Opening Arguments - OA767: Porn – Won’t Someone PLEASE Think of the Children?? (feat. Ari Cohn)

Today, Liz and Andrew welcome back First Amendment expert Ari Cohn to break down Texas HB 1181, an anti-porn bill that will require websites to verify your age and also append a bunch of lies in the form of made-up "disclaimers" about the supposed harms of pornography.

We also break down the latest in the Trump documents case and make fun of Texas Gov. Greg Abbott for more than just the porn thing.  You won't want to miss it!

NotesTexas HB 1181 https://capitol.texas.gov/BillLookup/History.aspx?LegSess=88R&Bill=HB1181

-Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law

-Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs

-Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/

-For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki

-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com

Strict Scrutiny - A Fear of Too Much Justice

Leah and Kate delve in to the latest chapter of Supreme Court justices going on secret fancy vacations with billionaires, this time starring Samuel Alito. And then it's opinion-palooza, recapping the opinions we got last week while we wait with bated breath for the horrors the last week of the term will bring.

Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events.

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

  • 6/12 – NYC
  • 10/4 – Chicago

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

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

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

Strict Scrutiny - BONUS: This Land on the Indian Child Welfare Act

Last week the Supreme Court made an historic ruling upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act. Rebecca Nagle, host of Crooked Media’s This Land podcast, takes us inside the courtroom in this special bonus episode to break down the decision, how we got here, and what it all means.

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

  • 6/12 – NYC
  • 10/4 – Chicago

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

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

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Supreme Court Politics One Year On From Dobbs

This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions, and the other legal happenings in June. We consider this coverage so essential that we’re taking down the paywall for all of it. If you would like to help us continue to cover the courts aggressively, please consider joining Slate Plus. And sign up for the pop-up newsletter to see the latest every week in your inbox.


On this one year anniversary of Dobbs, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Anat Shenker Osorio to talk about how the political class still hasn’t found a way to communicate or act toward the court that delivered this suffering. 

Next, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern to talk about two important decisions that came down this week, one concerning the rights of criminal defendants and another about the U.S. President’s right to set immigration policy


In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia and Mark tackle more questions from the Slate Plus listener mail bag about the tension between establishment clause and equal protection claims in suits brought to fight back against Dobbs on religious grounds, and how to impeach terrible awful no-good judges.


Sign up for Slate Plus now to listen and support our show.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Opening Arguments - OA765: Kathy Griffin SLAPPs Back At Being Sued in Faraway Places (feat. Ari Cohn)

Liz and Andrew welcome First Amendment lawyer Ari Cohn to help break down an important lawsuit involving Kathy Griffin, personal jurisdiction, and frivolous SLAPP lawsuits.

NOTESJohnson v. Griffin Docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/63264613/johnson-v-griffin/

Johnson v. Griffin Complaint https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.90242/gov.uscourts.tnmd.90242.1.0.pdf

Trial Court Opinion https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.tnmd.90242/gov.uscourts.tnmd.90242.32.0.pdf

TechFreedom writeup https://techfreedom.org/protect-internet-users-from-slapps-techfreedom-tells-sixth-circuit/

-Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law

-Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs

-Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/

-For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki

-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com

Opening Arguments - OA 764: ProPublica Reveals Sam Alito Is Exactly As Corrupt As You Thought He Was

Liz and Andrew break down the bombshell ProPublica article about Samuel Alito's corruption, and along the way remind you of the right wing's complicity in the false narrative that abortion violence is a "both sides" issue. It isn't.

