Opening Arguments

T3BE67 - It's another bar question with Heather Varanini! First we get the answer to last week's very bad and ungrateful father question, and then it's time for our next one! We crown some new winners, and then thank the best winners of all - our patrons! If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs , find the post that has this episode, and quote it wi...

OA1152 - We are pleased to welcome Mike Lissner, the Executive Director and CTO of the Free Law Project to discuss his outstanding work in bringing federal court filings out from behind the PACER paywall, how just a few people with good ideas can fill in the gaps left by government services, and why he hasn’t created an Article III Hot or Not with his vast library of judicial portraits (but how yo...

OA1151 - We’re (kind of) live from New York! Thomas, Matt, and OA regular Liz Skeen meet up in person for the first time on Liz’s home turf to review the state of the law three months into the second Trump administration. We begin with a brief update on some  recent developments in Trump’s war against Biglaw before turning to some encouraging developments in two of the most significant federal civ...

It's Thomas Takes the Bar Exam question 66! Heather's here to break down the answer to T3BE65, and Lydia jumps in (because of reasons we explain in the show) to help us congratulate the winners and tackle the question for T3BE66. If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs , find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to...

OA1150 - Did the Department of Homeland Security really just give Massachusetts-born immigration attorney Nicole Micheroni seven days to leave the US? Matt has the inside (his law office) scoop on this viral story. Then in today’s deep dive: what if Congress accidentally legalized some THC products seven years ago and no one noticed? We discuss how this unexpected dutchie was actually passed on th...

OA1149 - Even as most of the Biglaw establishment falls to Trump’s whims, lawyers from smaller firms are stepping up to do the most necessary work  on the most important issues of our times. We’re here to tell you a little more about some of them! But first: The House passes the “No Rogue Rulings Act” and we rip into some fascist nonsense from MAGA legal “thinker” Mike Davis defending the Presiden...

OA1148 - We interrupt your regularly scheduled T3BE to bring you three stories of why Immigration and Customs Enforcement is the worst. Matt starts off by reporting on how ICE disappeared one of his detained clients shortly before his scheduled bond hearing this week. On that theme, you might have seen the viral video of an attorney confronting deportation officers at his minor client’s home. What...

OA1147 - It’s the retrial of the century, and Matt’s bringing his local perspective for the single most-requested story in OA history. Jury selection is underway for the second trial of Karen Read for her alleged responsibility in the death of Boston police officer John O’Keefe in the same Massachusetts courtroom where a mistrial was declared last July, and we’ve got everything you need to know to...

OA1146 - We begin with a quick review of SDNY Judge Dale Ho’s scathing 78-page (!) order dismissing all federal charges against NYC Mayor Eric Adams at DOJ’s request to see how it compared to our recent predictions. Then in our main story, Matt breaks down a true legal nightmare from this week’s news and goes beyond the headlines to explain why ICE’s recent admission that it accidentally sent a ma...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan:  http://incogni.com/opening OA1145  and T3BE65  - Lydia joins this Wild Card Wednesday to discuss the awful, inhumane HHS layoffs. Workers were lined up around the block to wait hours to find out if they were fired or not. These are human beings. The people responsible for this should be i...

*** Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/opening  *** OA1144 - Professor Jack Lerner joins us for a follow up to OA1055 as we dive deeper into case law surrounding the usage of rap music in litigation, including discussion of the fight for lyrics to be admitted as evidence in the Young Thug trial in Fulton...

*** Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan:  http://incogni.com/opening *** OA1143  - In the past month, Donald Trump has issued a series of truly fascist orders targeting some of the country’s best-known law firms for crimes ranging from hiring people Trump doesn’t like personally to doing some favors for special counsel Jack S...

Take your personal data back with Incogni! Use code OPENING at the link below and get 60% off an annual plan: http://incogni.com/opening OA1142  and T3BE64 - The State Bar of California wanted to save a buck or two, so they switched from paying a company to administer a real bar exam to a company that... didn't do that. It's an absolute fiasco. Heather is pulling double duty today on Wildcard Wedn...

