Divided Argument

Will Baude & Dan Epps

An unscheduled, unpredictable Supreme Court podcast. Hosted by Will Baude and Dan Epps. In partnership with SCOTUSblog.

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Monday · 54 min
The Based Direction
We're back from vacation and chipping away at the summer backlog. Before the substance: listeners weigh in on our AI-generated cover art, Claude's new prediction scorecard grades our respective forecasting records, and Justices Kagan and Barrett take the Court's budget request — and some docket-terminology talk — to Congress. Then we spend the rest of the show on T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, in which the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, pronounced dead in the Green Bag two decades ago, proves alive enough to reach state-court judgments still on appeal. We try to figure out what the doctrine actually is, whether § 1257 or § 1331 is doing the work, and why the Court's committed formalists split down the middle. Along the way: insider trading as a University of Chicago virtue, a concurrence that may be playing a long game on federal habeas, and a dissent that's "exactly correct and not the law." Highlights [00:00:21] Opening: back from vacation, episode 26 of the season, chasing the all-time record of 29 [00:01:15] Listener verdict on the AI back-catalog covers — Proximity Mines in the Facility gets its due, and no, we're not commissioning an artist [00:03:33] Will's Kant remarks draw "especially strenuous criticism"; he declines to recant [00:04:38] Claude's prediction scorecard grades the back catalog: Dan 82.4%, Will 71.2% — hedged singles vs. high-variance swings [00:07:06] Are prediction markets just gambling? Kalshi, Manifold, and insider trading as a University of Chicago virtue [00:10:16] Justices Kagan and Barrett testify before the Appropriations Committees: the security budget, life with a detail, and a remembrance of Lindsey Graham [00:14:03] Kagan on the "terminology nightmare" — shadow vs. emergency vs. interim docket — and why the shadow docket "is not currently shadowy" [00:16:14] The main event: T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System Corporation, a fed-courts-class case if there ever was one [00:17:44] Doctrine origins: Rooker v. Fidelity Trust, District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, Exxon Mobil v. Saudi Basic's attempt to bury them, and Sam Bray's Green Bag obituary [00:20:35] What Rooker actually held: no bill in equity to void a state judgment — only the Supreme Court has appellate jurisdiction over state courts [00:25:17] The unusual lineup: Sotomayor writing for Thomas, Alito, Kavanaugh, and Jackson; Barrett in dissent with the Chief, Kagan, and Gorsuch [00:28:53] Where does the doctrine come from — § 1257 exclusivity, § 1331 "original" jurisdiction, or something constitutional about "inferior" courts? [00:38:42] Will's alternative: you're either in appellate mode or collateral estoppel mode — and the Full Faith and Credit Act already covers this [00:42:44] The Thomas concurrence: Rooker "correct as an original matter" — and footnote 4's possible long game on federal habeas [00:46:34] The puzzle of the missing Feldman: Thomas's concurrence is almost entirely about Rooker [00:48:06] The Barrett dissent — "exactly correct and not the law" — and Rooker-Feldman given an inch [00:51:49] What goes in the fed courts supplement, and whether Hart and Wechsler needs a bigger Rooker-Feldman chapter again [00:53:25] Sign-off: an efficient episode; browse the back-catalog art at dividedargument.com Relevant links Cases T.M. v. University of Maryland Medical System Corp. — slip opinion Rooker v. Fidelity Trust Co., 263 U.S. 413 (1923) District of Columbia Court of Appeals v. Feldman, 460 U.S. 462 (1983) Exxon Mobil Corp. v. Saudi Basic Industries Corp., 544 U.S. 280 (2005) Prentis v. Atlantic Coast Line Co., 211 U.S. 210 (1908) Commentary & articles Samuel Bray, "Rooker Feldman (1923–2006)," 9 Green Bag 2d (2006) — the obituary William Baude, "The Interim Docket" (SSRN, forthcoming U. Chi. L. Rev.) — now with Justice Kagan's terminology testimony incorporated David Lat, "Justices Kagan And Barrett Are The Spokeswomen SCOTUS Needs Right Now" (Original Jurisdiction) SCOTUSblog, "Justices Kagan and Barrett testify before Congress" Other The custom back-catalog episode art — tell us your favorites
July 13 · 1 hr 29 min
Norway-Sweden Worshippers
