Advisory Opinions
Advisory Opinions is a legal podcast by The Dispatch. Hosts David French and Sarah Isgur meet twice a week to talk about the law, the courts, their collision with politics, and why it all matters.
Episodes
May 1, 2025 • 63 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French explain the upcoming Supreme Court decision regarding the public chartering of religious schools and how it might implicate the establishment clause.
The Agenda:—Justice Gorsuch is the new Justice Kennedy—More on SCOTUS lie-gate—Magic and Larry Bird (Lisa Blatt and Roman Martinez)—Lisa Blatt’s apology—FBI knocks down the wrong door—Chartering religious schools—What is a charter school?—The establishmen...
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April 29, 2025 • 87 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French are joined by Amy Howe and David Lat, of The Dispatch’s extended legal universe, to debate whether the Supreme Court should be more transparent.
Sarah and David then separate fact from the fiction in the arrest of Judge Hannah Dugan. (Also: should there be cameras in the Supreme Court?)
The Agenda:—Cameras at SCOTUS?—SCOTUS oral argument goes off the rails—Calling other lawyers the “L” word—The a...
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April 24, 2025 • 72 mins
Amy Howe, the voice of SCOTUSblog, joins Sarah Isgur and David French to discuss the news of The Dispatch’s acquisition of SCOTUSblog.
Also: What's the equity in equity dockets?
The Agenda:
—SCOTUSblog joins The Dispatch
—Puppies (and pride?)
—Harvard fights back
—Equity dockets, revisited
Show Notes:
—Read more on the acquisition
Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, p...
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April 22, 2025 • 72 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French react to Donald Trump’s latest legal battles and talk to friend of the pod Judge Amul Thapar about his new wellness Substack.
\The Agenda:
—Birthright citizenship oral argument
—Trump's use of Alien Enemies Act blocked
—The FAFO bucket
—Criminal contempt proceedings against the Trump administration
—'An opinion for the ages'
—Judges Thapar’s wellness advice
Show Notes:
—Justice Alito's dissent on Alien ...
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April 17, 2025 • 60 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the ongoing saga of Kilmar Abrego Garcia’s illegal deportation and what’s next for the man currently in a notorious El Salvadoran prison.
The Agenda:
—SCOTUS order: effectuate vs. facilitate
—Emergency docket scorecard
—Turnover at the solicitor general's office
—MAGA's legal strategies backfiring
—Tariff lawsuit in California challenges executive power
—Papa Musk
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April 10, 2025 • 57 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French examine detainees’ rights and habeas corpus before reacting to the Season 3 finale of White Lotus.
The Agenda:
—Gitmo: Hamdi and Rasul
—Legal status of El Salvador detainees
—Courts and human rights
—The Associated Press' fight for free speech
—White Lotus and evolutionary psychology
—Friend groups should have even numbers
Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company coveri...
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April 8, 2025 • 43 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French review the Supreme Court’s emergency decision on the Trump administration’s use of the Alien Enemies Act.
The Agenda:
—Due process matters
—The clean hands problem
—More forum shopping
—What is “reasonable notice”?
—Firing probationary workers
—Amy Coney Barrett and John Roberts are the new swing votes
Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, ...
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April 8, 2025 • 91 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French explain how the tariff power may make its way to the Supreme Court as a “major question” and debate the ethics of arguing in front of your children.
The Agenda:
—IEEPA, explained
—SCOTUS on USAID freeze
—Make vaping great again
—The most OCD employee
—Natural law is real
—In defense of legal activism
—How to argue in front of your children
Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital med...
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April 3, 2025 • 62 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss Wisconsin's unemployment tax case, which touches on the intersection of religious liberty and legal standards. When is an institution operating primarily for religious purposes?
The Agenda:
—We don’t cover internet beefs
—Trump v. All
—Can Catholic Charities keep its tax-exempt status?
—Wisconsin Supreme Court races are vicious and cruel
—Generalists vs. specialists
—Evolution of activist legal ...
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April 1, 2025 • 73 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French review the Trump administration’s latest executive order targeting law firms, the legal challenge against the White House’s invocation of the Alien Enemies Act, and the problems surrounding universal injunctions.
The Agenda:
—David’s dangerous brush with nature
—Trump’s non-strategic executive orders against law firms
—Can the courts review a proclamation invoking the Alien Enemies Act?
—Is immigration...
