Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

OA1203 - Happy Halloween! We take shelter from a year of ghoulish legal news in the COURTHOUSE OF HORROR, a cabinet of macabre legal curiosities including:

1. “SO I TRADEMARKED AN AXE MURDERER”: The historic Lizzie Borden House takes a whack at a nearby coffee shop

2. “THE BONE DETECTOR”: Recent patent bar survivor Jenessa Seymour brings us the unbelievable story of the spookiest--and silliest!--lie detector ever registered by the US Patent & Trademark Office

3. “ATTACK OF THE TORTIOUS CLOWNS”: Can you sue a haunted house for your fright-related injuries? 

4. “THE GREENBRIER GHOST”: The bizarre tale of how a victim’s testimony from beyond the grave helped to convict her killer in an 1896 West Virginia murder trial

5. “CANDYMAN 5: SUMMARY JUDGMENT”: In a tasty conclusion to last year’s Halloween footnote on consumers disappointed with the spookiness of their seasonal treats, a Florida federal judge finds as a matter of law that there is no wrong way to make a Reese’s.

Finally, we close on a serious note with Jenessa’s guide to how every registered voter can do their part next week to change the plot of our ongoing American horror story.

1. Order in Ghost Adventures LLC v. Miss Lizzie’s Coffee, LLC, No. 23-2000 (1st 

Cir.)(Selya, J.)(11/15/2024)

2. “Federal Judge Known for Polysyllabic Prose Dies at 90,” Trip Gabriel, The New York Times, (3/21/2025)

3. “Would You Confess Your Criminal Misdeeds to This Skeleton?,” Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura (5/16/2017)

4. “Apparatus for Obtaining Criminal Confessions and Photographically Recording Them,” Patent #1749090, H.A. Shelby (filed 8/10/1927)

5. “The Greenbrier Ghost Reexamined,” Greenbrier Historical Society, Arabeth Balseko (1/20/2022)

6. Summary judgment order in Munoz v. Six Flags St. Louis LLC (10/12/2022)(Wallach, J.)

7. Order granting motion to dismiss in Vidal et al v. The Hershey Company, FLSD No. 24-60831 (9/19/2025)(Damian, J.)

8. “Your Cheat Sheet To The 2025 General Elections,” Daniel Nichanian, Bolts (10/1/2025)

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Our 250th episode has us looking back 250 years, and looking ahead to the next year of commemoration of those 250 year anniversaries.  Sure enough, there is much gold to mine in those momentous events; much to inform us on matters of current import.  We recall and examine a Declaration that is 250 years old - no, not that one.  To top it off, we have a special guest that joins us to tie it all together as only he can.  Tune in and join the celebration!  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

OA1202 - We are pleased to welcome American Immigration Council Senior Fellow Aaron Reichlin-Melnick for this unique conversation between a practitioner and a policy expert. The AIC is one of the country's leading sources of information and advocacy on US immigration matters, and Aaron watches and comments on these issues like no one else out there right now. Topics include, among many other things, how the Trump administration keeps getting in its own way on immigration issues, how the law of who can be released from ICE custody on bond has been radically reinterpreted within the past few months, and our  hopes for the future in this critical moment for American immigration law.

 

1. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick’s bio on the American Immigration Council website

2. Aaron Reichlin-Melnick on Bluesky

3. Donate to support the American Immigration Counsel

Kate and Leah dig into a very busy week of legal news as Trump wields his SCOTUS-enabled executive power in increasingly unhinged ways. They also discuss continuing challenges to the president’s deployment of the National Guard in blue cities, ProPublica’s reporting on “Kavanaugh stops,” and, for dessert, the bonkers text exchange between Trump lackey–turned–U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and Lawfare’s Anna Bower. Then they speak with author Irin Carmon about her new book, Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America.

