Lex Rex Institute Podcast

In this episode, we take you through Jeremy Bentham's view on the role of policing and what policing used to look like - in that mythical, pre-Benthamic society. Oh, and we'll also talk about his mummified head. It relates. We promise. The delay was BAD in this one. We apologize for repeatedly interrupting each other. VCA Lawsuit in Orange County: https://www.lexrex.org/post/voter-choice-act-lawsu...

In this episode, we take you through Jeremy Bentham's reply to the Declaration of Independence. We'll explain why Bentham neither approves of, nor understands, the concept of "rights," why he simultaneously hates kings but thinks you have to do whatever they say, and why his reading comprehension skills are a bit suspect. If you missed it, please check out our last Independence Day episode (episod...

In this episode, we talk all about Jeremy Bentham: Who is he? A weird guy obsessed with round buildings, and also one of the most influential social theorists of the modern era (for the worse, in our opinion). Why should you care about him? Because he fundamentally changed the way people understand politics and law, in a really stupid way. What kinds of things did he do? Write lots of unwanted let...

In this episode, we bring you up to speed on a couple of important happenings at the Supreme Court, including a retrospective on the COVID-era of emergency powers and the Court's divided response to a key commerce clause case. After that, we give you a glimpse at the always thrilling, never confusing world of legal jurisdiction. Finally, we return once again to Captain Kangaroo Court, where David...

In this episode, we bring you up to speed on the latest activities of the Lex Rex Institute before diving into Groff v. DeJoy , a Title VII religious discrimination case that produced some... interesting... questions from certain Supreme Court justices. We'll explain why religious obligations aren't just a nice bonus you get for being a good person and, for the umpteenth time, explain how stare de...

In this episode, we take a look at the 1924 "Lenin Constitution" and the 1936 "Stalin Constitution" of the Soviet Union. We'll discuss why communists love committees, how saying a right is guaranteed isn't enough, and the fact that the Soviet system was openly configured to focus power into the hands of a tiny elite. All this, plus an update on some of our cases and the story of a man who sued his...

In this episode, we continue our series on the Russian Revolution and the birth of the Soviet Union, but first we review oral argument in the pair of Supreme Court cases revolving around the Biden administration's plan for student debt relief. Finally, it's a special awards show edition of Captain Kangaroo Court! Alexander will award one nominee the coveted title of Most Plausible Lawsuit and anot...

In this episode, we kick off our new series on the Russian Revolution and the rise of the Soviet Union. We'll start by telling you why this story is important for understanding American law, how the Tsars got things wrong, and why a group called "The People's Will" isn't necessarily a good barometer for, well, the people's will. Why is the Russian Revolution important? (0:03:03) The last years of...

Welcome to the Season 2 of the Lex Rex Institute Podcast! We're now a video podcast (at least until enough of you complain about having to look at our faces that we switch back to audio-only), and we've got a new upload schedule that we'll tell you all about. In this episode, we bring you the top six (because David wanted a top five and Alexander wanted a top... more than five) developments in the...

In this episode, we are joined again by Alex Bostic to conclude our "Fall of Rome" series while it's technically still fall. This time around, we'll talk about the civil wars between Sulla and Gaius Marius and between Julius Caesar and Pompey the Great. We'll discuss how the use of extra-legal means to restore the rule of law just ends up undermining it anyway, and consider some ways that the Amer...

First off, as you can probably tell by the episode length, this is not a normal edition of the show. As Alexander was extremely busy with his day job "being a lawyer" and "defending Americans' constitutional rights," this episode only features David (for which he apologizes profusely). That being the case, we kept this one quick. Thanksgiving was a bit more than a week ago, so we thought we might...

In this episode, we continue our Fall of Rome series with special guest Alex Bostic, the Lex Rex Institute’s resident Roman history buff. This time around, we’ll discuss Tiberius and Gaius Gracchus and the way their careers exposed flaws in the Roman constitutional system. After that, David and Alexander talk about a case that may or may not end up being heard by the Supreme Court (we think it sho...