We picked two immigration decisions from the same day over the transgender-sports case because — Dan’s protests notwithstanding — that’s where the interesting law is. In Mullin v. Doe the Court lets the administration terminate temporary protected status for Haiti and Syria, holding the statute’s no-judicial-review bar swallows the procedural challenges and that the equal-protection claim fails on the merits — with a genuinely odd move: skipping the jurisdictional question the way Steel Co. says you can’t. In Mullin v. Al Otro Lado a fight about asylum-metering collapses onto a single preposition — whether a migrant stopped at the border “arrives in” the United States — and the majority says no. Along the way: brown M&Ms and Van Halen riders, whether Congress can strip review of constitutional claims without turning in a circle and sprinkling salt on the ground, Bolling v. Sharpe as a candidate for the worst decision ever, and why there’s no White Somalia to run a controlled experiment. Highlights [00:00:28] Opening: hype music, and listening to your own podcast to get in the mood [00:01:42] Building a live-show rider with Claude Code, and the Van Halen brown-M&Ms test as a safety checklist [00:03:18] Blogging origin stories — GeoCities, Movable Type, the death of Google Reader, a ransomed domain [00:06:26] Why we date-stamp episodes; the “too many episodes” complaint [00:07:27] Today’s slate: two June 25 immigration decisions, Mullin v. Doe and Mullin v. Al Otro Lado, chosen over the trans-sports case [00:10:37] A digression on the opinion’s broken line spacing on page 1 [00:12:11] Mullin v. Doe setup: TPS, the consultation-and-review procedures, and the “no judicial review of any determination” bar [00:19:07] Does the bar reach the procedures or just the bottom line? The Court says the whole thing [00:24:32] Can Congress strip review of constitutional claims — or must it first “turn in a circle and sprinkle salt on the ground”? [00:25:01] Dan on his and Alan Trammell’s The False Promise of Jurisdiction Stripping [00:31:42] Steel Co. and jurisdiction-first — and the Court’s strange skip of it on the interim docket, which costs it Gorsuch and Barrett on that Part [00:38:54] Why leave a hard jurisdictional question unwritten — the stare-decisis dodge and the “do you write on the shadow docket” dilemma [00:42:17] The multiply-the-probabilities problem (70% × 70%), by way of the Section 3 disqualification argument [00:44:04] The merits: Trump v. Hawaii redux, and Alito’s very ginger, sanitized recounting of the President’s statements about Haitians [00:48:21] Arlington Heights, race as a motivating factor, and the burden-shift the Court blends into one step [00:52:32] The Thomas concurrence: equal protection doesn’t bind the federal government — Bolling v. Sharpe and Primus’s Bolling Alone [00:59:27] The Kagan dissent: the review bar reaches only the bottom line, so the failure-to-consult claim survives [01:03:34] Why there’s no perfect test case — no White Somalia — so the burden of proof is the ballgame [01:04:42] Mullin v. Al Otro Lado: metering, and whether a migrant stopped at the border “arrives in” the United States [01:08:31] IIRIRA swapped “arrives at” for “arrives in” — did changing the preposition change the meaning? [01:12:16] Dueling everyday-language examples: the running back, the mailbox, and Sotomayor’s Penn Station / DCA / Golden Gate / movie-theater hypos [01:15:44] The Chicago Skyway’s “Now arriving in Indiana” signs — “we say no thanks” [01:18:28] The dissent’s practical stakes: perverse incentives to cross illegally, the SS St. Louis, and the Footnote 5 vs. Footnote 4 spat [01:20:51] Mootness and the voluntary-cessation exception; Jackson’s advisory-opinion dissent and the Chatrie citation she just missed [01:24:13] The second Thomas concurrence: the § 1252 injunction bar (Garland v. Aleman Gonzalez) and an inherent Article II power to expel — “milling around” [01:26:18] The “an uniform rule” indefinite-article tangent; Conor Clarke on how we can’t pronounce anything [01:28:06] Sign-off: Dan’s two-week vacation, and thanks to the Constitutional Law Institute and SCOTUSblog Relevant links Cases Mullin v. Doe — slip opinion (No. 25-1083, consolidated with Trump v. Miot; TPS termination for Haiti and Syria) Mullin v. Al Otro Lado — slip opinion (No. 25-5; asylum metering and “arrives in the United States”) Commentary & articles Daniel Epps & Alan M. Trammell, “The False Promise of Jurisdiction Stripping” (Columbia L. Rev. 2023) — the argument that jurisdiction stripping is a far weaker tool than advertised Richard Primus, “Bolling Alone” (Columbia L. Rev. 2004) — after Bolling v. Sharpe, the Court has never actually invalidated federal discrimination against Black plaintiffs at the Court Henry Monaghan, “Marbury and the Administrative State” (1983) — how a court “says what the law is” when the law tells it to defer
July 6 · 1 hr 25 min
Smart Microwave
After a quick check on the Nina Totenberg embargo kerfuffle and one more revelation from Justice Thomas's memoir, we devote the episode to Chatrie v. United States, the Court's first major Fourth Amendment decision in years. We trace how the geofence-warrant ruling builds on — and goes beyond — Katz, United States v. Jones, and Carpenter v. United States, and what's left of the third-party doctrine and the mosaic theory. Will explains the positive law model of the Fourth Amendment; Dan tries to claim Justice Gorsuch's separate opinion for his general-law approach. We close with the dissents, the advisory-opinion objection, and whether the Court should be saying more about the Fourth Amendment or less about everything. Along the way: Venmo heroin deals, smart microwaves, whether Will has genuinely forgotten his passcode, and a field-trip assignment for Chicagoland listeners. Highlights [00:00:21] Cold open: three recording sessions in three