Advisory Opinions
Advisory Opinions is a new podcast from The Dispatch. Hosts David French and Sarah Isgur have a weekly conversation about the law, culture, and why it matters.
Episodes
May 2, 2024 • 62 mins
It’s a silent spring in Texas as Pornhub pulls out of the state in an act of protest over a law requiring age verification measures. Sarah and David go through the legal battle between the explicit site and Texas AG Ken Paxton.The Agenda:
—Sarah’s high
—Texas law requiring age verification to access pornography online
—The tiers of scrutiny in constitutional law
—The role of text, history, and tradition
—Going through the Antisemit...
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April 30, 2024 • 95 mins
David returns after a brief food poisoning hiatus to discuss two oral arguments heard before the Supreme Court: Trump’s immunity case and Idaho’s case on abortion bans. But first, a request from The Dispatch’s resident Wilson-hater.
The Agenda:
—Are solo podcasters sociopaths?
—Proposals for changes on the Israeli Supreme Court
—Absolute immunity for presidents
—The role of the executive vesting clause
—Reviewing Idaho’s abortion b...
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April 27, 2024 • 53 mins
The Supreme Court this week heard oral arguments for Donald Trump’s immunity case, and David has thoughts. However, he was too sick to join today so Sarah had to go solo (Ruminant style!), recapping the legal and political implications of the case, assessing the strength of the arguments and their significance for the future of our political system, and trying to imagine where we go from here in this bizarre election cycle.
The Age...
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April 23, 2024 • 83 mins
Sarah and David discuss oral arguments in Grants Pass v. Johnson, a Supreme Court case addressing the issue of homeless people camping on public property, as well as and the 4th Circuit ruling that blocked West Virginia's law blocking transgender athletes from participating in sports.
The Agenda:
—SCOTUS hears Grants Pass v. Johnson
—Necessity defense and cannibalism
—4th Circuit ruling on trans sports ban in West Virginia
—SCOTUS ...
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April 18, 2024 • 67 mins
There’s not much worth discussing yet in Donald Trump’s criminal trial in New York, so Sarah and David focus on the Supreme Court and a case on Idaho’s law restricting gender-transition treatment for minors. Plus: Murmurs about Clarence Thomas’ brief absence.
The Agenda:
—Election law crimes, tax crimes, and falsification of business records
—Challenges of broad injunctions
—Idaho’s Vulnerable Child Protection Act
—SCOTUS exhausted...
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April 16, 2024 • 70 mins
Co-authors Jack Goldsmith and Bob Bauer join the podcast to discuss their book, After Trump: Reconstructing the Presidency, and the need to reform presidential power. But first, a protest and a dinner party at a Berkeley Law School dean's house. Did the location qualify as a public forum? Sarah and David evaluate.
The Agenda:
—Dean of Berkeley Law School and a Palestinian Protest: 1A protection?
—How to go about civil disobedience
...
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April 11, 2024 • 80 mins
Sarah and David explain the jury questionnaire in Alvin Bragg’s case against Donald Trump before getting into the weeds of the origins of originalism.
The Agenda:
—How to select a jury for Trump
—Celebrity trial jury instructions
—Biden swings again at student loan forgiveness
—Did the Warren court birth originalism?
—Originalism vs. platonic idealism
—More questions from a high schooler
—How do judicial ethics actually work?
—The ...
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April 9, 2024 • 81 mins
Things get heated in Trump’s classified documents case. In a court filing this week in Donald Trump’s classified documents case, special counsel Jack Smith challenged Judge Aileen Cannon by vowing to appeal any decision that included the Presidential Record Act in jury instructions. David and Sarah discuss Smith's public move and what it means for the case.
The Agenda:
—Sarah's recaps her defamation law musical experience
—Justice ...
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April 4, 2024 • 76 mins
Sarah and David dive into two op-eds challenging the Federalist Society and the call for lawyers to uphold the tradition of liberty under law.
The Agenda:
—Mayfield v. Butler, retaliation, and political targeting
—Risks and challenges facing the Federalist Society
—Did Trump-era advances in jurisprudence come at a deep civic cost?
—The Thomas’ article on the judicial filibuster
—Will Peter Navarro’s attempts to evade jail time succ...
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April 2, 2024 • 83 mins
Federal Judges Roy Altman, Lee Rudofsky, and Amul Thapar join Sarah and David to discuss their recent trip to Israel along with 11 other federal judges that focused on the question of the day: Is Israel complying with international law as it pursues its war against Hamas in Gaza?
The Agenda:
—The purpose of the judges’ trip
—Walking through the locations of the October 7 attack
—Gruesome tactics by Hamas
—Military authority in Isra...
