Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

Akhil and Andy visit a high school in Garden City, NY, to speak with outstanding high school students about Born Equal.  In the process, we trace one of America’s great credos - “All Men Are Created Equal” - from the Founding, all the way to Lincoln - and beyond, to the fourteenth amendment; and finally to birthright citizenship and next week’s momentous Supreme Court case, Trump v. Barbara.  The students’ great questions help show the way.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

VR26 - Matt read not one but TWO of Pete Hegseth's "books." The awful xenophobic, genocidal crap contained therein might help explain the Iran War.

• Kate: How to stop a dictator, Zack Beauchamp (Vox); The Case of Kristie Metcalfe (NYT’s The Daily); Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
• Leah: The Epic transcript from NJ; luck…or something, Hilary Duff (producer Melody’s pick: Future Tripping; producer Michael’s pick: Adult Size Medium); Her giveaway to celebrate Melissa’s new book (enter here); 

• Melissa: Love Story Official Playlist (Spotify); Paradise (Hulu); Risk and Resistance: How Feminists Transformed the Law and Science of AIDS, Aziza Ahmed.

OA1246 - Part 1: “The AI was nicer about it” and other reasons I ignored my lawyer: the Subnautica 2 story

ChatGPT cannot warp space-time to make you un-sign that contract. Unfortunately for video game publisher “Krafton”, the world’s-best-cheerleader will instead gently tell you that your intention to break an air-tight contract without illegally breaching it will be difficult, and then give you a plan to try anyway. Team of lawyers screaming “please god stop” be damned. The plan worked great, right up until it hit a judge.

Developer “Unknown Worlds”, creator of the hit game “Subnautica” just won a substantial victory for breach of contract against Krafton, securing the reinstatement of their own CEO, and probably a massive bonus in the process. In part 1, Jenessa walks us through the story of how Unknown Worlds was formed, why they sold to Krafton, the terms of the contract, how the relationship went south, and why “Subnautica 2” got delayed. Tune in to part 2 to hear how the lawsuit was decided.

• Fortis v Krafton, C.A. No. 2025-0805-LWW (Del. Ch. 2026).

• Fortis Advisors

• Weisdorfer, E. (2024). Transformative play: The legalities of modding in the video game industry. Cybaris, 16, 79-115.

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

This Supreme Court term has seen threats against the Justices – from the President, a slew of game-changing shadow docket opinions, justices sparring in public, and some of the most consequential cases of our lifetimes. If you’re feeling a little disoriented by it all, join Dahlia Lithwick and Mark Joseph Stern on this week’s show for a clearer understanding of what’s going on at One, First Street. They discuss the big immigration case the court took up just this week that will  be crammed into the last week of arguments, Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s courage at a public event, and what it means when a justice steps out of the four corners of her opinions to voice urgent concerns about the shadow docket in public, and why, when it comes to threats to judges, the Chief Justice is meekly asking Trump knock it off, while taking no responsibility for his court’s role in it all. 

Supplemental reading: 

The Constitutional Accountability Center on the history of mail-in ballots

This week’s Executive Dysfunction newsletter from Slate’s jurisprudence team is a must-read: slate.com/dysfunction

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OA1245 - Federal prosecutors have just secured the first convictions in US history in which the Department of Justice has brought charges relating to associations with “Antifa,” an organization which demonstrably does not exist. We take a closer look at the plight of the eight defendants convicted on charges relating to a noise protest outside of an ICE detention center in Prarieland, Texas to break down the unusual legal basis for this case, understand how protesters were cast as terrorists, and what this all means for the future of American dissent.

Then in better news, we take a closer look at the recent bar complaint against one of Trump’s favorite lawyers (and our favorite MAGA characters) and AG Pam Bondi’s efforts to claim that the feds can hold up similar investigations brought by state regulators. Matt explains why this proposed rule is not only obviously illegal but doomed to fail before providing some news you can use in today’s footnote: the official OA guide on how to get away with a $100 million jewelry heist.