days, and the theories swirling around the Nina Totenberg screw-up [00:02:04] Justice Alito's embargo story: the press-room idea he liked until he learned they have to let the journalists out of the room [00:03:04] My Grandfather's Son follow-up: Justice Thomas's over-cautious marijuana confession [00:04:35] Cleanup-order watch: GVRs still owed in light of Slaughter, Landor, and B.P.J. [00:04:57] The main event: Chatrie v. United States, the geofence-warrant case — and why a 5-Justice Fourth Amendment majority is a good get for Justice Kagan [00:06:51] What a geofence actually is (there is no fence) and the three-step Google Location History protocol [00:13:52] General warrants, particularity, the University of Chicago backpacks hypo, and Ybarra v. Illinois — with a field-trip assignment to the Aurora Tap House [00:21:09] Three questions — search, reasonableness, exclusion — and the clever cert grant that fenced out the exclusionary rule [00:25:52] The setup: Jones and the two tracks of Fourth Amendment doctrine, step 0 (the third-party doctrine), then Carpenter [00:33:13] Will's positive law model of the Fourth Amendment, and Justice Gorsuch's Carpenter dissent [00:36:29] Orin Kerr's mosaic theory: "building out the mosaic Byzantine style, it starts to become searchier" [00:39:15] Kagan shuts the mosaic door: where the Fourth Amendment applies, it applies regardless of quantity — a fortiori from Carpenter [00:47:36] What survives of the third-party doctrine: Strava, public Venmo feeds, and the "For heroin" hypo [00:50:53] Why it's a big deal: the anti-mosaic holding, and a majority of Justices revealed as Carpenter people [00:54:48] Tangent: Face ID, the Fifth Amendment, Will's forgotten passcodes, and his enemies [00:56:55] Does the Stored Communications Act make all this academic? [00:58:34] The Jackson concurrence's particularity nudge, en banc remand practice, and Levy & Newman on unwritten circuit rules [01:00:43] The Gorsuch concurrence: papers, effects, property — Will disowns it and gives it to Dan's general-law approach [01:08:36] The Alito dissent: the advisory-opinion objection, footnote 4, the Davis carve-out, and the NRA v. Vullo precedent for a do-over remand [01:18:59] Justice Barrett's à-la-carte joins and her one-paragraph dissent — "we should have more dissents like this" [01:22:31] Two kinds of law professors, "The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts," and whether we're good on law [01:24:15] Sign-off: the rare promise of a schedule — a fourth recording session this week Relevant links Cases Chatrie v. United States — slip opinion Ybarra v. Illinois United States v. Jones Katz v. United States Smith v. Maryland Carpenter v. United States — slip opinion Florida v. Jardines Davis v. United States NRA v. Vullo Commentary & articles Amy Howe, "Court rules that law enforcement's use of 'geofence warrant' was a 'search'" (SCOTUSblog) Kate Shaw, Will Baude & Steve Vladeck, end-of-term Supreme Court roundtable (N.Y. Times, July 1, 2026) — the "hosannas" Will mentions on air William Baude & James Y. Stern, "The Positive Law Model of the Fourth Amendment," 129 Harv. L. Rev. 1821 (2016) Danielle D'Onfro & Daniel Epps, "The Fourth Amendment and General Law," 132 Yale L.J. 910 (2023) Orin S. Kerr, "The Mosaic Theory of the Fourth Amendment," 111 Mich. L. Rev. 311 (2012) John H. Langbein, "The Supreme Court Flunks Trusts," 1990 Sup. Ct. Rev. 207 Other Clarence Thomas, My Grandfather's Son (2007) Jon O. Newman & Marin K. Levy, Written and Unwritten: The Rules, Internal Procedures, and Customs of the United States Courts of Appeals (Cambridge 2024)
July 2 · 1 hr 14 min
Weird Islands
It's the last opinion day of the term, and the big one landed: Trump v. Barbara, the birthright-citizenship case. We read the majority as the rare easy case and spend most of the episode on why the four dissents each end up somewhere different — and trying to figure out exactly where they actually land. Along the way: a bogus Nina Totenberg story, a Landor GVR that might quietly unsettle a chunk of Spending Clause criminal law, and whether the professors who defended the order deserve the "legal scholarship police." Highlights [00:00:27] The bogus Nina Totenberg wire story that Justice Alito was retiring — "Fake news, Dan." [00:02:03] The Justice Alito / Justice Sotomayor bench-dissent dust-up from the immigration hand-downs [00:03:11] Last opinion day — 3 opinions, 4 cases; NRSC v. FEC and West Virginia v. B.P.J. / Little v. Hecox flagged for later [00:05:27] A significant new grant teed up on possession of semi-automatic rifles (AR-15s) [00:06:43] A GVR in light of Landor in a federal arson case, and the narrow-vs-broad theory of what a GVR means [00:09:34] Whether Landor's narrowing of Sabri could upend a swath of Spending Clause federal criminal law [00:10:58] Why RLUIPA reaches prisoners — Chuck Colson's post-Watergate lobbying (courtesy of a listener, Emma Kaufman) [00:12:55] Trump v. Barbara — Trump loses, but closer than predicted: "Trump beats the spread" [00:15:25] Should professors who defended the order be punished? — "we don't need legal scholarship police" [00:19:58] The