"I loved this recent interview with Mike Lissner, a man with a singular mission to expand public access to US courts. This is exactly the kind of person we are most interested in platforming right now, so we're always open to hearing about guest ideas like this one!" - We are pleased to welcome Mike Lissner, the Executive Director and CTO of the Free Law Project to discuss his outstanding work in bringing federal court filings out from behind the PACER paywall, how just a few people with good ideas can fill in the gaps left by government services, and why he hasn’t created an Article III Hot or Not with his vast library of judicial portraits (but how you could).

• Free Law Project donation page

• CourtListener

• RECAP

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This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

"Okay to be fair this episode only includes the first 30 minutes of the Law'd Awful Movies episode about what is truly and in all seriousness the WORST MOVIE I have ever seen, but it's a perfect taste of how much fun we all had with it--and you didn't really think I'd get through this list without a plug for the Patreon did you?"

The Law'd Awful Movies this month was so much fun, I wanted to give everyone the first ~30 minutes of it. After that, it's the usual Thomas Takes the Bar Exam answer to Q52 and the new Q53. If you are one of the lucky patrons who has already heard LAM1006, feel free to skip to 31:04.

If you'd like to play along with T3BE, here's what to do: hop on Bluesky, follow Openargs, find the post that has this episode, and quote it with your answer! Or, go to our Subreddit and look for the appropriate t3BE posting. Or best of all, become a patron at patreon.com/law and play there!

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

"Although the story of how one of my best friends in the world was weirdly targeted by ICE recently is interesting in its own right, most of this episode is about how Congress accidentally (?) legalized some forms of cannabis in the 2018 Farm Bill. It's the kind of classic under-the-radar legal story that OA has always been known for, and I had a lot of fun with this one. (And yes, High Court is happening!)"

Then in today’s deep dive: what if Congress accidentally legalized some THC products seven years ago and no one noticed? We discuss how this unexpected dutchie was actually passed on the right hand side and what, if anything, Congress should do it about it.

• Nicole’s viral Bluesky post about the notice she received to leave the U.S. in seven days

• U.S. Cannabis Council’s findings on the safety of Delta-8 products

• AK FUTURES LLC v. Boyd Street Distro, LLC, 35 F. 4th 682 (9th Cir. 2022)

• “2018 Farm Bill's Impact on the Cannabis Industry,” Whitt Steineker, National Law Review (2/25/25)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

To support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

This content is CAN credentialed, which means you can report instances of harassment, abuse, or other harm on their hotline at (617) 249-4255, or on their website at creatoraccountabilitynetwork.org.

"This conversation with Somali refugee, author, and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin was a perfect Thanksgiving episode, and we had plenty of time to get beyond the details covered in the "This American Life" which you might remember him from. (This is a two-parter, but you can easily find the next one.)"

Then, it's answer time for T3BE question 48, and our new question 49! Play along on BlueSky!

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

"This conversation with Somali refugee, author, and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin was a perfect Thanksgiving episode, and we had plenty of time to get beyond the details covered in the "This American Life" which you might remember him from. (This is a two-parter, but you can easily find the next one.)"

• Call Me American: A Memoir,: Abdi Nor Iftin (2018)

• “Now is the time to buckle up and fight, not to flee,” Abdi Nor Iftin, The Forecaster (11/19/24)

• “Abdi and the Golden Ticket,” This American Life (7/3/2015)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

"Okay, I lied a bit: there is some Trump stuff in the first half but our main story outlining exactly why Elon Musk should have been deported in the '90s--or at least denied naturalization later on--is so far as I know the most comprehensive breakdown of this story done by any podcast and I'm really proud of it. This early footnote on the legal issues around the perpetually-broken McDonald's ice cream machines was also one of my favorites!"

The Washington Post has just revealed that Elon Musk has his own little secret: his numerous past violations of federal immigration law. How much does this matter, and what would happen if ICE received this information about someone who didn’t happen to be the world’s wealthiest person?

Finally, for our dessert course Matt has the scoop on a tasty footnote from this week’s news about how the Librarian of Congress just helped to fix the ice cream machine at your local McDonald’s.

• “That “Little Secret” Between Trump and Johnson? Here’s What It Could Mean,” Elie Mistal The Nation (10/29/2024)

• “Election certification under threat,” Citizens for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington (8/12/2024)

• “Elon Musk, enemy of ‘open borders,’ launched his career working illegally,” Maria Sachetti et al, The Washington Post (10/26/24)

• “Melania Trump modeled in US prior to getting work visa,” AP News (11/4/2016)

• “They Hacked McDonald’s Ice Cream Machines—and Started a Cold War,” Andy Greenberg WIRED (4/20/2021)

• “Exemption to Prohibition on Circumvention of Copyright Protection Systems for Access Control Technologies,” U.S. Copyright Office Docket No. 2023-5 (10/28/2024)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

"For our Halloween episode I covered the Salem Witch Trials from a purely legal perspective before reviewing some examples of how more recent mass hysteria over everything from sharia law to aliens (both undocumented and extraterrestrial) have influenced law and policy"

We continue our ongoing series on fascism and the law with a fresh perspective on a familiar American legal horror story. Matt explains the terrifying legal context surrounding the 1692 Court of Oyer and Terminar which sentenced dozens of innocent Massachusetts colonists to hang for the extremely real felony of practicing witchcraft--and an unexpected defense strategy which could have spared them. What can the most terrifying run of wrongful executions in US history teach us about the dangers of governance by rumor, paranoia, and conspiracy theories 332 years later?

