Podcast
Opening Arguments
Hosted by Opening Arguments Media LLC · EN
Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas!
The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!
80episodes
Episodes
Newest firstAll episodes
Why Is Alito Like This? with Peter Canellos
3d ago00:56:58Tap to summarizeWe are excited to welcome veteran journalist Peter Canellos to discuss his new book Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement. In this first-ever biography of Samuel Alito, Canellos draws from extensive interviews and years of research to provide a complete portrait not only of Alito as a person and a jurist, but of the reactionary conservative legal revolution which helped get him to the Supreme Court. In this conversation we go beyond the basics of the book to discuss (among many other things) who Alito really is, how his early life shaped his view of the world, and why so many people who knew him before his nomination now say that they don't recognize who he became after it. SAVE THE DATE! Join us this Sunday June 28th at 4:30 EDT for our first meeting of the OA Book Club--featuring a brief visit from this month’s author Peter Canellos! This new monthly bonus will be available to patrons at every level going forward,, so please subscribe anytime at patreon.com/law! Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement, Peter Canellos (2026) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →He's Literally the Worst Dealmaker Ever. EVER.
6d ago00:54:04Tap to summarizeOA1271 - The single stupidest war of choice the U.S. has ever gotten itself into may finally be coming to an end--or at least the concept of a plan for an end? We go beyond the headlines to see what is actually in this thing, and take on some of the most interesting legal questions raised here. How could this possibly bind Israel, a country which specifically refused to be a party to it? How is the U.S. promising a $300 billion investment which hasn’t been authorized by Congress? And how much power does the President of the United States really have to end Congressional and international sanctions? We then take a quick look at how DHS’s surveillance state is coming along before going deeper on the recent denial of Judge Hannah Dugan’s final effort to vacate her conviction for allegedly obstructing an ICE arrest in her Wisconsin courtroom before sentencing. Finally, a quick hoofnote: is it really possible to accidentally purchase 80,000 pounds of live cattle? Matt reveals the truth behind this week’s funniest legal meme. Full text of U.S./Iran agreement signed June 18, 2026 “Missing children: Mullin describes 'horrific’ migrant child smuggling scheme under Biden admin,”News 3 Las Vegas on YouTube (6/12/2026) Management Alert - ICE Cannot Monitor All Unaccompanied Migrant Children Released from DHS and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services' Custody, Department of Homeland Security Office of the Inspector General (8/19/2024) “Has the US government found 145,000 ‘lost’ migrant children? Fact-checking Kristi Noem,” Politifact via the Minnesota Reformer (3/9/2026) ICE agent calls legal observer 'domestic terrorist', Ken Klippenstein via Breakthrough News on YouTube (1/24/2026) 'There is no database for protestors,' acting ICE director tells Congress, PBS NewsHour on YouTube (2/10/2026) Acting ICE director Todd Lyons’ response to a letter from Congressman Maxwell Frost (D-FL), accessed through NPR (4/21/2026) Mission Creep: AI Surveillance at DHS Crosses Dangerous Line Into Tracking Americans, American Immigration Council (2/6/2026) Declaration of Nicole Cleland in Tincher v. Noem, Minnesota District Court (1/21/2026) “ICE has spun a massive surveillance web. We talked to people caught in it,” NPR (3/5/2026) Decision and Order in United States of America v. Dugan, Eastern District of Wisconsin (6/16/2026) “Livestock,” CME Group (standard settlement procedures) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →The National Review’s Defense of Todd Blanche Is So Bad It's Confusing