majority's walk: common law → Dred Scott → the 14th Amendment → Wong Kim Ark [00:26:21] Wong Kim Ark as linchpin, and whether its "domiciled here" language was doing any work [00:36:48] Justice Kavanaugh concurs in the judgment on the statute, then dispatches the constitutional question breezily [00:42:05] New states, Hawaii, and Living Originalism — when may you add new exceptions? "Weird islands you can't drive to" [00:48:33] The 91-page Justice Thomas dissent, the facial-challenge pivot, and the reserved domicile question [00:56:40] Justice Alito's Civil Rights Act / "not subject to any foreign power" reading, and the statelessness caveat [01:00:11] Justice Gorsuch's 3-page solo dissent: if not domiciled here, then where? — a jab Thomas may not share [01:05:33] Justice Jackson's anti-subordination concurrence, and whether it lands against Thomas [01:10:24] "I feel proud to be an American, Dan" — hail to the Chief, and to Justice Barrett; sign-off Relevant links Cases Trump v. Barbara — slip opinion Landor v. Louisiana Dept. of Corrections — slip opinion Sabri v. United States (2004) United States v. Wong Kim Ark (1898) NRSC v. FEC — slip opinion West Virginia v. B.P.J. / Little v. Hecox — slip opinion Commentary & articles SCOTUSblog opinion recap: "Supreme Court strikes down Trump's order ending birthright citizenship" Ilan Wurman & Randy Barnett's NYT essay defending the order (Minnesota Law summary)
July 1 · 1 hr 12 min
Always Already
The big opinions are coming fast and furious as the Term ends. This episode, we take on two related cases from the penultimate opinion drop day: Trump v. Slaughter, which overrules Humphrey's Executor and clears away for-cause protection for the independent agencies, alongside its interim-docket companion Trump v. Cook, where the very same logic somehow spares the Federal Reserve. The big question: if the President can fire an FTC commissioner at will, what actually makes the Fed different — is "history" doing the work, or is the Court just saving the bond markets? Along the way: Heidegger's "always already," whether the metaphor of a living tree is consistent with originalism, a Goldilocks definition of "cause," the Chief leaning on his own unworkable precedents, the Ex parte Young mystery that keeps escaping the Court's grasp, and the first appearance of "the interim docket" in the U.S. Reports. Highlights [00:00:18] The penultimate opinion day — four down, four to go [00:00:50] The last-day pileup, and the McCain-Feingold campaign-finance case still pending [00:03:25] A confession: staircase wit, and the metaphor Will wishes he'd used [00:04:27] The living tree as an originalist — and the petrified-tree rejoinder [00:06:01] The new custom-cover workflow, and what Claude still isn't allowed to write [00:07:00] The day's four opinions: Cook, Slaughter, Chatrie, and Watson v. RNC [00:09:50] Is the Court strategic about opinion timing? A walk back through OT21's last days [00:13:55] Slaughter before Cook: the general rule before the exception [00:15:08] "Humphrey's Executor has always already been overruled" — by way of continental philosophy [00:17:36] Slaughter: the question, Humphrey's Executor, and the road from Morrison v. Olson through Seila Law [00:22:12] Why presidents mostly haven't tested removal — and whether this shifts the equilibrium [00:25:29] Walking the opinion: Roberts for the Court, the Thomas non-join, a Sotomayor (not Kagan) dissent [00:27:30] The Decision of 1789, the history fight, and the "good arguments on both sides" that made Will a "witless hack" [00:33:19] Part III-B's reserved questions and the Gorsuch concurrence's non-delegation wish list [00:43:06] Cook: procedurally on the interim docket, and why it comes out the other way [00:46:00] The Chief's history tour — the Bank of North America, Hamilton, and an accomplished yachtsman [00:49:00] The Fed as the "third bank"; Bamzai & Nielson and the monetary-vs-regulatory problem [00:50:25] The chain of moves: reviewability, a Goldilocks "cause," and the equity remedy [00:53:11] Footnote 2 and the Ex parte Young mystery — Armstrong, CASA, and Bivens [00:58:41] Process not received: a Truth Social post isn't enough, and what Cook gets next [01:00:54] "The interim docket" enters the U.S. Reports [01:01:52] The separate writings: Kavanaugh (save the economy), Jackson (equities), Thomas's solo dissent [01:04:45] Alito-Gorsuch and Barrett: hard questions, and skepticism of a carve-out defended "for secret reasons" [01:11:26] Sign-off: if there's a long delay before the next episode, it's because we've lost removal protection Relevant links Cases Trump v. Slaughter — slip opinion · SCOTUSblog analysis Trump v. Cook — slip opinion · SCOTUSblog analysis Chatrie v. United States — slip opinion · SCOTUSblog analysis Watson v. Republican National Committee — slip opinion · SCOTUSblog analysis Commentary & articles Aditya Bamzai & Aaron L. Nielson, "Article II and the Federal Reserve" — the leading qualified defense of Fed independence (Cornell L. Rev.) Samuel L. Bray, "Remedies in the Officer Removal Cases" — relied on by the Cook majority on the equity-remedy question (Journal of Legal Analysis); draft/announcement on the Divided Argument blog William Baude, "How To Save The Federal Reserve" — Will's prior take on preserving Fed independence under the removal cases
