from the Southern Poverty Law Center (4/7/22)

Watch on YouTube!

Trump is keeping the courts active; this week saw a ruling against many of the widespread tarrifs he has sought to impose, and the Fifth Circuit upheld his dismissal of an NLRB member.  Meanwhile, a Fed governor was dismissed, supposedly for cause.  And the social media announcements of supposedly impending executive orders imposing voting requirements such as voter ID kept coming.  And there’s more.  We try to keep it all straight for you, identify the constitutional issues, and look at what the Courts might do.  Meanwhile, your fantastic response to the impending Born Equal release is noted, appreciated, and we respond to it.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

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 greatest moments of  justice in American legal history, but did you know that it was also an equally important moment for social science? Matt tees up the legal and historical context and Dr. Jenessa Seymour, Esq. brings her unique background as both a lawyer and a PhD in neuroscience to provide a singular perspective on the science behind Brown and what it has meant for both law and science in the 71 years since then.

1. Brown v. Board of Education of Topeka (1954)

2. Brown v. Board of Education: A Civil Rights Milestone and Its Troubled Legacy (Pivotal Moments in American History), James T. Patterson (2001)

In this episode of Amicus, Dahlia Lithwick discusses the recent deployment of the National Guard in Washington D.C. and its implications for checks and balances in the U.S. legal system. She is joined by Elizabeth “Liza” Goitein from the non-partisan Brennan Center’s Liberty and National Security Program, a leading expert on all things Posse Comitatus, the Insurrection Act, and the Pandora’s box of domestic military deployment in policing, and the legal frameworks governing it all. Together they explore the dangers of the administration’s current actions in the nation’s capital, and whether the president can act on his threats to expand them to cities that didn’t vote for him around the country. 

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We're joined by Michigan law professor Richard Primus to talk about his new book, "The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumerated and Federal Power." Richard describes one of the the most widespread beliefs about constitutional law -- that the federal government is one of limited, enumerated powers -- and why he thinks it is actually wrong. Along the way, we discuss methods of constitutional interpretation, the relationship between the official story of the law and legal practice, and wrestle with the surprisingly hard question of how many congressional powers are listed in the Constitution.

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-deport this Central American man whom they already fully admit was deported to hell by mistake to… Uganda? Matt explains. Then: Did a federal judge really just shutter Florida’s “Alligator Alcatraz”? We consider the history of this surprisingly significant swampland and why an environmental challenge to its existence was so much easier to win than one based in due process, while also celebrating a major win for native rights.

Another major presidential first this week: for the first time in US history, the President has claimed the authority to fire a member of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors. Could this one decision really have global economic consequences? How much does it matter that Trump has done literally the one thing that the Supreme Court has ever told him *not* to do? We review some basics to try to understand the full magnitude of what this all means for our current moment before moving on to today’s footnote: an outstanding decision from a Virginia federal judge which should stand as a model for how the judiciary can stand up to American fascism.

1. Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s Motion to Dismiss Based on Vindictive and Selective Prosecution

2. Abrego Garcia habeas docket

3. SCOTUS shadow docket order in Trump v. Wilcox (5/22/2025)

4. Judge Williams’s order closing “Alligator Alcatraz” (8/21/2025)

5. Order granting motion to dismiss in U.S. v. Russell (8/26/2025)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

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!

1. Complete enhanced audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's proffer session with DOJ deputy Todd Blanche on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version)

2. Maxwell transcripts and source audio from DOJ

3. US v Maxwell indictment

Gerrymandering, borders, the use of the military on US soil, and even the status of the District of Columbia.  All these relate to geography, and the "more perfect union" our founders sought.  The Constitution therefore speaks to all these issues, and originalism must be considered.  We look at what the Constitution has to say, why it says these things, and what the underlying principles tell us.  This has obvious implications for today's questions, but without clarity on the historical background, confusion may reign, which aids those who might be in the wrong.  It's timely in another way, because the forthcoming Born Equal addresses many of these geographic questions - because Americans in the 19th Century, including Lincoln most prominently, thought about them prominently.  Professor Amar brings it together for you.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

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 “proffer session” with current top DOJ deputy (and former Trump defense attorney) Todd Blanche. OA NYC bureau chief Liz Skeen joins to help us understand just how completely unprecedented everything about this interview and its public release have been, and we discuss why DOJ's flagrantly stupid efforts to minimize the President's well-known close ties with the most notorious sex trafficker in modern US history portends a new level of American authoritarianism.

Watch the video here!

1. Complete enhanced audio of Ghislaine Maxwell's proffer session with DOJ deputy Todd Blanche on July 24-25, 2025 (Thomas's Version)

2. Maxwell transcripts and source audio from DOJ

3. US v Maxwell indictment

The gang is back together as Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down this week’s mountain of legal news, including the Court’s greenlighting of Trump’s anti-DEI National Institutes of Health cuts, the president’s war on mail-in ballots, and a batshit missive from Solicitor General John Sauer. Then, Leah speaks with candidate for Michigan attorney general Eli Savit about the latest threat to marriage equality. Finally, Kate chats with Penn Law professor Serena Mayeri about her book, Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law.

Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:

• Leah: One First, Steve Vladeck; The Pennyroyal Green Series, Julie Anne Long; Why the Supreme Court Is Not to Be Trusted, Laurie L. Levenson (LARB)
• Kate: Would You Trust This Man With Your Elections? By Richard Hasen (NYT); Kim Lane Scheppele’s Chautauqua lecture;
• Melissa: Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid; Commonwealth, Ann Patchett; The Gilded Age (HBO)
• Eli: Jealous Type, Doja Cat

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

• 10/4 – Chicago

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Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

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