Transcript of OA502: Why Critical Race Theory is Indispensable

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 502.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing sir?

Andrew:         I am fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         I’m doing fantastic because I loved 501 so much.

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         It was one of those ones that was a joy to edit.  Just going through it the second time, you did such a good job there, Andrew.  Guess what, everybody?  I think Andrew has a little announcement about our content that we’re deciding to do these next few episodes.

Andrew:         CRT is in the news right now, we wanted to do these episodes back-to-back so that if you’re out there sharing, maybe even sharing these episodes with an Uncle Frank in your life, you can kind of point that person to two episodes, back-to-back, two plus hours on Critical Race Theory and just as an introduction to that.  Yes – so, Uncle Frank if you’re listening.  Yes.  This is a liberal show, okay?  But nothing we’re going to tell you about Critical Race Theory has to do with our political opinions.  Part of that is because I, the lawyer involved, am not a Critical Race Theorist.  [Laughs] I have no incentive to secretly hide what it is so we can indoctrinate our children. 

I can prove that to you if you go back and listen to episode 477, which was my leftwing critique of originalism.  No reason to lie about that.  I talk about my jurisprudential hero, Ronald Dworkin; and in particular I defend the idea that there are some objectively right answers in legal cases.  They include cases like “you’ve gotta be 35 to be the President,” and they also include harder ones, like no, the 3rd Amendment does not give you a claim against surveillance by a FISA court.”

Continue reading “Transcript of OA502: Why Critical Race Theory is Indispensable”

Transcript of OA501: Critical Legal Studies and Critical Race Theory

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hey everybody, before we get started with the episode, I thought you might like to hear something that my wife Lydia got for Andrew and I for episode 500.  Here you go!

Stormy Daniels:         Hi Thomas!  Hi Andrew!  Stormy Daniels, here, and I wanted to congratulate you on your 500th episode of your podcast, Opening Arguments.  I mean, 500 is pretty awesome, but we all know that episode 154 is hands down the best, and I’m not just saying that because you had the bright idea to call it “Stormy Daniels is a Legal Genius.”  I mean, okay, it had a little bit to do with it.  Anyway, congratulations!  Go out, celebrate, don’t do anything I wouldn’t do … [Sighs] Actually, don’t do most of what I would do, either, okay?  Just… um… just… congratulations. 

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 501(c)(3) – no, my brain-

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         Yeah, this is episode 501.  How’s it going, Andrew?

Andrew:         Oh, it is extra fantastic.  I just listened to all of those brand-new clips on the intro.

Thomas:         Oh yes.

Andrew:         Gotta love that.

Thomas:         [Laughs] A good audio reminder for editor, whoever is editing this right now-

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         -make sure you have also done the new clips.  Thank you. 

Andrew:         Those are the best!

Thomas:         That person deserves a raise!  No.  [Laughs]

Andrew:         That person does deserve a raise. 

Thomas:         I am excited, this has been a lot of OA lately, but OA’s the best, so in addition to the bonus episode there’s the Law’d Awful Movies that hopefully is out for everybody.  So much OA and I’m particularly excited for this episode, Andrew, because this was a listener Thomas S. question from a while back.

Andrew:         Yeah.

Thomas:         That I think we kinda lost track of for a while and then the news has blown up and made it very relevant, so I’m glad we’re getting to it.

Andrew:         Yeah, absolutely.  Wanna get to it?

Thomas:         Uhhhh?  Yes.  [Laughs]

Andrew:         Okay, alright!

Continue reading “Transcript of OA501: Critical Legal Studies and Critical Race Theory”

Transcript of OA500B: Bonus! Terrible Supreme Court Rulings; Manchin’s New Conditions

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, don’t touch that dial, everyone!

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         It’s a bonus episode!

Andrew:         Woo!

Thomas:         That’s another thing, it’s like when you, you know, maybe your first gift you got for your wife for Mother’s Day wasn’t quite enough.  Oh, but there’s another thing.  Hold on, it’s coming, delivery… Going furiously on your phone trying to order something.  It’s like that, but for our fine listeners. 

Andrew:         Are you saying that our long-anticipated episode 500 on eminent domain-

Thomas:         [Laughs]

Andrew:         -was like a crappy gift?  Okay, good to know.