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March 28, 2024 • 67 mins
Sarah and David discuss the legal arguments and media spin around the Mifepristone abortion pill case.
The Agenda:
—Mifepristone at the Supreme Court
—SCOTUS and the 5th Circuit
—Arresting a 72-year-old woman
—The "Burning Man" festival of Alaska
—Red brief, green brief, orange brief too
—The stigma of the green bubbles and the DOJ's antitrust case against Apple
Show Notes:
—Oral argument transcript, FDA v. Alliance Hippocratic Med...
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March 26, 2024 • 83 mins
In this double-guest special, David Lat shares his original reporting on the exodus of Judge Aileen Cannon’s clerks and its implications for Trump's classified documents case. Judge David Proctor of the Northern District of Alabama then joins to explain the history and function of the federal judiciary and its committees, including the Judicial Conference.
The Agenda:
—Do younger clerks just not understand hard work?
—Judge Cannon’...
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March 21, 2024 • 60 mins
Sarah and David dive into the battle (one that at times stumps our resident SCOTUS wonks) between the 5th Circuit and the Supreme Court on Texas’ deportation legislation.
The Agenda:
—Texas’ SB4, explained
—Important legal glossary
—The issue with administrative stays
—Why the delay at the Fifth Circuit?
—Opinion in chambers from Justice Roberts
—FBI No-Fly List Case
—First Amendment and Government Coercion
—NRA free speech battle
...
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March 19, 2024 • 72 mins
Sarah and David discuss Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s opinion in Lindke v. Freed—released last week by the Supreme Court—and the test for state action on social media. Is there a constitutional right to commenting on state officials’ accounts?
The Agenda:
-Predicting SCOTUS votes for Net Choice
-Slime in the ice machine
-Justice Elena Kagan’s compelling reasoning for saying “and” means “or”
-Terrorism distortion and special needs exc...
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March 14, 2024 • 72 mins
Sarah and David react to the Robert Hur’s congressional testimony, but first Sarah responds to a recent article that claimed she was assisting Hur in his testimony (and thanks the loyal listeners who came to her defense).
The Agenda:
—David’s thoughts on the Hur hearings
—Lessons in media training
—Differences between the Trump and Biden documents cases
—Partisanship making people awful
—Complaint by Jewish students at MIT
—Blood l...
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March 12, 2024 • 62 mins
Despite a slow start to the week in legal news, Sarah and David have a tightly packed episode today starting with a dissent from denial from Justice Thomas on bias response teams at a Virginia university.
The Agenda:
—Bias response teams
—ACLU vs. NLRB
—Florida's Stop Woke Act naw-dogged by Eleventh Circuit
—Texas' law on minor access to explicit content at the Fifth Circuit
—TikTok: Welcome to the culture war
—Kevin Newsom's speec...
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March 7, 2024 • 77 mins
David takes the first ten minutes to respond to Twitter trolls over his latest New York Times article before he and Sarah revisit their arguments over the Supreme Court’s per curium ruling on the Trump-Colorado case.
The Agenda:
—Defending the Supreme Court
—Erasing the Constitution
—Confusion over the Trump ruling
—Consequentialism vs. originalism
—Judicial restraint and originalism
—Erasing Chevron
—SCOTUS hears bump stock case
—...
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March 5, 2024 • 69 mins
The Supreme Court issued an unanimous decision on Monday dismissing efforts to block Trump from the Colorado ballot. Sarah and David review the ruling and then go on to disagree about pretty much everything. Stay tuned for a feisty debate.
The Agenda:
-Colorado cannot remove Donald Trump from its ballot
-SCOTUS not touching the "Did Donald Trump engage in insurrection or aiding the enemies of the United States?" question
-Also not...
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February 29, 2024 • 74 mins
Sarah and David have some legal catch-up to do but first on the docket is some rank punditry on Donald Trump's endless legal saga.
The Agenda:
—Why is there a delay on Trump’s cases?
—David explains NetChoice v. Paxton
—McElrath v. Georgia update
—No Labels considers Nikki Haley
—Dr. Phil’s our guy
—Home Depot and free speech
—NCAA name, image, likeness rules
—AO dating app update
Today's episode is supported by Burford Capital. Fo...
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February 27, 2024 • 76 mins
Former U.S. Assistant Attorneys General Stephen Boyd and Jody Hunt, as well as U.S. Attorney for the Northern District of Alabama Prim Escalona join Sarah Isgur for a live recording of Advisory Opinions at the University of Alabama.
The Agenda:
—An update on the Alabama IVF ruling
—To go to law school or not to go?
—Private practice vs public service
—Relationship and mom advice in high-stressed jobs
—Audience QA
Show Notes:
—Chevr...
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