OA1141 - Are Republican AGs really trying to have some of the most important federal protections for disability rights declared unconstitutional? Attorney Jenessa Seymour joins to explain the history and purpose of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the pending challenge to a Biden-era regulatory update intended to protect trans health care rights.  Texas v. Becerra docket Section 5...

OA1140 - The Trump administration has openly defied a court order--and that’s only the third worst thing about today’s main story. Also: what exactly does it mean to “sign” something into law? What is actually in all of these articles of impeachment which Republicans keep filing against federal judges who have defied Trump? And is there a First Amendment right to communicate with monkeys? 50 USC C...

OA1139  and T3BE63 - Lydia's back this week to walk us through Trump's very fashy takeover of The Kennedy Center. She watched it unfold in real-time and while it is obviously disturbing, listening to some leaked audio from the first board meeting provides a lot of laughs. It's somehow real, folks. And we've got Professor Heather Varanini as always to walk us through the answer to T3BE62, and to se...

OA1138 - Is a federal judge really about to sign off on dismissing the federal corruption charges against New York City mayor Eric Adams even in the face of everything that we now know about the corrupt deal which led to DOJ’s request? Why did appointed attorney Paul Clement recommend dismissing the case with  prejudice, and what might it mean for future prosecutions by Trump’s DOJ if Judge Ho agr...

Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get 40% off your first order with Trade at  drinktrade.com/OA! OA1137 - The arrest and detention of U.S. lawful permanent resident Mahmoud Kahlil in direct retaliation for his Constitutionally-protected speech and association as a campus organizer at Columbia University is the single greatest violation of any one individual’s right committed by the second Trump admi...

Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get 40% off your first order with Trade at drinktrade.com/OA! OA1136  and T3BE62 - Matt swings by a Wednesday episode, and we welcome Dr. Jenessa Seymour as well! Jenessa is a disability voting access advocate and New York attorney, and she's here to break down the  SAVE Act.  What exactly is it supposed to be "saving" for voting rights, who is going to be most impa...

Brought to you by Trade Coffee! Get 40% off your first order with Trade at  drinktrade.com/OA! OA1135 - Even with everything that Trump has already done to raise consumer prices, contribute to mass unemployment and inflation,  and stress-test the market, many people still believe that Trump and MAGA conservatives are “better for the economy.” The Groundwork Collaborative is a nonprofit organizatio...

OA1134 - Mere hours after a literal pat on the back from Donald Trump on live TV, U.S. Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts delivered a 5-4 decision against him in the emergency litigation over Trump’s unconstitutional efforts to eliminate foreign aid funding. How much of a win was this really, and why did Samuel Alito spend eight pages in dissent pretending to be “stunned” by the majority’s r...

OA1133 and  T3BE61  - Lydia joins today to discuss Trump's 3/4/2025 address to Congress regarding his vision for the next 4 years. Leading up to the evening, there were reports that quite a few Democrats would opt to not attend. We highlight the different approaches folks in the party took to resist in the face of chaos and authoritarianism, and discuss what we might do if we were in that position...

OA1132 - We resume our regularly scheduled rapid response to law in the news, starting with some good news (really) from the Supreme Court! Then: some-not-so-good news from the Supreme Court on the Trump administration’s efforts to dismantle the US Agency for International Development. Why did a federal judge need to issue an order confirming that he really meant it when he told the new administra...

That's right, we interrupt your regularly scheduled rapid response Friday (sorry...) to give you the first episode in the new Gavel Gavel series!!! And, Gavel Gavel is now PUBLIC! The legal battle between Blake Lively and Justin Baldoni might feel like just "celebrity gossip," but there is so much here. It has fiercly divided the internet, with one group certain that Justin Baldoni is a sexual har...

OA 1130 and T3BE60  - We're so excited to kick off this episode with an interview with Amanda Litman, the co-founder and President of an amazing organization called Run for Something . We discuss who they are and how they support folks in state and local races in all 50 states, answer questions for those who may be listening and considering throwing their hat in the ring to run for political offic...