Thomas:         It wasn’t, it’s just you feel like maybe we should’ve done more, that’s all.  I’m so grateful to our listeners for getting us through 500 episodes that I’m like was it enough?  Should we have bought them a diamond or something?  Is 500 the diamond anniversary?  Should we have decked them out?  So, we’re doing a bonus episode-

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         -and there’s so much good stuff.  I made all that up, the truth is just a bunch of news that happened.

Andrew:         Yeah.  [Laughs]

Thomas:         [Laughs] And we’re recording again.  Either way, wow, SCOTUS decisions galore and we’ve got some Manchin updates as well.  How’re you doing, though, Andrew?

Andrew:         I am fantastic.  I am very, very excited to do the bonus episode because I just don’t think we could go a full week without giving folks an explanation, I know we’ve already been – I don’t wanna say calming people down – riling them up on social media, but if you’re not a participant on social media, and there are lots of good reasons not to do that, you probably are sitting there thinking boy, I’m reading a lot about Fulton v. City of Philadelphia, I’m reading a lot about the Supreme Court 7-2 saving Obamacare.  What’s going on with that?

Thomas:         Yeah, yeah.

Andrew:         We’re here to explain what’s going on with that.  Spoiler alert, these are not good decisions regardless of what you’ve heard.

Thomas:         Yeah.  It’s – you know, they’ve kind of ruined the suspense there by being just so awful that you’re like whatever it is, it’s bad.  [Laughs] This is not gonna be a good one, whatever it is.  But the 7-2 thing was intriguing, we’ve got some interesting alignments going on.

Andrew:         Yup.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA500B: Bonus! Terrible Supreme Court Rulings; Manchin’s New Conditions”

Transcript of OA500: Eminent Domain!

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 500!

Andrew:         Woo!

Thomas:         [Siren Noises]

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         How’s it going, Andrew?

Andrew:         Well, I began as fantastic and now I’ve moved up to whatever the level is above that.

Thomas:         Wow.

Andrew:         It’s our 500th show!  I’m super excited and obviously I’m excited for our subject matter.

Thomas:         Wait a minute.  There’s been a level beyond fantastic this whole time?

Andrew:         I know, and I haven’t been there.

Thomas:         And you’re just now kicking it into gear?

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         Oh, 500!  And we are celebrating by me recording on worse audio quality on a laptop out at Disneyland.  We thought that would be the best way-

Andrew:         You are celebrating in Disneyland!

Thomas:         Yeah.

Andrew:         So that’s a good way to celebrate our 500th episode.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA500: Eminent Domain!”

Transcript of OA499: Mo Brooks Gets Served By Swalwell

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, on sale today for 499!

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         There you go, made the joke, Andrew!  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing?

Andrew:         Ah, somehow that joke is just so much funnier coming out of you.

Thomas:         [Laughs] I don’t think that’s true.  You’re a funny guy, Andrew.  You know?

Andrew:         [Sighs]

Thomas:         You’re as funny as I am good at the law.

Andrew:         [Laughs]

Thomas:         [Laughs]

Andrew:         52% of the time.

Thomas:         Hey, I don’t even think I have that funny batting average.

Andrew:         Hey, I was gonna say, I will take that.

Thomas:         [Laughs] The people don’t hear how many jokes of mine I edit out of the show.  499, can you believe it?  Next episode is 500 and I’m gonna go ahead and say Andrew has something super special planned.  I mean, just the most amazing episode 500.  [Laughs] I’m just gonna make that claim first.

Andrew:         Can we talk offline?  Yeah.  Okay, great, great.  Definitely.

Thomas:         You’re not gonna believe the episode.

Andrew:         100%, yeah.

Thomas:         Let’s get to today’s episode, which sounds like it’s gonna be a lot of fun.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA499: Mo Brooks Gets Served By Swalwell”

Transcript of OA498: The Garland DoJ Coverage is Completely Wrong

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 498.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing?

Andrew:         [Laughing] I’m doing fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         I am doing great.

Andrew:         Feels like this show is on sale for $4.98, right?

Thomas:         Yeah.

Andrew:         You use that now and also-

Thomas:         I think 499 as well.

Andrew:         Use that joke on Tuesday, yeah.  [Laughs

Thomas:         You should’ve saved it; it would’ve been killer.  Naw, it’s still good.  In terms of how I am, we had a funny thing happen which is – so Lydia has wanted to get a bird feeder for a while, have some birds in the tiny backyard we have, but the problem is Arlo is allergic to literally everything and birdseed has a bunch of stuff he’s allergic to, so Lydia finds one, a special birdseed, whatever. 

