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Opening Arguments

Opening Arguments Media LLC

Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas!
The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!

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22 episodes
Avg 59 min
English

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#1302
Yesterday · 49 min
The 5th Circuit Denied a Cop Qualified Immunity, So We Might Be in the Afterlife
OA1302 - Qualified immunity can be overcome! In the fifth circuit?! Come hear the good news, and learn some fourth amendment traffic stop rules along the way. CHECK YOUR VOTER REGISTRATION. Deadlines for your state can be found . Cases discussed: ...
#1301
Friday · 49 min
DOJ Wants Every Federal Judge in Minnesota Recused (Good Luck With That)
OA1301 - IT'S FASCISM RESPONSE FRIDAY, and it's a lot. DOJ just filed a complaint trying to get every single active federal judge in Minnesota booted off immigration cases, and the "evidence" is a judge telling the New York Times the truth. The...
#2045
Wednesday · 1 hr 15 min
John Yoo Wrote the Torture Memos and Never Paid for It. At All.
VR45 - Today on Vapid Response: 25 years after the terror attacks of September 11, 2001, we look back on the Forrest Gump of monstrously bad legal takes: former DOJ lawyer and current UC Berkeley law professor (!) John Yoo. We go back to the primary...
#1300
September 28 · 52 min
From Toga Guy to John Hinckley: A History of Pleading Insanity
OA1300 - The “insanity defense” might sound like a relic of a time when mental illness was viewed through the lens of demons and witches, and it turns out it is… but also maybe it’s kind of woke? Jenessa walks us through the history of Old...
#1299
September 25 · 1 hr 2 min
He Went to Prison for Bribing Susan Collins. She's... Totally Fine Somehow?
OA1299 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: what crimes might Senator Susan Collins (R-ME) have been complicit in, and why won't she ever be prosecuted for any of them? We go deeper into the law behind the facts exposed in ProPublica's outstanding...
#1017
September 24 · 1 hr 4 min
The Real Reason Coyote v. Acme Was Buried (It's So Much Worse Than a Tax Write-Off)
Coyote vs. Acme is such a fun movie. Thomas and Lydia saw it with the kids, Matt tried to borrow some kids to see it with, and has some fun legal observations for us. BUT! Before that, it's a special series premiere of ACCOUNTING'ed AWFUL MOVIES!...
#1298
September 21 · 58 min
The USPS Ballot Scheme Was Even Worse Than You Thought
OA1298 - Voting rights attorney Jenessa is back with a sprawling tour of election chaos, starting with the Supreme Court's unsigned order in : nobody knows the vote count, and the real fight on the merits waits for 2028. Then: the reveals a system...
#1297
September 18 · 51 min
Kash Patel Screws the Pooch
OA1297 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: SCOTUS once again confirms the color of the sky, the latest failures in DOJ’s attempts to prosecute Trump’s political opponents, why the most important immigration agency you’ve never heard of has...
#2044
September 16 · 1 hr 1 min
Manosphere's Favorite Juror Had Active Restraining Order During Clancy Trial
VR44 - This week on Vapid Response: we survey some of MAGA’s worst takes on the recent mistrial of Lindsay Clancy, all the way from “women are too woke and emotional to be on juries," to “the man who acted out of emotion to ignore the law...
#1296
September 14 · 49 min
A Blizzard of Lies - Dave Wedge on the Karen Read Trial
OA1296 - Dave Wedge is a veteran Boston reporter and New York Times bestselling author who covered (among many other things) hundreds of murder trials as a reporter for the Boston Herald and other local outlets. Dave joins OA to discuss his new book...
#1295
September 11 · 46 min
The 5th Circuit Says You Have No Right to Clean Water
OA1295 - Today on Rapid Response Friday: your questions about the Lindsay Clancy mistrial, actual justice for the Tate brothers, Trump’s mystery meat, and the Fifth Circuit’s extremely normal holding that there is no cognizable Constitutional...
#2043
September 9 · 1 hr 21 min
Milo Yiannopoulos Lied About His Immigration Status (And We Can Prove It)
VR43 - Today on this special edition of Vapid Response: ICE boot enthusiast Milo Yiannopolous is not a particularly interesting person, but his recent unexpected removal to the UK makes for quite a teaching moment. Matt brings 20 years of instincts...
#1294
September 7 · 1 hr 6 min
The First Openly Autistic Lawyer in Florida on What Law Firms Get Wrong
OA1294 - Haley Moss was the first openly autistic woman to practice law in Florida, and she is now an advocate for disability, autism, and neurodiversity in the workplace. She joins Matt and Thomas to discuss what law firm hiring managers need to know...
#1293
September 4 · 1 hr
Most Lindsay Clancy Coverage Has the Law All Wrong
OA1293 - In this extra-special Rapid Response Friday, Thomas visits Boston to record live in Matt’s office and talk out two very different legal stories in the news that the media aren’t quite getting right this week. THE TRIAL OF LINDSAY...
September 2 · 44 min
ICE Went Undercover To Expose a Vast Antifa "Conspiracy"
Hey folks, no VR this week because Lydia and I are traveling. (We're in Boston, going to record RRF live together with Matt!) But folks NEED to hear this episode of Gavel Gavel we did. It's so absurd. Gavel Gavel Episode 83: Thomas, Lydia, and Matt...
#1292
August 31 · 1 hr
Supreme Court Says Why Prevent Trump Violating the Constitution Before It Even Happens?
OA1292 - Jenessa takes us through the Supreme Court's 6-3 shadow docket ruling in Trump v. California, which lifted a preliminary injunction blocking Trump's executive order directing the U.S. Postal Service to gatekeep mail-in ballot delivery before...
#1291
August 28 · 50 min
Meta Must Pay, Bannon's Judge Pushes Back, and a Dolly Parton Shoutout from the Bench
OA1291 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: the single biggest consumer protection settlement ever reached with any U.S. company puts new guardrails on younger social media users, a federal judge refuses to let Steve Bannon off the hook just because...
#3042
August 26 · 1 hr 7 min
Stephen Miller's America First Legal Has a YouTube Show (and it sucks real bad)
VR42 - Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: Lydia, Thomas, and Matt check in on the official podcast of Stephen Miller's America First Legal, and Matt brings the receipts to show just how bad its recurring "Bad Legal Takes" feature truly is. How is an...
#1290
August 24 · 52 min
A Mayor Declared a State of Emergency to Save Flock Cameras
OA1290 - Jenessa returns with a surveillance grab bag: a New York mayor declares a bizarre "emergency" to keep her city's Flock cameras running after the city council said no, and a state lawsuit arguing license plate readers are flatly...
#1289
August 21 · 58 min
Trump Messed With the Mouse. Now He Gets the Ears.
OA1289 - Is Disney/ABC’s bold new legal action against the Trump administration one of the most important First Amendment challenges of our lifetimes, or just another Mickey Mouse operation? Matt explains. Also an explainer on the legally...

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