Category: 3-LawSometimeCommentary

Liz and Andrew record a day early to discuss the breaking news out of state court in New York granting partial summary judgment to New York Attorney General Letitia James's civil lawsuit against Donald Trump, his kids, and his businesses over phony valuation statements. The upshot is that the Trump businesses will be dissolved as a matter of law.

Mitchell Epner guests to help break down the nuances of New York law and procedure.

It's not a criminal conviction, but it's a hell of a start!

Notes Justice Engoron Order https://iapps.courts.state.ny.us/nyscef/ViewDocument?docIndex=op8OyfqVHpc6eGTx9LOw3Q==

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It’s almost October, and the Supreme Court readies to hear a new set of cases.  The Roberts Court seems defined above all by the Dobbs decision at this point.  The opinion, authored by Justice Alito, has been exhaustively dissected, but looking forward, we see various states taking further and more extreme actions.  What role will the so-called swing justices, some of whom wrote concurrences in the case, play in the litigation that the new developments will likely spawn?  What of the dire predictions of many pundits in the aftermath of the case?  And what about Amarica’s Constitution - what did we say, and what say we now? Travel the road with us.

Today, Andrew and Liz welcome back to the show National Security Counselor Kel McClanahan to break down a bunch of filings pursuant to the Classified Information Procedures Act, and tell us how to keep our eyes on Judge Cannon!

Notes Chris Geidner "Law Dork" on the Fifth Circuit https://www.lawdork.com/p/fifth-circuit-adf-training-book-ban-social-media

CIPA - Appendix 13 to Title 18 of the US Code https://www.law.cornell.edu/uscode/text/18a/compiledact-96-456

Trump’s motion for CIPA Section 4 scheduling https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.160.0.pdf

DOJ CIPA Section 3 Brief https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652/gov.uscourts.flsd.648652.162.0.pdf

Nauta/DeOliveira CIPA Section 3 Brief https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.flsd.648654/gov.uscourts.flsd.648654.163.0.pdf

DOJ CIPA Motion Under Seal in DC ( cover page) https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67656604/59/1/united-states-v-trump/

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Do you feel that chill in the air? It’s almost the first Monday of October and that means a new SCOTUS term! You may still be recovering from the last one (don’t worry, we are too) but Melissa, Kate and Leah talk about some themes that we can expect this term like the crazy cases coming out of the Fifth Circuit and whether government (as we know it) is constitutional. They also go through the justices’ latest questionable, and in some cases egregious (Justice Thomas, we’re looking at you) ethical lapses. So pour yourself a Ginni Tonic or Hot Ginni Toddy now that it’s fall, and settle in for this week’s live show from the Texas Tribune Festival. 

Cases we’re watching:

-Consumer Financial Protection Bureau v. Community Financial Services Association of America, Limited

-Loper Bright Enterprises v. Raimondo

-Securities and Exchange Commission v. Jarkesy

-Acheson Hotels, LLC v. Laufer

-Harrington v. Purdue Pharma L.P.

-Pulsifer v. United States

-United States v. Rahimi

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

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Liz and Andrew break down the recent indictment of Sen. Bob Menendez plus much, much more.

Notes Menendez indictment https://www.justice.gov/d9/2023-09/u.s._v._menendez_et_al_indictment.pdf

McDonnell v. US, 136 S.Ct. 2355 (2016) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=7646544289520795258

-Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/law

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-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

Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Ryan Busse, a former gun-industry executive turned gun-safety advocate, who is now running for governor in his home state of Montana. As the right to bear arms for domestic abusers is set to be argued at SCOTUS this term, Dahlia and Ryan discuss how gun culture has been radicalized in order to… sell more guns. They also examine how that radicalization has reached the Supreme Court, and threatens our safety, and our democracy. 

Next, Dahlia is joined by Alison Block MD, a family doctor and abortion provider who is also executive producer and host of The Nocturnists podcast’s Post-Roe America season. The season lifts the voices of healthcare workers and abortion providers around the country, scrambling to survive in the confusing legal landscape created by Dobbs. The conversation highlights the impossible bind for red state abortion providers forced to choose between caring for patients and criminalization, and how providers in neighboring states are trying to keep up with unquenchable demand for care. 

