Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith and lawyer Matt Cameron help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas! The schedule is M-W-F, with the main show on Monday and Friday and Vapid Response on Wednesday!
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OA495: Mr. Fish Goes to Washington
Today we have special guest Nick Fish, president of American Atheists! He recently attended a meeting with the White House Office of Faith-Based and Community Initiatives. Is this administration doing a better job representing the millions of non-believers in the country? Find out! In the first segment, we discuss Mahanoy Area School District v. B.L., the free speech case you may have heard about on The Daily. Andrew gives us a more complete breakdown and offers a prediction as to how the ruling will go! Links: Tinker v. Des Moines, Hazelwood Indep. School Dist. v. Kuhlmeier, Bethel School District No. 403 v. Fraser, BL v. Mahanoy Area Sch. Dist., 964 F.3d 170, Mahanoy Area School District v. BL oral arguments, Faith-Based and Neighborhood Partnerships EO
OA494: Florida's Pointless, Unconstitutional Social Media Law
I know I say this a lot but... this episode is action packed! So much good stuff to discuss that we had to squeeze in the Trump grand jury news into the announcements slot. Andrew breaks down what it means and what to expect. Then, a listener who actually worked on the NRA case wrote in to give us the final word on Sea Girt. But in our main segment, Andrew gives us the full breakdown on the asinine social media law Florida just passed. Eyes, look your last, because this thing is destined for the trash bin. Find out why! Then, we squeezed in a wildcard segment, if you can believe it. Did Alan Dershowitz win a defamation case against CNN? (no) Links: NRA Annual Matches Move To Sea Girt In 1892, 28 US Code § 1408, FL social media law, 47 U.S. Code § 230, Dershowitz v. CNN Order on MTD
OA493: Is Fox News Guilty of Defamation? We Report, You Decide!
Today Andrew breaks down Fox's motion to dismiss the Dominion lawsuit. Dominion has mountains of evidence of defamation. Fox... disagREES. Find out how their defense holds up! We also talk about the surprisingly high number of delightful emails we got about Seagirt from Australians. And finally an Andrew was slightly wrong about some Asbestos bankruptcy stuff! Links: Dominion complaint, Fox motion to dismiss, NY CPLR Rule 3211, Coomer Colorado lawsuit, Newsmax retraction, another Newsmax retraction, Newsmax Withdraws False Claims About 2020 Election, Powell motion to dismiss, Dominion response
OA492: Court Locks Mississippi Citizens Out of Amending Their Own Constitution
This is not a misleading clickbait headline, this is literally what happened. Mississippi citizens passed a medical marijuana amendment and textualist conservative judges overruled it with a reading of the law so asinine that it rendered constitutional amendments by citizens impossible going forward. You have to hear the breakdown to even believe it. In the second segment, Andrew delivers some more real bad news out of the US Supreme Court. You likely heard about the abortion case, but Edwards v. Vannoy is a decision you didn't hear about that does not bode well.
OA491: Letitia James – Kicking Ass and Taking Names
And two of those names are: Jacob Wohl and the NRA! It's a consequences show! While consequences might be an endangered species these days, Tish James shows us that species still has teeth. You may know Jacob Wohl as that right wing troll who absolutely should be in jail right now for any number of things, like fabricating blackmail material against Elizabeth Warren, for example. He's in big trouble for yet another criminally awful plot. Then, Andrew breaks down the recent bankruptcy decision regarding the NRA, and why it's bad news for them and good news for not them. Links: KKK act v Wohl, court order denying stay, James motion to intervene Wohl, Wohl opposing intervention, OA410: NY AG Files to Dissolve the NRA!, Order dismissing NRA bankruptcy
OA490: Chauvin Sentencing – Four Aggravating Factors
Big updates in the Derek Chauvin case! First, the judge found four aggravating factors. This is what Andrew predicted, but not exactly the same four! Also, one of the other officers in the case has filed a motion alleging witness coercion. We break down what this means, and how worried we should be. In our first segment, we answer an excellent patron question about an old OA episode: What ever happened to the Arlene's Flowers case? We discussed it back on OA180, and Andrew Seidel made a prediction that held up very well. Finally, apportionmentcalculator.com has been fixed, and a listener gives us great info about Census Blocks! Links: Church of the Lukumi Babalu Aye v. City of Hialeah, Docket for 17-108, Arlene's Flowers Remand, Thao motion, Federal indictments for all 4 cops, 18 U.S. Code § 242 - Deprivation of rights under color of law, Former Md. medical examiner's testimony for Chauvin defense leads to call for review of past cases, MINNESOTA SENTENCING GUIDELINES, Aggravating factors filing Appearances None. Have us on! -Support us on Patreon at: patreon.com/law -Subscribe to the YouTube Channel and share our videos! -Follow us on Twitter: @Openargs -Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/openargs/, and don't forget the OA Facebook Community! -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!