June 28 · 56 min
Mechanical / Animal
We're in triage mode as the Court clears its end-of-term backlog. We run through the week's opinion dump before focusing on two cases that look unrelated but turn on the same question: when may a state rewrite background property law to limit a constitutional right? In Wolford v. Lopez, the Court strikes down Hawaii's rule requiring a property owner's express consent before a firearm may be carried onto otherwise-public premises. Then to Pung v. Isabella County, a takings case asking whether a homeowner whose property is sold for back taxes is owed only the sale proceeds or full fair-market value. Along the way: a theory about a Landor v. Louisiana flip, the week's run of 6-3 conservative wins, and a short detour into the perils of teaching Federal Courts. Key Topics [00:00:00] - Triage mode: recording June 25 amid the end-of-term opinion dump [00:01:29] - What's still outstanding — and the campaign-finance case's standing problem [00:03:56] - The Landor "flip" theory: did Justice Jackson lose the majority to Justice Gorsuch? [00:06:40] - Thursday's decisions: Monsanto v. Durnell (FIFRA), two immigration wins, Wolford v. Lopez [00:08:58] - Counting the week's seven 6-3 conservative wins; the Hemani surprise [00:12:57] - The throughline: when may a state redefine property to evade a constitutional right? [00:18:35] - Wolford v. Lopez: Hawaii's "express consent" gun rule after Bruen [00:20:42] - The Bruen framework — step one vs. step two, and the free-speech analogy [00:26:57] - The change vs. the outlier: uniformity and Hawaii's sensitive-places list [00:30:49] - Alito's historical analogues: poaching laws and the Black Codes [00:33:34] - Jackson's dissent: race, Equal Protection, and how non-mechanical Bruen really is [00:38:59] - Caetano, the Ramos v. Louisiana callback, and Alito on racist origins [00:41:21] - Barrett's concurrence, Kagan's narrower path, and the rejected "spirit of aloha" [00:48:23] - Pung v. Isabella County: tax sales, takings, and "just compensation" [00:51:45] - Thomas's historical turn on tax-sale rules, and the fairness backstop [00:55:45] - Sign-off Relevant Links Supreme Court of the United States: https://www.supremecourt.gov/ Divided Argument podcast: https://www.dividedargument.com/ Transcripts: https://www.dividedargument.com/transcripts Commentary blog: https://blog.dividedargument.com/ Merchandise: https://store.dividedargument.com/ New York State Rifle & Pistol Ass’n v. Bruen: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-843_7j80.pdf Tyler v. Hennepin County: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/22pdf/22-166_q86b.pdf Ramos v. Louisiana: https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/19pdf/18-5924_j4el.pdf
June 26 · 1 hr 2 min
Alcoholic Originalism
The big opinions are starting to drop, and we're doing our best to keep pace. We first discuss Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections, which concerns religious liberty, the scope of Congress's power to create remedies against individuals under the Spending Clause, and whether there's any redress if government officials literally throw your rights into a trash can. We then turn to United States v. Hemani, where the Court found that a federal law barring gun possession by unlawful drug users violated the Second Amendment and revealed that some of the Justices are surprisingly open-minded about marijuana's role in American society. Key Topics [00:07:07] - Landor v. Louisiana Department of Corrections [00:08:02] - The facts of Landor’s case and the prison’s decision to ignore prior religious-hair protections [00:10:52] - RFRA, RLUIPA, and the path from Employment Division v. Smith to modern religious-liberty litigation [00:14:54] - The Spending Clause theory behind federal funding conditions and why the remedy question matters [00:19:54] - The majority’s reasoning: why money-damages suits against officials were held unconstitutional here [00:21:33] - Sabri, the Necessary and Proper Clause, and the debate over third-party liability [00:26:04] - The parade of horribles: transgender sports, vaccines, and other funding-condition hypotheticals [00:33:03] - The constitutional background: “general welfare,” the spending clause, and the comma-versus-semicolon debate [00:38:49] - Why the Court granted the case and whether the facts pushed the legal outcome [00:42:13] - Hemani and the federal statute banning gun possession by unlawful drug users [00:44:05] - Historical analogies, habitual drunkards, and how Bruen and Rahimi are functioning together [00:47:17] - Discussion of the Court’s analogical method and its practical limits in lower courts [00:54:26] - Justice Thomas’s concurrence on jurisdictional hooks after Lopez [00:55:31] - Justice Jackson’s concurrence on Bruen and Justice Alito’s surprising marijuana comparison [00:57:51] - The real-world use of marijuana versus alcohol at the founding, and why the analogy is controversial Relevant Links Divided Argument: