Heller – Opening Arguments

Topics of Discussion:

[Show Intro]

Thomas: Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments, this is episode 329, I’m Thomas Smith that over there is P. Andrew Taurus, how’re you doing? Mooooo!

Andrew: Are you purposefully saying Taurus like the cow?

Thomas: I thought – I’m sorry I thought I had the cow on for this episode, but if it’s just you then we’ll make it work.

Andrew: [Laughs]

Thomas: P. Andrew human, how ya doin’?

Andrew: Well I am probably not doing as well as the cow, right?

July 5, 2018July 5, 2018

OA189: Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh

Today’s Rapid Response Friday gives you a sneak preview of what to expect from the person we predict will become Donald Trump’s next nominee to the Supreme Court, Brett Kavanaugh of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

We discuss:

Why it’s likely to be Kavanaugh and not any of the other rumored contenders, especially flavor-of-the-minute Amy Coney Barrett
Kavanaugh’s view of the First Amendment’s establishment clause and the future of Lemon v. Kurtzman
Kavanaugh’s views on abortion
How Kavanaugh differs (and how he doesn’t!) from Neil Gorsuch when it comes to Chevron deference
The weird conservative hit squad out to get Kavanaugh
And much, much more!

After all that, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #83 involving assault with an unloaded gun. If you’d like to play along, just retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag. We’ll release the answer on next Tuesday’s episode along with our favorite entry!

Recent Appearances

Thomas was just a guest on Episode 421 of the Cognitive Dissonance Podcast. If you’d like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com.

Show Notes & Links

If you want a head start on Tuesday’s show, check out the just-released Senate Select Committee on Intelligence report.
This is the Notre Dame speech/law review article in which Kavanaugh lays out his judicial philosophy and essentially auditions for the Supreme Court.
We discussed the following cases: Good News Club v. Milford Central School, 533 U.S. 98 (2001), Santa Fe Independent School District v. Doe, 530 U.S. 290 (2000), Priests for Life v. Department of Health & Human Services, 808 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir. 2015) (en banc), Garza v. Hargan, 874 F.3d 735 (D.C. Cir. 2017) (en banc), United States Telecom Ass’n v. FCC (D.C. Cir., 2017) (en banc), PHH v. Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, 881 F.3d 75 (2018) (en banc), Seven-Sky v. Holder, 661 F.3d 1 (D.C. Cir 2011), and Heller v. D.C., 670 F.3d 1244 (D.C. Cir. 2011)!
Right-wing weirdo roundups: Here’s the National Review endorsement of Kavanaugh; this is the truly bizarre Jacobs piece in The Federalist; and here is the Federalist Society’s own rebuttal.
Finally, a preemptive Andrew Was Wrong: Here’s Raymond Kethledge’s University of Michigan address on how bad Chevron deference is.

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April 2, 2018April 3, 2018

OA161: Gun Control & the Constitution

Today’s episode takes an in-depth look at gun control. First, we answer two listener questions about originalism and the Second Amendment, including a provocative one about whether DC v. Heller deserves stare decisis respect under Andrew’s model of jurisprudence. The answer may surprise you!

In the main segment, we examine HR 5087, the most recent gun control bill to be introduced in Congress. What’s in it? What kinds of laws are Democrats looking to pass in light of the Parkland massacre?

After that, we check in on the state of Pennsylvania’s efforts to combat gerrymandering. Could there actually be good news in this episode? Listen and find out.

Finally, we end with the answer to Thomas Takes the Bar Exam Question #69 about the firefighter’s rule. Don’t forget to follow our Twitter feed (@Openargs) and like our Facebook Page so that you too can play along with #TTTBE!