1. Superseding Indictment #1 in United States v. Arnold (2025)

2. Jury verdict in in United States v. Arnold (2025)

3. “Meet the Defendants,” DFW Defense Committee website

4. “Specification of Charges in the matter of Edward R. Martin Jr.” District of Columbia Board on Professional Responsibility (3/6/2026)

5. “Review of State Bar Complaints and Allegations Against Department of Justice Attorneys,” Federal Register (3/5/2026)

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

Hey folks, no video this week so instead I wanted to give you another episode of our new trial over on Gavel Gavel, US v. Dunn! This is episode 2 (we have released 4 on the Gavel Gavel feed, check it out!) Matt takes us through the pretrial motions. It's an interesting episode even as a standalone law breakdown, so check it out!

We’ve been mentioning the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara, and Professor Amar’s amicus brief in the case.  Now we begin to analyze it in depth.  We begin with the structure of the brief; why is it so different from most such briefs?  Why is it uniquely wide-ranging?  How can it cover many aspects of the case with a strict word limit - what is it about the way it is done that allows this when other briefs - well-executed briefs - cannot cover as much ground?  And then, what is the outline of the argument?  We also show where you can go from here; where you can find expansion and discussion beyond the brief.  Or you can come back here in subsequent weeks when we will expand on the outline of the argument presented here.  

OA1244 - More election news updates. What the heck happened in Dallas? How is hunting for fraud in Georgia still a thing? Why is the DOJ trying to get non-public voter data from the states? There’s smoke. There’s fire. But it might not be coming from the places everyone is looking. Jenessa helps us focus our concerns in the right direction, and maybe calms our nerves just a bit.

• Georgia court documents

  • Affidavit: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.355087/gov.uscourts.gand.355087.22.2_3.pdf

  • Search warrant: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.355087/gov.uscourts.gand.355087.1.5_1.pdf

  • Order to unseal documents: https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.gand.355087/gov.uscourts.gand.355087.9.0.pdf

• Cline, S., Swenson, A., & Riccardi, N. (Mar. 3, 2026). Change in primary voting rules leads to confusion in 2 Texas counties as voters are turned away. ABC 13.

• Democracy Docket (Mar. 3, 2026). Texas Dallas County polling hours extension request.

• Rose, S. (Feb. 3, 2026). Thousands of ballots seized in GA. Here’s how it will affect voter info, how you can protect yours. Ledger-Enquirer.

• Fowler. S. (Feb. 11, 2026). The FBI seizure of Georgia 2020 election ballots relies on debunked claims. NPR.

• Duster, C. (Oct. 5, 2024). Can someone find out who you voted for? No. Here is what you should know. NPR.

• Sherman, A. (Feb. 1, 2022). A claim about serial numbers on ballots is misguided. Politifact.

• Dawsey, J., Volz, D., & Gurman, S. (Jan. 29, 2026). Spy chief Tulsi Gabbard is hunting for 2020 election fraud. Wall Street Journal.

• Kaplan. A. (Jan. 16, 2026). LindellTV host Emerald Robinson claims Patrick Byrne “got called in to the white house”. Media Matters for America.

• Clark. D.B. (Feb. 9, 2026). The conservative researcher being linked to the FBI’s seizure of election records in Georgia. ProPublica.

• ACLU New Jersey (Mar. 4, 2026). Civil rights groups, New Jersey voters file motion to protect voters’ privacy.

• Biryukov, N. (Feb. 27, 2026). Trump administration sues New Jersey for voters’ private information. New Jersey Monitor.

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

• Kate: The Correspondent by Virginia Evans; Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir; Vladimir on Netflix (adaptation of the book by Julia May Jonas)
• Leah: Kacey Musgraves, “Dry Spell”; Judge Young’s opinion denying a stay of the remedies he ordered in response to the federal government’s illegal targeting of students & noncitizens based on pro-Palestinian speech; Sonja Starr & Genevieve Lakier, The War on DEI as a Project of Constitutional Subversion

• Melissa: The Devil is Busy on HBO Max; Good Woman: A Reckoning by Savala Nolan; Love Story: John F. Kennedy Jr. & Carolyn Bessette on Hulu and Disney+