https://www.dividedargument.com/ Podcast merchandise: https://store.dividedargument.com/ Podcast commentary and blog: https://blog.dividedargument.com/ RLUIPA overview (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/rluipa RFRA overview (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/wex/religious_freedom_restoration_act District of Columbia v. Heller (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/554/570 New York State Rifle & Pistol Association v. Bruen (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/597/1 United States v. Rahimi (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/602/230 South Dakota v. Dole (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/483/203 Sabri v. United States (Cornell LII): https://www.law.cornell.edu/supremecourt/text/541/600
June 14 · 1 hr 16 min
Watch Snobs
We open with the usual grab bag—the "foot fault" pun buried in a Justice Thomas opinion, reading Justice Alito's clerk-hiring tea leaves, and a detour into the metaphysics of conditional resignations and whether you can be confirmed to a vacancy that doesn't exist yet. Then to the merits: Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction, a 9-0 judicial-estoppel case that lets us ask where the doctrine even came from (Tennessee, 1857, apparently), and Abouammo v. United States, the venue case about a former Twitter employee who fabricated a document while the FBI sat downstairs. The venue talk wanders, happily, into the Yellowstone "zone of death," a C.J. Box thriller, Jim Comey's second career as a novelist, and an extended appraisal of watch brands. Highlights [00:00:53] - Podcast update, SCOTUSblog partnership, and listener reviews [00:01:49] - Justice Thomas's "foot fault" joke [00:03:48] - Sam Bray citation discussion (Aldridge v. Regions Bank) [00:05:02] - Justice Alito retirement speculation and clerk rumors [00:17:23] - Vacation schedule and the upcoming opinion gap [00:21:03] - June 11 merits decisions overview [00:23:17] - Landor and the still-outstanding big case of the term [00:27:49] - Justice Sotomayor's statement respecting denial of cert on ineffective assistance [00:29:53] - Keathley v. Buddy Ayers Construction: bankruptcy and judicial estoppel [00:36:10] - The Fifth Circuit's rule on inadvertence and mistake [00:38:47] - Justice Jackson's majority opinion [00:40:29] - Justice Thomas's concurrence and the history of judicial estoppel [00:48:42] - Justice Sotomayor's concurrence and totality-of-the-circumstances approach [00:52:11] - Abouammo v. United States: Article III venue and criminal prosecution location [00:55:09] - Yellowstone's "zone of death" and vicinage problems [00:59:21] - The fake invoice, FBI investigation, and venue dispute [01:06:33] - Venue, personal jurisdiction, and extraterritorial conduct [01:10:22] - Statutory venue rules and unresolved constitutional questions [01:12:30] - Reprosecution after a venue reversal and double jeopardy
June 8 · 1 hr 12 min
Impregnable Citadel of Technicality
After puzzling over an interesting follow-up question about Pitchford v. Cain, we unpack a summary vacatur in Whitton v. Dixon. We then spend a while breaking down the latest developments in Allen v. Milligan line, in which we discuss the future of the Purcell principle and whether the Court should be unusually attentive to public appearances in election cases. We finish with Sripetch v. Jarkesy, where the Court rejects a requirement that the SEC prove victims suffered pecuniary loss before seeking disgorgement, with specific attention to the interesting Seventh Amendment question raised in Justice Thomas's concurrence. Key Topics [00:03:23] - Listener question on Pitchford v. Cain, AEDPA, and procedural default [00:08:12] - Whitten v. Dixon: summary vacatur in a capital case and harmless-error review [00:12:44] - Justice Thomas’s dissent and the critique of selective error correction [00:22:46] - Allen v. Milligan / Alabama redistricting and the stay of the lower court injunction [00:27:24] - The Court’s restatement of Milligan and discussion of “colorblind constitution” language [00:32:30] - Purcell, election timing, and whether the doctrine is really about federal court intervention [00:41:20] - Merits and legitimacy concerns in election-law cases [00:53:27] - SEC v. Sripetch and the disgorgement remedy [00:58:42] - Justice Thomas’s concurrence on disgorgement, equity, and the Seventh Amendment [01:03:36] - Broader implications for administrative law and jury-trial rights
June 1 · 1 hr 10 min
Smooth Stone in the River
