The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

The thesis of this week's episode is that taxes are nothing to be trifled with.  First, Brett and Nazim discuss the many ways that citizens have failed trying to make income taxes unconstitutional.  Afterward, Brett and Nazim discuss Comptroller of Maryland v. Wynn, in which the Court is asked to determine if a State is required to credit taxes paid to other states under the Dormant Commerce Claus...

This week's episode covers Ohio v. Clark, which asks whether or not a teacher may testify on behalf of a three year old child who was the only witness to a child abuse case under the Confrontation Clause.  This presents a good example of how the law can complicate an objective view of a bad situation, or how a sensitive topic can otherwise deny a citizen's Constitutional rights.  Either way, Brett...

This week's episode discusses the legal issues surrounding the police in Ferguson, MS and Staton Island, NY.  The goal here was to take a strictly legal and objective overview of the issues in each case, specifically what a grand jury does, why you can't sue the government and what the Constitution says about police use of deadly force, without getting too deep into the political issues that made...

This week handles a hypothetical only a paranoid conspiracy theorist could love.  Through the lens of whether police could solve crimes by searching fingerprints given to access smart phones, Brett and Nazim discuss how the 4th amendment has evolved with technology, specifically through cases like Katz v U.S., Riley v. California and Maryland v. King.  We also cover which Supreme Court Justice lov...

This week's episode cover topics that include; but are not limited to, jury duty, learning when you hate your job, why cigarettes are awesome, federalism, standing, Bush v. Gore, and ultimately the legalization of marijuana.  Brett and Nazim talk about the legal issues surrounding this topic and how the decision could find itself before the Supreme Court in the next few years.

Brett and Nazim discuss the case of Elonis v. U.S., which covers whether or not the Supreme Court will afford special protection to threatening statements made on Facebook and/or prosecute people who share pictures of food.  That last part is a joke, but seriously stop doing that.

Brett and Nazim break down one of the more controversial decisions of 2014, by discussing their initial thoughts on the case and then expanding on those thoughs after actually reading the decision for the first time.

This week's episode discusses two Supreme Court cases in the context of how Supreme Court cases move the needle with the general public.  D.C. v. Heller deals with guns, the second amendment, and whether a State can ban the private ownership of handguns.  Heien v. North Carolina talks about whether a police officer's knowledge of arcane traffic laws affects should affect an otherwise valid traffic...

Brett and Nazim discuss three important issues.  (1) How to get to the Supreme Court.  (2) The two main viewpoints of the Supreme Court. (3)  Why the they do not passive agressively hate each other. 

Brett and Nazim revel in their professional failures and discuss the nine justices that make up the Supreme Court.  To solve the problem of remembering their names, the two share an acronym that is easy to remember and objectively related to their respective ideologies.