In this episode, we discuss a preliminary injunction against the Biden administration's plan to forgive certain amounts of student loan debt and why the judge (correctly, we think) ruled that the plan usurped congressional authority. After that, we turn to a New York gun law drafted after the decision in New York State Pistol & Rifle Association v. Bruen and talk about the constitutionality of...

In this episode, we discuss the newly-revealed documents that show that the Department of Homeland Security collaborated with social media companies to suppress misinformation, disinformation, and “malinformation” – we’ll discuss why that’s concerning, and what exactly “malinformation” even means. After that, we examine Bittner v. United States , in which how you think about interpreting legal lan...

In this episode… well, we tell you right off the bat: this one probably isn’t our best, but at least it's short! Alexander’s actual legal work got in the way of prepping for the podcast, so we had to make this a quick one. We return to “Allegator Alley,” our etymology segment, to talk about the difference between “barristers” and “solicitors.” Next, we discuss why some federal judges are refusing...

In this episode, we bring you another installment of our Supreme Court Hall of Shame series, this time dealing with 1990’s Employment Division v. Smith – in which the Court’s desire to prevent people from using drugs creates some very real problems for the First Amendment. After that, we bring you the very first part of our (probably) short series on the Roman Republic, “The Fall of Rome” (get it?...

In this episode, we bring you a brief update on some of Lex Rex’s real-world legal work and discuss one of the cases before the Supreme Court in the new October term, National Pork Producers Council v. Ross . We’ll talk you through what’s meant by the “dormant commerce clause” and consider the implications of allowing one state to dictate policies to the rest. After that, we have an extra-special,...

In this episode, we bow to the wishes of you, the listener, and introduce a new segment on etymology, in this first edition covering the word “contract,” as well as a surprise word chosen by Alexander. (We will be hosting another poll to see if the audience has come to regret this decision already.) After that, we take a tip from one of our listeners and weigh in on Rachel Maddow’s reporting on Mo...

In this episode, we review the 5th Circuit's decision on the Texas House Bill 20, which imposes restrictions on social media companies, and discuss why plans to set term lengths (and not "term limits" - we are nothing if not pedantic) for Supreme Court justices is a very counterproductive idea. After that, we return yet again to Captain Kangaroo Court to discuss the purchasing habits of attorneys...

In this episode, we return to the Supreme Court Hall of Shame to discuss Gonzales v. Raich , in which the court decided that an activity that: 1) takes place entirely in a single state, 2) involves no commerce, and 3) can’t even legally be done across state lines nevertheless counts as “interstate commerce.” We’ll also discuss the proposed “Justice for Victims of War Crimes Act” and explain why, a...

In this episode, David makes his triumphant(?) return to hosting duties as we discuss the state of succession law in the United Kingdom and ponder the possibility of a new round of religiously-motivated civil war in Britain. After that, we discuss the so-called “independent state legislature theory” in relation to the upcoming Supreme Court case Moore v. Harper and why Alexander thinks it should b...

In this episode, usual co-host, Lex Rex President, and constitutional attorney Alexander Haberbush is joined by special surprise host and Lex Rex VP of Marketing, Eric Hampton. (We’ll let the audience decide if he makes a better host than David.) They take a moment to mark the passing of Queen Elizabeth II of the United Kingdom before diving into a pair of petitions before the Supreme Court that c...

In this episode, we give an update on our case on behalf of the parents of the Los Alamitos Unified School District, break down the new California law that would strip doctors of their medical licenses for being (supposedly) wrong about COVID, discuss how President Biden’s speech gets some key elements of the American political system wrong, and wrap up our “Summer of the Revolutions” series by gi...

In this episode, we wrap up the story of the French Revolution by examining the Constitution of the Year III (which is 1795 for those of you who do not follow the Revolutionary Calendar), the collapse of the French Directory, and the rise of a certain short fellow with a world class ego from the Isle of Corsica. We discuss how the French tried to fix the problems that led to the Reign of Terror, w...

In this episode, we discuss the latest news in one of the Lex Rex Institute’s biggest cases, as we represent a group of parents from the Los Alamitos Unified School District in a dispute against the district. You can find out more information about the case and contribute to the legal fund at https://www. GiveSendGo.com/LosAl . After that, we continue our “Summer of the Revolutions” series by exam...