The Court has been busy, and we somehow manage to cover a number of developments with unpredictable efficiency. We talk about the Court's latest summary reversal on the "party presentation principle"; Justice Kavanaugh's vindication of his law journal student note in Pitchford v. Cain; Rutherford and Fernandez, two related cases about the intersection of compassionate release and habeas; and the DIG in Hamm v. Smith, a case about capital punishment and intellectual disability. Along the way, we also get into backlash against a certain SCOTUS advocate's TED talk and further Alabama redistricting fallout. Key Topics [00:02:25] - The infamous tweet and TED talk [00:14:56] - Alabama redistricting developments [00:19:07] - Margolin v. National Association of Immigration Judges and the Court’s renewed emphasis on the party presentation principle [00:29:02] - Pitchford v. Cain and Batson [00:35:56] - Justice Kavanaugh’s Yale Law Journal note on Batson procedure and how it connects to the case [00:40:40] - Fernandez v. United States and Rutherford v. United States: compassionate release, retroactivity, and innocence claims [01:03:34] - Hamm v. Smith, the post-argument DIG, and the future of the Atkins rule Relevant Links SCOTUSblog: https://www.scotusblog.com/ Divided Argument website: https://www.dividedargument.com/ Divided Argument blog: https://blog.dividedargument.com/ Divided Argument store: https://store.dividedargument.com/ Ethan Lowen's article on interstate extradition: https://wlr.law.wisc.edu/wp-content/uploads/sites/1263/2026/04/4-Lowens-–-Camera-ready.pdf
May 19 · 1 hr 8 min
Ninja Court Packing
We are joined by guest co-host Professor Pam Karlan at the American Law Institute Annual Meeting for the last live show of season 6. We work through a busy stretch of the interim docket: the Alabama GVR in Allen v. Caster and what Callais has done to Section 2; the denied stay in the Virginia redistricting fight, Scott v. McDougle; and the mifepristone cases, Danco and GenBioPro v. Louisiana, where Thomas rides the Comstock Act alone and Alito takes it personally. Then a turn to executive power and the term's looming merits decisions—birthright citizenship, the Federal Reserve, Humphrey's Executor—before audience questions on state voting rights acts, fixing the single-member-district statute, and whether you can wish yourself more wishes. Key Topics [00:00:11] - Live show introduction at the American Law Institute with guest host Pam Karlan [00:02:30] - Fallout from Louisiana v. Callais and the Alabama redistricting order [00:06:26] - Purcell principle, mid-election rule changes, and discriminatory intent findings [00:17:32] - Virginia’s redistricting amendment case and why the Supreme Court declined to intervene [00:32:41] - Danco Laboratories / GenBioPro and the mifepristone stay [00:39:56] - Justice Thomas, the Comstock Act, and Justice Alito’s dissent [00:47:15] - Big-picture trends in executive power and the Court’s posture toward the administration [01:00:54] - Audience Q&A on Congress, district design, and gerrymandering reform [01:05:47] - The President’s public attacks on the Court and possible effects on future cases
May 7 · 1 hr 1 min
Majordoma
The Court’s latest Voting Rights Act decision, Louisiana v. Callais, narrows Section 2 in a way that could reshape redistricting, weaken majority-minority districts, and intensify the fight over how race and partisanship interact in elections. We unpack what the Court said, what it quietly overruled, and why the reasoning matters far beyond Louisiana. We walk through the statutory text, the long-running collision between the Voting Rights Act and the Court’s racial gerrymandering cases, and the practical consequences for future election-law litigation. Along the way, we debate whether this is best understood as a textual decision, a constitutional avoidance move, or a major shift in how the Court treats political power and racial representation. The conversation also covers the Court’s emergency procedural move after judgment, Justice Kagan’s forceful dissent, and the broader question of whether the decision is likely to help one party more than the other in the short run. The result is a sharp, candid look at one of the term’s most consequential rulings Key Topics [00:00:20] - Introduction to the episode and SCOTUS Blog partnership update [00:03:06] - Brief Supreme Court news: mifepristone litigation and shadow-docket timing [00:05:20] - Louisiana v. Callais and why the case is a major Voting Rights Act decision [00:11:35] - Voting Rights Act history: Section 2, Section 5, and Shelby County [00:13:39] - The collision course between racial gerrymandering doctrine and Section 2 [00:16:17] - Allen v. Milligan and how the Court shifted course [00:21:21] - Procedural background of the Louisiana map challenge [00:23:02] - Is the decision constitutional, statutory, or both? [00:24:28] - Section 2’s text and the 1982 amendments [00:29:14] - The Court’s reading of “less opportunity” and the role of partisanship [00:41:46] - How the majority treats Allen v. Milligan and prior precedent [00:43:06] - Constitutional avoidance and the Section 5 enforcement-power question [00:46:28] - The Court’s “updated” Gingles framework and why that matters [00:52:29] - Likely effects on majority-minority districts and partisan gerrymandering [00:54:25] - Justice Kagan’s dissent and the Court’s broader democracy critique [00:56:04] - The post-judgment timing dispute and Justice Jackson’s separate dissent [00:58:55] - Final assessment of the decision and its likely consequences Relevant Links Rick Pildes's post on the decision: https://democracyproject.org/posts/supreme-court%E2%80%99s-gutting-of-voting-provision-was-long-time-coming Travis Crum Amicus Brief: https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/24/24-109/373625/20250903201226237_2025.09.03%20Callais%20Crum%20Amicus%20Brief.pdf