In this week’s Amicus Plus segment, Dahlia is joined by Slate’s Mark Joseph Stern to discuss why they never ever want to go to the all-male rich dude Lord of the Flies camp that is Bohemian Grove, why it’s pretty shocking that Justice Clarence Thomas did, and how the latest Propublica reporting shows the scheme in sharp relief: interest groups founded and funded by billionaires wanted to end the regulatory state, and they found a justice ready to change his mind and do just that. Dahlia and Mark also discuss why the abortion pill banning Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk is all of a sudden so worried about misogyny. 

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

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

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Liz and Andrew break down the week's developments before heading into a deep dive about baseball's antitrust exemption and a new petition for certiorari filed by... unicorns? Even if you're not a sports fan, you won't want to miss this one!

Notes OA 696 https://openargs.com/oa696-in-which-james-okeefe-pretends-to-be-a-journalist/

Fulton County GA - DA Willis Motion notifying Judge McAfee of potential conflicts https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/23986592/23-0920-notice-of-potential-conflicts-of-interest-concerning-attorneys.pdf

Anna Bower, Fake Crocodiles and Fake Electors in Fulton County https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/fake-crocodiles-and-fake-electors-in-fulton-county

Project Veritas Suspends All Operations Amid Devastating Layoffs and Fundraising Struggles https://www.mediaite.com/news/new-project-veritas-suspends-all-operations-amid-devastating-layoffs-and-fundraising-struggles/

Federal Baseball Club of Baltimore v. National League of Professional Baseball Clubs, 259 U.S. 200 (1922) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=5457794249908053604

Toolson v. New York Yankees, Inc., 346 U.S. 356 (1953) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1315902585984637212

Flood v. Kuhn, 407 U.S. 258 (1972) https://scholar.google.com/scholar_case?case=1568944639886480553

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

It’s an assortment of topics as listeners response to some recent developments and nagging questions.  We revisit the 303 case, specifically the dissent, as Justice Jackson lays out an interesting hypothetical that doesn’t produce, perhaps, the intended response - at least from Professor Amar.  Meanwhile, Justice Alito is back in the news with his judicial Declaration of Independence - Akhil may not quite agree.  We also have an exciting prelude to a big announcement about our podcast!

In this Episode, Andrew and Liz outline the issues underlying the recent law review article by Professors Will Baude and Michael Stokes Paulsen suggesting that Trump can be disqualified from the Presidency by virtue of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment.

After that, the two return to the linkroll to discuss the many, many developments in and around Trumpworld, including whatever happened to that guy Ray Epps that Tucker Carlson insists is a federal agent plant? (Hint: he's not.)

In the Patreon bonus, Liz and Andrew describe more of the sad legal trevails of David Shafer, cosplay elector.

Notes OA 35 https://openargs.com/oa35-emoluments-clause-wseth-barrett-tillman-part-1/

OA 36 https://openargs.com/oa36-emoluments-clause-wseth-barrett-tillman-part-2/

Baude & Paulsen, “The Sweep and Force of Section Three”, 172 U. Pa. L. Rev. (forthcoming 2024) https://deliverypdf.ssrn.com/delivery.php?ID=995103073068092081092071118086002065023073053045056031120084030066073022088005028078011036036121038023044082013118012025083101019006033017032126091082092002112010046001043008098085115025107069005116107119092023024116117112126020097081101012025127123&EXT=pdf&INDEX=TRUE

In re Griffin (Griffin’s Case), 11 F. Cas. 7 (1869) https://law.resource.org/pub/us/case/reporter/F.Cas/0011.f.cas/0011.f.cas.0007.html

US v. Ray Epps docket https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/67807327/united-states-v-epps/

Anna Bower, On Clerks and Caimans: Jeffrey Clark’s Removal Hearing  https://www.lawfaremedia.org/article/on-clerks-and-caimans-jeffrey-clark-s-removal-hearing

-Support us on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/law

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-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

The Court hasn't done too much while the summer recess drags on, but we're back for what might be our last episode of Season 3 before Season 4 kicks off with the new Term. We manage to piece together an episode with some items from the mailbag, some SG gossip, and a few shadow docket happenings.