SOURCES:

• In the Devil’s Snare: The Salem Witchcraft Crisis of 1692, Mary Beth Norton (2003)

• “Salem Witchcraft Trials Research Guide,” Congregational Library (2024)(links to primary sources)

• 18 USC 611 (voting by aliens)

• Order granting preliminary injunction against Oklahoma’s anti-Sharia law amendment in Awad v. Ziriax et al, W.Dist. of OK (2010)(later upheld by 10th Circuit

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

"Thomas and I bonded early on over our shared belief that Adnan Syed absolutely did it when I came on to SIO in 2023 to break down the latest developments at the time, and this episode incorporates some of that conversation along with a complete update on what I continue to believe the most interesting post-conviction proceedings in U.S. legal history"

After some of the strangest post-conviction twists in US legal history, the Supreme Court of Maryland has just reinstated Serial killer Adnan Syed’s conviction for the murder of his high school ex-girlfriend Hae Min Lee 25 years ago. We begin by revisiting Matt’s first-ever legal podcasting deep dive with Thomas on Serious Inquiries Only (SIO354) shortly after Syed’s conviction was initially reinstated by the Maryland Appellate Court last April. How accurate were his predictions for what Maryland’s highest court would do with this, as well as for the fallout which might follow if a new team of prosecutors were to be required to go before a new judge to actually present the evidence upon which they claimed to have brought the motion which freed Syed?

Matt then briefly breaks down the Supreme Court of Maryland’s lengthy decision and explains why this is one of the strongest statements for victims rights ever made by any US state court. What are the odds of the prosecution now bringing a legitimate motion for a new trial? Why doesn’t Adnan Syed have to return to prison now that officially once more stands convicted of first-degree murder? And would we even be here at all if a man who has spent the last 25 years lying about a murder that he committed with his bare hands at the age of 17 hadn’t been introduced to a massive international audience by the only podcast your mother has ever listened to?

Maryland Supreme Court’s decision in Adnan Syed v. Young Lee as Victim’s Representative (9/3/24)

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"Even for all of the incredible people we've had on in the past 15 months, this conversation with family rights attorney Diana Adams has stayed with me the most. Their leadership and advocacy for queer and non-traditional families is truly inspiring, and there is some truly fascinating stuff in here"

We are excited to bring you a fascinating conversation with Attorney Diana Adams (they/them) of the Chosen Family Law Center, a New York City-based non-profit which advocates for LGBTQIA and other non-traditional families of all backgrounds and descriptions. Diana is one of the nation’s leading advocates for rethinking how governments, courts, employers, and other institutions can accommodate committed relationships beyond the norms of romantic and/or sexual monogamy, including those involving more than two people, platonic partnerships, non-traditional parenting arrangements, and the many other ways in which people can choose to be in family relationships. Topics include (among many other things) the surprisingly racist history of the term “nuclear family,” developments in local and state law since the Supreme Court’s monumental recognition of full marriage equality in 2015, and what an immigration system not fundamentally based in a 1950’s conception of white heteronormative marriage might look like.

• Donate to the Chosen Family Law Center

• “Why US Laws Must Expand Beyond the Nuclear Family,” Diana Adams (TED Talk)(3/25/2022)

• “Three's Company, Too: The Emergence of Polyamorous Partnership Ordinances” - Harvard Law Review (March 2022)

• Sex at Dawn: The Prehistoric Origins of Modern Sexuality, Ryan, Christopher, Jetha, Cacilda (2010)

If you’d like to support the show (and lose the ads!), please pledge at patreon.com/law!

"Georgia defense superstar Ashleigh Merchant was my favorite attorney guest of my entire run so far, and this opportunity to listen in with her for the first time on her spontaneous appearance on behalf of Young Thug defense attorney Brian Steele was an absolute delight. If you enjoy hearing trial attorneys talk about their work it doesn't get much more fun than this!"

We continue our coverage of the contempt hearing against Young Thug attorney Brian Steel with a very special guest! Attorney Ashleigh Merchant is not only the president of the Georgia Association of Criminal Defense Lawyers, but most recently known for her work in seeking to recuse Fulton County prosecutor Fani Willis from the Trump RICO case. Attorney Merchant provides her impressions of the YSL RICO trial and why GACDL’s has to have a special “strike force” to defend attorneys in contempt matters before giving us the play-by-play on her cameo appearance in the dramatic conclusion to the hearing which we covered in Part I yesterday.

• YSL Trial Day 88, Fox 5 Atlanta (full video)

• Full 56-page transcript of ex parte hearing with Judge Glanville, Fulton County DAs, and witness Kenneth Copeland held June 10, 2024

• Ashleigh Merchant’s bio page from the Merchant Law Firm website

Bit of a special schedule this week, for reasons that I over-explain in the first 5 minutes of this episode. But it's good reasons! Hope you enjoy.

This is a part 1 of an extremely good Gavel Gavel episode. If you are a Gavel Gavel patron, you can listen to the full version in that feed now! Otherwise, stay tuned for part 2 tomorrow, with special guest Ashleigh Merchant!