Favorite things:

• Leah: Resistance Is Cringe—But It’s Also Effective, Quinta Jurecic (The Atlantic); The Democrats' Main Problem Isn’t Their Message, Chris Hayes (NYT); The Peril of a White House That Flaunts Its Indifference to the Law, Charlie Savage (NYT); Everybody/Elizabeth Taylor Mashup (Backstreet Boys/Taylor Swift)
• Kate: Five Tuesdays in Winter, Lily King; I’m Still Here

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

• 3/6/26 – San Francisco
• 3/7/26 – Los Angeles

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com
 

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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Bulldozers and bulwarks are the twin themes of this week’s show, as Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Joyce White Vance, a longtime federal prosecutor and clarion voice in defense of the rule of law, despite its flaws. As Pam Bondi’s Justice department chases down the President’s opponents, Congress walks away from its constitutional duties, and the highest court in the land struggles to find a presidential demand too outrageous to rubber stamp, it’s no wonder many Americans are exhausted by the attempt  to toggle between hope and despair. Lithwick and Vance discuss the many challenges to the integrity of the justice system and ponder what ordinary people can do to bolster vital democratic institutions under siege. Vance's new book, 'Giving Up is Unforgivable,' serves as a manual for citizens who understand that surviving this moment (and thriving after it) is a massive team project. It’s okay to huff a little hopium sometimes, but only if it’s the good stuff. 

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OA1201 - This Rapid Response Friday, Matt and Jenessa play a few rounds of “Can They REALLY Do That?”, with topics including:

1. The legal mechanism and filings behind Trump’s $230 million demand for DOJ having the audacity for investigating him for crimes that he did

2. Arizona’s lawsuit against House Speaker Mike Johnson asking a DC federal court to require him to seat incoming Congresswoman Adelita Grijalva after her election

3. DOJ’s first-ever “Antifa” terrorism indictment

Finally, in today’s footnote Jenessa reports back from her recent experience sitting for the federal patent bar.

1. Donald Trump’s Form 95 seeking damages under the Federal Tort Claims Act for the FBI’s execution of a search warrant on Mar-a-Lago (filed 8/7/2024)

2. Transcript of former FBI agent Steven D’Antuono’s testimony to the House Judiciary Committee  (6/7/2023)

3. Complaint in Arizona v. U.S. House of Representatives (filed 10/21/2025)

4. Martin v. U.S., 605 U.S. _____ (6/12/2025)

5. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969)

6. Indictment with additional “Antifa”-related charges against Autumn Hill & Zachary Evetts (10/15/2025)

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

VR11 - Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review some of the worst takes to last weekend’s 2700+ “No Kings” events around the U.S. But first, we savor an instant classic of an amuse douche: a recent video of a real-life encounter between a drunk-driving ICE officer and actual law enforcement. We then learn why the National Review is definitely not mad about the No Kings events going so well, and why House Majority Leader Steve Scalise IS mad about the raving socialists of the radical left who have shut down a government full of social programs which Republicans would otherwise absolutely want to fully fund if only they could.

1. Full 30 minute video of ICE officer’s DUI arrest (August 2025)

2. Democrats Look to Rewrite the Narrative with ‘No Kings’ Protests, Brittany Bernstein, National Review (10/20/2025)

3. LEADER STEVE SCALISE: Schumer shutdown hurts families while Democrats rally in DC | Fox News (10/19/2025)

4. “Videos Show ‘No Kings’ Protests Around U.S., World,” CBS News (10/19/2025)

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

The President and CEO of the National Constitution Center, Jeffrey Rosen, joins us for a timely discussion of his new book, The Pursuit of Liberty. The relevance to today’s dilemmas is matched only by the fascination of the deep historical analysis and amazing characters the book unearths.  In the differences that separated Hamilton and Jefferson, Professor Rosen finds the genesis of a divide that he maintains has informed most if not all of American constitutional history.  Centralized power versus states’ rights; industrial centers vs rural life; a robust protest culture vs governmental support, and more.  We are honored to celebrate publication (today!) of this important book with its distinguished author.  CLE credit is available for lawyers and judges from podcast.njsba.com.

OA1200 - We've got another great law and science episode for ya! Are polygraphs admissible? Do they work? Matt and Jenessa talk about the history, law, and science of polygraphs, and how criminal courts treat scientific testimony in general.

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

Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down last week’s agonizing two-and-a-half-hour oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could see the already weakened Voting Rights Act gutted even further. They highlight the themes that emerged and dig into the case’s broader context with Sam Spital, Associate Director-Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, then recap the week’s other arguments and the latest legal news. Finally, Leah talks with Joyce Vance about her new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy.

Favorite things:

• Leah: The Bow Street Runners series, Lisa Kleypas; Flirting Lessons, Jasmine Guillory
• Kate: What Are We Living Through? By Jedediah Britton-Purdy & David Pozen (Boston Review); Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials, Adam Liptak (NYT)
• Melissa: The Lawyer, the Witch, and the Witness: Proving Witchcraft in the English Courts, Trace M. Maddox (Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities); Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell; One Battle After Another

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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