Notes OA 749 https://openargs.com/oa749-clarence-thomas-grifts-kari-lake-sinks-stewart-rhodes-comes-to-the-end/

OA 739 https://openargs.com/oa739-5-million-says-mike-lindell-is-full-of-stuffing/

ProPublica, “Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court,” https://www.propublica.org/article/samuel-alito-luxury-fishing-trip-paul-singer-scotus-supreme-court

ProPublica on Thomas/Crow  https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-scotus-undisclosed-luxury-travel-gifts-crow

DOJ, Recent Cases on Violence Against Reproductive Health Care Providers https://www.justice.gov/crt/recent-cases-violence-against-reproductive-health-care-providers

DOJ, Anti-Abortion Violence Movement Increases (1996) https://www.ojp.gov/ncjrs/virtual-library/abstracts/anti-abortion-violence-movement-increases

Ruth Sent Us www.ruthsent.us

Jane’s Revenge Superseding Indictment https://www.justice.gov/d9/press-releases/attachments/2023/03/29/unsealed_superseding_indictment_0.pdf

5 U.S.C. § 13104 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/5/13104

-Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law

-Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs

-Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/

-For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki

-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Samuel Alito and The Billionaire

This episode is a part of Opinionpalooza. Slate’s coverage of Supreme Court decisions. Thank you to our Slate Plus members for making this episode available to all listeners. The full version of this episode is now exclusively available to our Slate Plus members. If you want to have access to bonus content like this, go to slate.com/amicusplus to become a member.

Amicus is coming at you again with an emergency episode. Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Mark Joseph Stern to process ProPublica’s latest reporting on a growing theme of conservative supreme court justices with a penchant for luxury travel at the expense of billionaires (who also happen to be close friends with Leonard Leo of the Federalist Society). Dahlia and Mark also examine Justice Samuel Alito’s eye-popping pre-buttal of ProPublica’s piece about his Alaskan fishing trip with billionaire GOP donor Paul Singer, which Justice Alito chose to publish in the opinion pages of the Wall Street Journal. 

Dahlia’s book Lady Justice: Women, the Law and the Battle to Save America, is also available as an audiobook, and Amicus listeners can get a 25 percent discount by entering the code “AMICUS” at checkout.

Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Amarica's Constitution - Whose Welfare?

The Supreme Court upheld various provisions of the controversial Indian Child Welfare Act last week.  The facts of Haaland v. Brackeen, and some provisions of the Act, raise dramatic questions about questions of best interests of children, of the nature of tribal entities, and of who speaks for whom.  The opinion itself largely sidesteps many of these questions and instead dives into areas which Professor Amar has long offered his expertise - going back nearly 20 years or more.  No wonder, then, that he is cited twice in this case, and now our listeners have the chance to learn from the acknowledged expert on these matters.

Opening Arguments - OA763: Did Merrick Garland Treat Donald Trump With Kid Gloves? Does It Matter?

Liz and Andrew lead off with the blockbuster Washington Post story that the FBI and DOJ had to be browbeaten into investigating Donald Trump. After that, the duo tackle a bunch of stories surrounding the Trump indictments, including developments in both the Florida and New York cases, Rudy Giuliani being a jerk, and much, much more.

In the Patreon bonus, Andrew and Liz duo answer one of your burning questions: how exactly is the Trump documents case going to go to trial if only a handful of people can see the documents he's charged with having willfully retained? The answer is the Classified Information Procedures Act, and we start to break it down for you!

Notes FBI resisted opening probe into Trump’s role in Jan. 6 for more than a year https://www.washingtonpost.com/investigations/2023/06/19/fbi-resisted-opening-probe-into-trumps-role-jan-6-more-than-year/

Freeman/Moss Motion to Compel https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720.65.0.pdf

Giuliani May 30 Motion for Reconsideration https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720.61.0.pdf

Freeman/Moss Opposition https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720/gov.uscourts.dcd.238720.64.0.pdf

Trump Indictment https://www.justice.gov/storage/US_v_Trump-Nauta_23-80101.pdf

CIPA, 18 U.S.C. Section 96-456 https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18a/compiledact-96-456

-Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law

-Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs

-Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/

-For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki, which now has its own Twitter feed!  @oawiki

-And finally, remember that you can email us at openarguments@gmail.com