OA489: Transformers and Intellectual Property
Andrew is giggling like a school child right now as we present the deep-dive you didn't know you needed! It's transform...ing robots (not quite Transformers) and some really intricate IP law! It also involves Italian Trump! Before that, we have a correction on trademarking numbers, and some mini-dive into an Ugg lawsuit! Links: Ugg Lawsuit final order, 15 US Code § 1117 - Recovery for violation of rights, USD287037S - Changeable robot toy, 2003 Court Tokyo High Court Case, 2017 Arbitration, Macross Sequels and Films To Be Released Worldwide
OA488: A New Trial for Chauvin?
You may have seen some alarming headlines about Chauvin's lawyers asking for a new trial over a juror being at a BLM rally, but do those alarming headlines hold up? Should we be concerned? Andrew has the full breakdown! Before that, we tackle a very interesting component of the census called the "differential privacy" method, and why it's the subject of a new lawsuit.
OA487: How To Overturn Citizens United
All-star Senator Sheldon Whitehouse is at it again! In a Judiciary subcommittee meeting, Whitehouse laid out the groundwork for how a future Supreme Court could overturn Citizens United and Shelby County v. Holder. These are two atrocious decisions that would make even the Andrewest judge lament stare decisis, but today's episode explains how a court could overturn them without doing damage to court legitimacy going forward! (if you're into that kind of thing...) Before that, Andrew breaks down SCOTUS granting cert in the NYS Rifle & Pistol Assn v Corlett. Then, we tackle a listener email claiming we badly misrepresented defense attorneys in last Tuesday's show. Links: NY State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n. v. City of New York, N.Y. Penal Law § 400.00(2)(f), Supreme Court of the United States opp brief, 2nd Circuit NY State Rifle & Pistol Ass'n v. Beach, Cert Peition, Cert granted, Supreme Court Fact-Finding and the Distortion of American Democracy, Planned Parenthood v. Casey, Citizens United, Civil Service Commission v. Nat'l Assn of Letter Carriers,
OA486: Apportionment Might NOT Be Final
You all probably heard by now that NY lost a House seat by 89 people... But did they? Andrew argues that this has been misreported. Find out why! Along the way, find out way more than you ever wanted to about the math and Al Gore Rhythms behind apportionment! Also, Rudy Giuliani had some things taken in what shouldn't be called a "raid." Couldn't' have happened to a nicer obvious criminal! Then we answer some feedback on the previous episode, OA485: What If Your Client Tells You They're Guilty? Links: OA307: Apportionment - The Census Fight Is Not Over, NPR 2020 Census Results, 13 US Code § 141 - Population and other census information, Executive Order on the Census, 2020 Census Apportionment Results, 2 U.S. Code § 2b, Method of Equal Proportions, Reapportionment Under the 1950 Census, "Computing Apportionment," US Census Bureau, Model Rule 3.3: Candor Toward the Tribunal
OA485: What If Your Client Tells You They're Guilty?
... and other great questions from listeners! We get so many intelligent, thoughtful questions from our amazing listeners and patrons that we decided to do a show about it! Today's episode features 3 listener questions. First, what happens if your client tells you they're guilty? Next, a union leader asks if Janus v. AFSCME completely disregarded Garcetti v. Ceballos? Finally, can electors report fractional votes?
OA484: Chauvin Guilty! What To Expect Next
It's good news! Chauvin was found guilty on all 3 counts! Andrew breaks down what to expect with sentencing, and a number of interesting legal quirks along the way. Also, should we be worried about an appeal? What about the Maxine Waters comments? Find out! Links: State v. Martin, 211 N.W.2d 765 (Minn. 1973), MINNESOTA SENTENCING GUIDELINES, Minn. Sentencing Guidelines and Commentary, Sentencing Guidelines Grid, Sample PSI Report Vermont
OA483: SCOTUS Grants Absurd Privilege to Churches in New Ruling
Andrew Seidel of the FFRF joins us to discuss the absolutely terrible SCOTUS decision in Tandon v. Newsom. As you might expect, it's a complete disgrace that further enshrines Christian Privilege into law, in total contradiction of Church State Separation.
OA482: Justice for Daunte Wright
Officer Kim Potter was charged with 2nd Degree Manslaughter in the killing of Daunte Wright. She claims she meant to fire her taser. Could she face more serious charges? Then, Andrew breaks down Maryland's Police Reform Bill. It's pretty good stuff, so naturally Democrats had to override the Republican Governor's veto. And finally, we've got a wildcard in which Sydney Powell responds to charges of incompetence with EVEN MORE INCOMPETENCE. Links: Andrew's Full Baseball Lecture, the slides, Kim Potter Charging Documents, Sec. 609.205 Man 2, MINNESOTA SENTENCING GUIDELINES, Sec. 609.20 MN Man 1, MD SB71, SB178, HB670, Evers' brief, Powell Motion to Strike, Evers response, Powell motion to strike (actual motion)
OA481: Sanctions Motion Obliterates Sidney Powell
Governor Tony Evers is not messing around when it comes to Sidney Powell's evidence-free conspiracy nonsense. He has filed a motion for sanctions that just demolishes Powell for being a total hack, liar, and terrible lawyer. It's magnificent, and Andrew breaks it down for us! After that, we've got some follow up on Uzuegbunam v Preczewski (the one where Andrew sided with John Roberts.) Was Andrew wrong? Find out!