Sidebar by Courthouse News

Sensational headlines, societal upheaval and a gruesome crime that shook Fall River, Massachusetts, to its core. Turn off the lights and cozy up to the fireplace as we bring you the spookiest type of story we can — one straight from the history books.  America's first trial of the century came from an unusual source: Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old unmarried upper-class woman in 1892 New England...

It's October, so you know what that means ... spooky season is finally here! And with it, the Supreme Court is back in session, complete with ghosts of the gun variety. In this year's SCOTUS preview, we bring you the cases you need to know. The court will weigh in on a Biden administration rule to redefine firearms to address the public safety risk of ghost guns in America. We delve into...

Zombie voters. Sham elections. Voter fraud. In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, election lawsuits are flooding courts across the U.S., with the timing of some geared more toward grabbing headlines than achieving legal resolutions. Allegations aren’t considered true until a judge’s final order, but that doesn’t stop people from believing them. In our 10th episode this season...

Known for his unwavering conservative stance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's career has been marked by significant legal battles, including a protracted securities fraud case and intense impeachment proceedings that left an indelible mark on his legacy. And yet, his trajectory from state representative to Texas’ top cop continues upward, setting him up as a possible candidate for a poten...

All aboard, fair listeners, as we take you on a summer tour of the fascinating world of courthouse architecture and how it shapes our justice system. Can courthouse design impact justice? You’ve joined us right in the middle of America’s greatest era of civics construction. Over the last 30 years, the federal government spent more than $10 billion building or renovating more than 200 federal court...

In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of nationwide injunctions coming from single-judge divisions in the federal court system. These judges were handpicked by the people filing these lawsuits. You may have heard of one: U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. With Kacsmaryk’s rulings, Texas has been able to dictate federal discrimination guidance for transgender employees and commandeer...

Receipts. Proof. Timeline. Screenshots.  What fuels the flames of drama in episodes of Bravo’s hugely successful “Real Housewives” franchise can also come into play off the screen when current and former reality stars duke it out in court against in each other and their former producers and employer.  In our sixth episode this season, we expose the dark side of reality TV chaos. From claims of an...

Would you believe us if we told you copyright law is the biggest regulation on free speech in the United States?  When you exercise your First Amendment right to paint a picture or write the next great American novel, your speech belongs to you. No one can take it and pass it off as their own.  But when all the power is vested solely in one person, the rights of others slowly begin to dwindle.  If...

The landscape of abortion rights in America is unrecognizable in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization . Join us for our fourth episode this season as we navigate this tumultuous terrain, dissecting the seismic shifts and looming legal — and political — battles that promise to keep this issue at the forefront of national discourse. As states becom...

Editor’s note: This episode is not family friendly due to some colorful language. A long-running feud between eviction lawyers Dennis Block and Danny Bramzon cumulated into a Twitter parody account and a libel lawsuit that made it all the way to a jury trial. In the third episode this season, we take the temperature of defamation law in the 21st century when it comes to X, formerly known as Twitte...

Surprise, listeners! We’re coming to you, almost live, with a special breaking news mini episode on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to keep former President Donald Trump on Colorado’s ballot. Our very own Amanda Pampuro and Kelsey Reichmann meticulously dissect the twists and turns of the legal journey that led to this point, from the initial lawsuit by concerned Colorado voters to the cons...

Look around, dear listener.  Everything is heart-shaped and pink. People are getting ready for a special night with their special someone.  In our second episode this season, we take you through the dark alleyways of online dating, where $1.3 billion vanished into the pockets of scammers in just one year, and peel back the layers of marketing sleights of hand that extend far beyond the realm of ma...

Welcome to season four of Sidebar! We're kicking off our first episode of 2024 by traversing the digital terrain of internet sleuths, those armchair detectives whose keyboards are the new magnifying glasses. Everyone has a hobby. Something to keep them busy, pass the time or unwind after work. Maybe listening to your favorite podcast is that thing. One such hobby that has grown with the help...

Season four of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more. This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens .  Editorial staff is Ry...

Welcome to our end-of-the-year gala episode of Sidebar. It's hard to divvy out awards for the most important or interesting cases of 2023 when former President Donald Trump has dominated so many of them. This was the year Trump took over Courthouse News, appearing in court as a defendant many times. From charges in New York that Trump schemed to make illegal hush-money payments to adult film...

No institution in American life has a far-reaching and outsized role in communities quite like the public school system. Take a seat, Sidebar listeners, as we dive into the heart of public education and its role in our democracy for our penultimate episode this season. We take you beyond the classroom, looking at landmark rulings like Brown v. Board of Education and highlighting the dual role of p...

Happy Halloween, all you goblins and ghouls. Prepare yourselves for a real spooky season treat as we traverse the gloomy annals of witch trials. Join us for our 12th episode this season as we dispel myths and shine a light on how and why these judicial proceedings played out across Europe and the United States. We're talking grand juries, indictments, spectral evidence and even acquittals in...

Another year, another five-alarm fire burning before the U.S. Supreme Court. Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News’ Supreme Court reporter and the newest addition to the Sidebar team, joined just in time for this year's preview of the court's upcoming term. The top court in all the land is back at it again following landmark decisions that it has delivered for the conservative legal movement...

The love story between Hollywood megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was destined for public fascination from the start as they merged family, philanthropy and a rather unexpected shared passion — wine. So, when they split in 2016, no one saw it coming. What followed was one of the most bitterly contested celebrity divorces in recent history.  But what came after was in some ways even uglier —...

Welcome back, listeners, from what we hope was a calm, relaxing break.  If it was anything like ours, just when you cozied up with a summer read, you were likely jarred back to reality by a pesky robocall asking about your auto warranty.  Receiving unwanted robocalls remains a universal experience 32 years after Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to empower Americans to fight of...

Ed Sheeran and reggaeton might have more in common than you know: the artist and the genre have been the subject of battles over whether you can copyright a groove or a rhythm.  In our last episode before summer break, we unravel the recent Ed Sheeran copyright trial with our New York City reporter, Josh Russell, including Sheeran's snarky cross-examination, his courtroom concert and Van Morr...

Should state borders change to create political havens? Come along as we take a road trip through the world of secession as we look at the urban-rural divide and how it shapes these movements. Our first stop in our seventh episode this season? The Greater Idaho movement, a grassroots organization that aims to shift the Idaho state border to encompass eastern Oregon and escape the liberal politics...

Imagine stashing your hard-earned savings in a safety deposit box, only to find out the FBI has raided the place and your money is gone thanks to the controversial practice of civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize people's assets with little explanation. That's what happened to a number of Californians who stored their cash at U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills. Join...

A note: this episode contains language that might make you or your nana blush.  Pull up a chair as we bring you into the comedy club and beyond. Laughter may be the best medicine, but how does it hold up in court? Over the decades, courts carved out clear First Amendment protections for comics facing criminal obscenity and parodists taken a little too seriously. While the past informs the present,...

Blue laws. They are quirky and annoying outdated restrictions on activities to ensure Sunday is a day of rest and worship. Some go beyond dictating when you can or cannot get a drink, and sometimes they leave you scratching your head wondering, why in the world are they still on the books? In this season's fourth episode, we dive into the history and impact of the laws. We explore the story o...