Advisory Opinions

Latest Episodes:

Catching Up With SCOTUS, Ep. 1: The Saga Begins Mar 02, 2023

Show notes

Are you ready for a MOHELA good time? Sarah and David try to read the tea leaves as SCOTUS scrutinizes Biden's student loan forgiveness and the future of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Also: terrorism on Twitter and cert grant update. The saga begins.

Show Notes:

-Biden v. Nebraska oral argument transcript

-David Lat: On the need for diverse viewpoints

-David Lat: More thoughts on intellectual diversity

-Twitter v Taamneh oral argument transcript

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Judge Rao on Separation of Powers Feb 28, 2023

Show notes

Podcast-skeptic Judge Neomi Rao joins Sarah and David on the sidelines of the National Constitution Center’s Conference to talk circuit decisions, career path rejections, and tips for young clerks. But first: a primer on the most important office you’ve never heard of.

Show Notes:

-The Hedgehog and the Fox in Administrative Law

-Judge Rao's Dissent

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What's Mine is Mine Feb 23, 2023

Show notes

Judgmental looks. Angry scoffs and murmurs. Maybe even kicks at your back. All because you dared to recline your airplane seat. But isn't it your right to recline? Sarah and David charge into this heated -- and ever urgent -- legal question about ownership with Michael Heller, Professor of Real Estate Law at Columbia Law School, and James Salzman, Professor of Environmental Law at UCLA Law School, about their book Mine!: How the Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives. But first: SCOTUS updates and the disappointing sizzle of the anticipated Section 230 case.

Show Notes:

-Gonzalez v. Google, Section 230 case

-Supreme Court hears oral arguments in Twitter case

-Supreme Court denies Wikipedia and NSA case

-Onion amicus brief

-Mine!: How The Hidden Rules of Ownership Control Our Lives

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Hateful Conduct (But Actually Speech) Feb 16, 2023

Show notes

Former VP Mike Pence is challenging a special counsel subpoena. David and Sarah look into the “speech or debate” clause cited by his defense team and its merits. Plus, a challenge to Connecticut schools transgender policy, more social media and first amendment clashes, and a little love shown to the fourth amendment on this post-Valentine’s day episode.

Show Notes:

Pence to fight special counsel subpoena on Trump’s 2020 election denial

US appeals court will rehear challenge to inclusive Connecticut transgender athlete policy

Court Blocks N.Y. Law Mandating Posting of "Hateful Conduct" Policies by Social Media Platforms (Including Us)

Volokh v. James

Judge Andrew L. Carter's Wikipedia Page (for the photo)

Banks Appeal, 7th Circuit

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Defamation Vibes Feb 14, 2023

Show notes

Ron DeSantis wants to make open and slacken up national libel laws and, as always, it gets complicated. Sarah and (host emeritus) David try to help out. Also: Meta gets sanctioned!

Show Notes:

-Advisory Opinions: The Problem with "History & Tradition"

-Fl. Gov. DeSantis floats legislation that would make it easier to sue news outlets

-Reuters: Sarah Palin's legal fight with NYT

-4th Circuit panel grants Stein injunction against criminal charges

-Reuters: Meta, law firm Gibson Dunn sanctioned in Facebook privacy case

-DOJ says end of health emergency will terminate Title 42 policy and moot Supreme Court case

-David French for NYT: Men Need More Purpose Than Respect

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Yale Anons Feb 09, 2023

Show notes

Friend of the pod David Lat challenges Sarah and frequent-guest David to think through the implications of different types of anonymous speech. Where is the line between a whistleblower in need of protection and a rumor-monger?

Also:

-The worst SCOTUS decisions, ranked (by Twitter-bound, partisan PoliSci majors).

-Given ChatGPT’s poor grasp of legal history, will we win the coming war against the Cylons? [Producer note: David is wrong. The answer is no.]

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The Problem With 'History and Tradition' Feb 07, 2023

Show notes

In an episode dedicated to our most reasonable and law-abiding listeners, Sarah and David examine a Fifth Circuit's ruling that took the Bruen test to the next level. Following "history and tradition," the court found that barring domestic violence offenders from owning a guns is unconstitutional. Our hosts have thoughts. Also: can our hosts take on the Murdaugh murder case?

Show Notes:

-CNN: Law barring people with domestic violence restraining orders from having guns is unconstitutional, court rules

-Murdaugh Murder Case: New Evidence

-Trailer: Low County, The Murdaugh Dynasty

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Untested Theories Feb 02, 2023

Show notes

Face to face at last, The One And Only Host Sarah Isgur and Untitled Tennessean David French exchange rants about NY prosecutors' untested legal theory for indicting Trump and about Biden's approach to ending emergency law (we believe the technical term is “¯\_(ツ)_/¯”).

Also:

-Should “sincerity of belief” factor into religious freedom decisions?
-The vexing cake speech debate continues!
-A judge flunks on the Constitution
-Tingley v. Ferguson: Is therapeutic speech… speech?
-One Catholic father is cleared by the DOJ
-And…why Justice Kavanaugh concurs

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Is That a Mein Kampf in Your Pocket? Jan 31, 2023

Show notes

Have you been feeling too optimistic about the state of free speech recently? Don’t worry! For AO’s 300th episode (!), Sarah and David wade through some of the latest, most migraine-inducing attempts to stomp, quell, restrict, and penalize free inquiry and expression.

On the docket:

-SCOTUS update.

-In Texas, an influencer-slash-journalist brings together right and left in defending free speech against qualified immunity.

-California really, really wants to ban “misinformation…” Now, if only it could figure out how to define it…

-Hamline University’s getting sued… for religious discrimination?

-Reading Hitler’s memoir can get you in trouble at Stanford.

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Spies, Shredders, and Mistaken Identities Jan 26, 2023

Show notes

Honor, thy name is the Pence staffer who found classified documents and resisted the urge to accidentally let them slip into a shredder. In addition to covering the latest in the Trump-Biden-Pence-Carter documents drama, David and Sarah discuss what’s shaping up to be one of the most egregious cases of spy corruption in American history.

Plus:

-A Georgia grand jury updates
-A headscratcher case of wrongful arrest
-Some thoughts on Florida’s crackdown on College Board’s African American Studies AP curriculum

Show Notes:

Classified documents discovered at home of former VP Mike Pence

Ex-FBI arrested for alleged money laundering

Georgia election probe report to remain secret for now

DeSantis sparks outrage with rejection of African American studies class

The Dispatch: Academic Freedom for Whom?

G-File: Reading, Writing, and... Black Queer Studies?

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