Continue reading “Transcript of OA498: The Garland DoJ Coverage is Completely Wrong”

Transcript of OA497: Christian Health Sharing Is a Scam

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 497.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing, sir?

Andrew:         I am fantastic, Thomas, how are you?

Thomas:         Are you just fantastic because I am going to play a line from Casino, one of your favorite movies?

Andrew:         Uh, yes.  Yes.

Thomas:         Is that mainly why?  [Laughs]

Andrew:         [Laughs] That is 97% of my joy and happiness.

Thomas:         Yeah, we’ve got a very – very important story to talk about today.  Basically, health insurance, scam health insurance that we don’t want people to get taken in by, so if you think anyone needs to hear this, please share it with them because maybe you have some family members, maybe you know some people, this is a real deal but I’m told this line from Casino is very apropos, so I’m gonna go ahead and hit play on that.  [Laughs]

Continue reading “Transcript of OA497: Christian Health Sharing Is a Scam”

Transcript of OA496: Stanford Law Forgets How Law Works

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 496.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing, sir?

Andrew:         I am fantastic, Thomas, and I actually mean that.

Thomas:         Oh!  I’ve got a terrible announcement, Andrew.

Andrew:         Okay?

Thomas:         I’ve shut down my blog.

Andrew:         Oh! [Chuckles]

Thomas:         Yeah, so I had a blog and then I realized it wasn’t 2005.

Andrew:         Right, right.  Yeah.

Thomas:         I had to shut it down. [Laughs]

Andrew:         And you’re not a lawyer.  Apparently 95% of the legal are all still blogs.

Thomas:         Oh really?  Wow.

Andrew:         Yeah, it’s like there’s a category for blogs, there’s a category for faxes, I think.

Thomas:         [Laughs]

Andrew:         Ham radio broadcasts.

Thomas:         I guess Trump didn’t win one of those blog awards and so he had to shut his blog down.  It’s heartbreaking, truly a heartbreaking tale.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA496: Stanford Law Forgets How Law Works”

Transcript of OA486: Apportionment Might NOT Be Final

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 486.  I’m Thomas, that’s Andrew, how’re you doing, sir?

Andrew:         I am doing fantastic, except we have not done a numerology in a while.

Thomas:         Hmm.

Andrew:         I don’t know that 486 is a good number for that, it’s kind of a, you know, generic even number.

Thomas:         Well, it just reminds me of the old computers.

Andrew:         Yeah.

Thomas:         There was like a 386 and a 2- was there a 486?  I don’t remember

Andrew:         There was.

Thomas:         Oh really?

Andrew:         Well, it went 888, then doubled that to 80-

Thomas:         Strap in, everybody.  [Laughs]

Andrew:         186, 286, 386, 486.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA486: Apportionment Might NOT Be Final”

Transcript of OA485: What If Your Client Tells You They’re Guilty?

Listen to the episode and read the show notes

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas:         Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 485.  You know, we’re closing in on 500, Andrew.  We’d better do something cool, I don’t know what.

Andrew:         Alright.

Thomas:         We’ll figure out – we’ll do a backflip.  That’s the first thing-

Andrew:         [Laughs] I nominate you to do that.

Thomas:         Not it! [Laughs]  Only got 15 episodes to try to be able to do a backflip.  I’ll start working on it, I may be broadcasting from one of those cartoon full body casts next time, but I’ll have Lydia position the mic real well for me.

Andrew:         [Laughs] You’re pretty much broadcasting from one of those already.

Thomas:         [Laughs] I do play hockey, so yeah.  How is it going, everybody, how’s it going Andrew?

Andrew:         Fantastic as always, how’s it going with you?

Thomas:         Going great.  I’m excited.  Great listener questions today, there’s so much to talk about.  I’m seeing just an absolutely full spreadsheet, here, Andrew, so we’ll see if you can get through it.  [Laughs]  

Andrew:         Keep your fingers crossed, but yeah, we have a backlog of some really fantastic questions that I thought was high time for us to devote an episode to those listener Q’s.

Continue reading “Transcript of OA485: What If Your Client Tells You They’re Guilty?”