April 29 · 1 hr
Even Eve-ier
A deep dive into the latest Supreme Court news, a couple of unusual shadow docket rulings, and a cross-ideological merits decision that raises classic questions about federal power, preemption, and how much weight lower courts should give to context. We open with reporting on leaked internal Supreme Court memoranda related to the 2016 stay of the Clean Power Plan, including what the documents may reveal, why the leak itself is so unusual, and whether timing and incomplete records change the story. We also discuss Justice Sotomayor’s public apology after comments about Justice Kavanaugh, and what that moment says about judicial professionalism and public exchange. From there, we turn to some shadow docket happenings: a one-line summary reversal in a Texas redistricting case and a Fourth Amendment summary reversal out of the D.C. courts. Finally, we move to the merits docket and consider Hencely v. Fluor Corporation (24-924), a case involving federal contractor preemption and a terrorist attack in Afghanistan, where the Court narrows a (possibly infamous) Scalia opinion. Key Topics [00:05:32] - NYT leak of Supreme Court memoranda on the Clean Power Plan stay [00:10:13] - Whether document leaks are better than source-based leaks [00:21:30] - Justice Sotomayor’s remarks about Justice Kavanaugh and her apology [00:27:27] - Summary reversal in Abbott v. LULAC and Texas redistricting [00:35:18] - D.C. Fourth Amendment summary reversal and reasonable suspicion [00:47:04] - Hencely v. Fluor Corp.: military contractor liability and preemption [00:52:48] - Little v. Barreme, general law, and the limits of contractor immunity
April 6 · 1 hr 17 min
Backup backup backup backup argument
We recap and reflect on the oral arguments in Trump v. Barbara (the birthright citizenship case) and then analyze the Court's recent decision in Chiles v. Salazar, about the First Amendment limits on Colorado's conversion therapy ban. We also confront the taboo question: Are judicial opinions too long?
April 2 · 37 min
Jezebel Shouting
We're live at WashU Law's Admitted Students Day! After catching up on some shadow docket activity, we dig into Olivier v. City of Brandon, the Court's unanimous March 2026 decision by Justice Kagan. A Mississippi street preacher pleads no-contest to violating an amphitheater protest-zone ordinance, pays his $304 fine, then sues under §1983 to stop future enforcement — and the Fifth Circuit says the puzzling Heck v. Humphrey rule bars the whole thing. We work through why Heck is stranger than it first appears, what the Court got right in resolving the circuit split, and what the decision reveals about the ongoing mess at the intersection of §1983 and habeas.
March 11 · 50 min
A Subversive Mission
We announce an exciting new partnership with SCOTUSblog and introduce the show to new listeners. We then return to the mysterious origins of the Chief Justice's "no, no, a thousand times no," debate the Court's new policy designed to maintain secrecy, and then take a close look at Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corporation, a sovereign immunity decision in which the Court may, or may not, have paid attention to Will's amicus brief.
March 6 · 47 min
Cruel and Unusual and Stupid
It's our live show at the University of Chicago! Hosted by the University of Chicago Federalist Society, we discuss this week's big shadow-docket rulings about gender transitions in California Schools (Mirabelli v. Bonta) and redistricting in New York (Malliotakis v. Williams), and also break down the recent merits decision about the right to counsel when a defendant is testifying (Villareal v. Texas).
February 21 · 1 hr 26 min
Betty Boop or Shakespeare
With unpredictable timeliness, we have a quasi-emergency episode on the 170-page tariffs decision, Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump. Come for the in-the-weeds legal analysis, stay for the deep dive into the origins of the phrase "no, no, a thousand times no."
February 4 · 57 min
Ayn Rand Graffiti
We're back for another live show at the Northwestern Pritzker School of Law, hosted by the Northwestern Federalist Society! We discuss the term's two Second Amendment arguments -- first recapping the oral argument in Wolford v. Lopez, featuring Hawaii's law about getting consent to bear arms on private property; and then previewing the oral argument in United States v. Hemani, about the ban on possession of guns by drug users.
January 22 · 47 min
Bok Choy
With shocking and uncharacteristic efficiency, we manage to discuss three merits opinions and one orders list dissent in only 47 minutes. Specifically, we revisit Coney Island Auto Parts Unlimited, Inc. v. Burton (time limits for moving to vacate void judgments) and break down Berk v. Choy (an Erie doctrine puzzle), and Ellingburg v. United States (criminal restitution and the Ex Post Facto Clause), while also managing to discuss Justice Jackson's broadside against the Court's practice of "martinization."

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