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March 27, 2025 • 87 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the Supreme Court’s ruling to uphold the the ban on ghost guns. Is it really about the Second Amendment?
Sarah and David are then joined by Gregg Costa—partner at Gibson Dunn and former Fifth Circuit judge—to explain the issue with universal injunctions and forum shopping.
The Agenda:
—I ain’t afraid of no ghost (gun)
—A big week for Justice Neil Gorsuch
—Mens rea and regulation
—False vs. mis...
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March 25, 2025 • 75 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French give us an update on the Paul Weiss legal drama and the frontal attacks on the law firm from the Trump administration. Plus, video dissents and a bill tackling injunctions.
The Agenda:
—The deal
—The Texas Lawbook responds to Trump administration
—Skadden Arps and the backlash
—Paul, Weiss chair's Sunday afternoon memo
—Dinesh D'Souza, for some reason
—The Dissenting Judge
—The end of universal injuncti...
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March 20, 2025 • 73 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss Chief Justice John Roberts’ recent rebuke of President Donald Trump and the proper way to criticize a court’s opinion.
The Agenda:
—Judicial independence and integrity
—Orin Kerr and Michael C. Dorf debate
—The “confusing” McDonnell Douglas framework
—Parental due process rights
—Age restrictions on the 2A
—Free speech for professors
—SCOTUS’ lottery system
Advisory Opinions is a production of ...
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March 18, 2025 • 115 mins
In this less-than-cheerful episode, Sarah Isgur and David French discuss threats to the judiciary external and internal, exploring the Trump administration’s legal maneuvers against law firms and drawing parallels to historical events like the Alien and Sedition Acts.
The Agenda:
—SCOTUS Update: All B cases
—A judge’s gamesmanship on birthright citizenship
—Leave Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s sister alone
—Paul, Weiss and Trump’s thr...
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March 13, 2025 • 61 mins
Live from the University of Michigan, Sarah Isgur and David French are joined by law professors Josh Chafetz, Aaron Nielson, Jennifer Mascott, and other special guests, to explain Humphrey's Executor and the executive power of removal.
The Agenda:
—Myers v. United States
—Humphrey's Executor v. United States
—Peekaboo
—The “illimitable power of removal”
—Was Madison right about “liquidation”?
—Congressional accountability
—Civil se...
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March 11, 2025 • 78 mins
Between President Donald Trump’s executive order targeting Perkins Coie and interim D.C. U.S. Attorney Ed Martin sending letters to Georgetown Law, it has been quite the week for weaponized government. Sarah Isgur and David French dive into these two headliners, as well as a First Amendment debate involving green card holders.
The Agenda:
—More Sarah lore: Combative hula-hooping
—Perkins Coie and President Trump's executive orders
...
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March 6, 2025 • 70 mins
David Stras, appeals judge for the 8th Circuit, joins Sarah Isgur and David French at the University of Chicago Law School to discuss complexities of case selection in the Supreme Court, the quality and clarity of judicial opinions, and disagreements with Justice Clarence Thomas.
The Agenda:
—Recent SCOTUS cases
—Supreme Court denies Trump request
—SCOTUS kicks bias response teams
—Judge Stras' background from Holocaust survivor gr...
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March 4, 2025 • 69 mins
Sarah Isgur invites former Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein and special counsel Robert Hur to discuss the significance of special counsels, including the appointment process involved and the public’s perception of their independence and accountability.
The Agenda:
—Historical context of special counsels
—Evolution of special counsel regulations
—The personal impact
—Role of predication
—Public confidence
—Q&A!
Advisory Opini...
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February 27, 2025 • 75 mins
David French is off doing David French things, so Sarah Isgur takes over the podcast and invites Judge Charles Eskridge of the Southern District of Texas and Judge Brantley Starr of the Northern District of Texas to discuss all things Texas—and the powers of the executive branch.
The Agenda:
—What’s exciting about Locke?
—Here comes the Old Whig
—King of England vs. the American president
—Appeal to heaven
—Second terms are bad new...
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February 25, 2025 • 82 mins
Sarah Isgur and David French chased down a handful of authors over the weekend at the National Constitution Center for hallway interviews about life, liberty, and ... witches.
The Agenda:
—Jeff Rosen teaches us about happiness
—Virtue vs. pleasure
—Salem witch trials!
—Nobody burns, they hang
—What does it mean to be a lawyer?
—Living beyond the billable hour
Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media compan...
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