Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

T3BE68 - Professor Heather Varanini returns to spill the beans on how Thomas did for Question 67 before taking us down another Bar prompt.

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OA1154 - Whatever the stage of fascism is where they start arresting judges for doing their jobs--well, we’re here. We review what we know about the in-court arrest of Milwaukie County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan last week. Matt then explains exactly what a “sanctuary” jurisdiction is (and isn’t) and how the Trump administration’s promises to aggressively investigate and prosecute state and local officials for non-cooperation with ICE fits into the overall plan of American authoritarianism. We also review ICE’s efforts to engage “force multipliers” via special cooperation agreements with state law enforcement under INA 287(g) and how you can do your part to stop it.

• Complaint and supporting affidavit in U.S. v. Dugan (4/24/2025)

• AG Bill Barr’s speech to the National Sherriff’s Association in which he promised to investigate and prosecute local authorities who interfered with ICE (2/10/2020)

• Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act | ICE (links to Excel docs with state of all current and pending 287(g) agreements)

• Pam Bondi’s memo on charging and sentencing policies which shifted DOJ’s focus to immigration enforcement (2/6/2025)

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OA1154 - Whatever the stage of fascism is where they start arresting judges for doing their jobs--well, we’re here. We review what we know about the in-court arrest of Milwaukie County Circuit Judge Hannah Dugan last week. Matt then explains exactly what a “sanctuary” jurisdiction is (and isn’t) and how the Trump administration’s promises to aggressively investigate and prosecute state and local officials for non-cooperation with ICE fits into the overall plan of American authoritarianism. We also review ICE’s efforts to engage “force multipliers” via special cooperation agreements with state law enforcement under INA 287(g) and how you can do your part to stop it.

• Complaint and supporting affidavit in U.S. v. Dugan (4/24/2025)

• AG Bill Barr’s speech to the National Sherriff’s Association in which he promised to investigate and prosecute local authorities who interfered with ICE (2/10/2020)

• Delegation of Immigration Authority Section 287(g) Immigration and Nationality Act | ICE (links to Excel docs with state of all current and pending 287(g) agreements)

• Pam Bondi’s memo on charging and sentencing policies which shifted DOJ’s focus to immigration enforcement (2/6/2025)

To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

Kate and Leah recap oral arguments in two big cases the Supreme Court heard this week. The first is about LGBTQ+ inclusive reading materials in public schools, and the second is about the Affordable Care Act's mechanism for ensuring preventative care. There are also developments in the Alien Enemies Act litigation, and a devastating, if predictable, executive order targeting the Civil Rights Act. Plus, Emily Amick, of Emily In Your Phone, joins to discuss the rise of the creepy conservative push to get women to have more babies.

 

Hosts' Favorite Things:
Leah:

• SCOTUS conservatives seem eager to increase parents' religious rights in public schools by Chris Geidner
• How Sam Alito Inadvertently Revealed His Own Homophobia From the Bench by Mark Joseph Stern
• Deportation to CECOT: The Constitutional Prohibition on Punishment Without Charge or Trial by Ahilan Arulanantham
• REVEALED: Elon and Trump's Plans to Mint More Mothers by Emily Amick
• These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Kate:

• The Trump Victim I Can’t Stop Thinking About by Michelle Goldberg
• We Visited Rumeysa Ozturk in Detention. What We Saw Was a Warning to Us All by Sen. Edward J. Markey, Rep. Jim McGovern, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Emily: 

• Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: the anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican by Anna Silman
• Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
• The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
• The Witch Elm by Tana French

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• 6/12 – NYC
• 10/4 – Chicago

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As we approach President Trump’s 100th day in office (this time around) this Wednesday, Dahlia Lithwick checks in with one of the key architects of the litigation strategy that is successfully confounding the administration’s most exorbitant executive overreach. After almost 140 executive orders and scores of associated lawsuits, it’s hard to keep track of the state of play. But Skye Perryman of Democracy Forward is on hand to help us think through the main strands of anti-authoritarian litigation, and to explore how some recent wins in court against Trump 2.0 are upending the administration’s attempt to style itself as an all-powerful unitary authority.

Next, Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern joins to discuss the Supreme Court's recent actions, including a significant order halting deportations to El Salvador, reflecting a growing judicial resistance to the administration's overreach and a confusing claim that Presidents work for . . . their lawyers?

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The shadow docket strikes once again! We break down the Court's unusual immigration ruling in AARP v. Trump (no, not that AARP!), and then briefly discuss the much-heralded ERISA case (Cunningham v. Cornell). But first we discuss some blog news, some SCOTUS news, and some SCOTUSblog news. 

OA1153 - It's good news Friday! Here are some stories about American fascists losing or otherwise showing their asses in court, including (among others):

• The Supreme Court comes through strong for immigrant justice at 1 AM on a Saturday morning

• Samuel Alito fails to properly interpret a book written at a fourth grade level after having his Easter ruined by immigrant justice

• DOJ accidentally files an embarrassing internal memo into the record

• Sarah Palin’s tries and fails to sue the New York Times for libel for the second time 

• one federal judge stops Trump's attempt to do the SAVE Act through an executive order, while another reverses an ICE kidnapping

• Neil Gorsuch does a genuinely good thing for non-citizens through a simple act of textualism

• DOJ pulls out one of the most ridiculous excuses for violating a court order in US legal history

Finally, a meta-footnote on why Matt is ready to join the calls to impeach national hero James Boasberg for his radical views on the utility of (what else) footnotes.

• Samuel Alito’s dissent in A.A.R.P. v. Trump (4/19/25)

• SCOTUS’s decision in Monsalvo-Velasquez v. Bondi  (4/22/25)

• Vermont federal district court order returning Rumeysa Ozturk to Vermont

• Courtlistener docket for D.V.D. v. DHS

• Courtlistener docket for American Oversight v. Hegseth

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!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

T3BE67 - It's another bar question with Heather Varanini! First we get the answer to last week's very bad and ungrateful father question, and then it's time for our next one! We crown some new winners, and then thank the best winners of all - our patrons!

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!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

Law firms are threatened with draconian penalties, with scarcely disguised vengeful and politically destructive motive.  Universities are dragged on the carpet, with demands that they forfeit their academic freedom, choice in hiring, and internal mission priorities.  What’s going on here?  What is likely to happen in Court?  Are the firms and universities defensible on constitutional grounds as well as because of procedural and statutory reasons?  We bring on Vik Amar, former Dean at the Law School at University of Illinois, Urbana, and author of recent articles on both these crises.  And while we are at it, we take a look at the forthcoming Supreme Court oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case, which superficially is about nationwide injunctions.  Is that really what it’s about, and in any case, is there more than that there?  Three of our current crises in one sweeping conversation.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

OA1152 - We are pleased to welcome Mike Lissner, the Executive Director and CTO of the Free Law Project to discuss his outstanding work in bringing federal court filings out from behind the PACER paywall, how just a few people with good ideas can fill in the gaps left by government services, and why he hasn’t created an Article III Hot or Not with his vast library of judicial portraits (but how you could).

• Free Law Project donation page

• CourtListener

• RECAP

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!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.