1w ago01:08:35Tap to summarizeVR35 - In this episode released on the 54th anniversary of the Watergate break-in, the Vapid Response team raids the archives of the New York Times to retrieve one of the single worst (and worst-timed!) contemporary takes on the scandal which would end Richard Nixon’s Presidency. We then return to a time in which a Watergate-style burglary would be a fun diversion to see how at least one conservative legal writer is defending Trump’s nomination of his former defense attorney to serve as Attorney General. “Comeback Time,” William Safire, The New York Times (4/19/1973) “Todd Blanche is Unfit for Office,” The Editorial Board, The New York Times (6/15/2026) “Blanche and the New York Times,” Michael Fragoso, National Review (6/15/2026) Opening Arguments Linktree (Patreon, socials, and more): https://linktr.ee/openingarguments
Transcribe →When It Comes to Juries, All of a Sudden the Supreme Court Can See Race
1w ago00:56:23Tap to summarizeOA1270 - A good court thingie! A famous case from 1986 gave us the “Batson rule” that prevents the use of “peremptory strikes” to remove people from juries on the basis of race. To this day, racial discrimination in jury selection continues to be a problem. But the Supreme Court recently reinforced the on-going utility of Batson challenges in two decisions… written by Kavanaugh? Tune in to learn about the history and modern application of this important protection of our rights. Swain v. Alabama, 380 U.S. 202 (1965) Batson v. Kentucky, 476 U.S. 79 (1986) J. E. B. v. Alabama ex rel. T. B., 511 U.S. 127 (1994) Flowers v. Mississippi, 588 U.S. 284 (2019) Pitchford v. Cain, 608 U.S. ___ (2026) Batson “Justifications” Catherine M. Grosso & Barbara O’Brien, A Stubborn Legacy: The Overwhelming Importance of Race in Jury Selection in 173 Post-Batson North Carolina Capital Trials, 97 Iowa L. Rev. 1531 (2012). Shamena Anwar, Patrick Bayer, & Randi Hjalmarsson, The Impact of Jury Race in Criminal Trials, 127 Q.J. Econ. 1017 (2011). Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
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LAM1014: Green Card
2w ago00:47:56Tap to summarizeHoo boy what a bizarre experience! Listen as Matt tries to convince us a really bad movie is good just because it deals with immigration law! If you'd like to hear the rest, go to Patreon.com/law and pledge at $2+!
Transcribe →Trump Is Trying to Blanche His Taint
2w ago00:53:47Tap to summarizeOA1269 - It’s official: Donald Trump has nominated Acting Attorney General “Two Taint” Todd Blanche to run the Department of Justice for real. We review Blanche’s three-year career as Trump’s personal defense attorney before considering the questions the Senate Judiciary Committee should be asking to determine just who Blanche has been really working for in his time at DOJ so far. Then: the U.S. is hosting the world’s biggest international sports event at a time when our immigration system has never been less hospitable, and even before the first World Cup kickoff Trump’s CBP has been giving red cards to players, coaches, support staff, and fans who had already been cleared by the refs at U.S. consulates abroad. Matt explains the immigration law logistics of international tournaments, and how this administration’s harsh immigration policies are actively working against the system’s efforts to make things easier for World Cup visitors. Finally, in this week’s listener-requested footnote: why an outdoor sportswear brand is reluctantly suing a drag queen, and our predictions for one of the strangest trademark lawsuits in U.S. history. “Trump Trial Opening Statements (Defendant),” Gavel Gavel (11/1/2024) “People v. Trump 5-28,” Gavel Gavel (12/1/2024) “The Ghislaine Maxwell Interview was Institutional Corruption Like We’ve Never Seen Before. Truly,” Opening Arguments (8/26/2025)(Youtube version) Acting AG Todd Blanche’s Congressional testimony on 6/2/2026 “CPAC 2026 ‘Fireside Chat’ with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche,” Youtube (3/26/2026) “Dai Dai (Official Video),” Shakira & Burna Boy Complaint in Patagonia, Inc v. Entrepreneur Enterprises, Inc. dba Pattie Gonia Productions and Wyn Wiley (1/21/2026) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →Is Fender Threatening Anyone Who Makes Strat-Shaped Guitars?
2w ago01:08:13Tap to summarizeOA1268 - Patents, trademarks, and copyrights, ach mein! How did the Fender Stratocaster, a guitar that has been in continuous manufacture since 1954, Suddenly become the subject of an intellectual property dispute? Well, maybe this didn’t exactly come from Out of the Woods. Fender has had 5 utility patents, 1 design patent, and 3 trademarks relevant to the Stratocaster Through the Years. But the one thing that’s been Slipping Through Their Fingers all this time was protection for that iconic (or is it?) body shape. After their design patent expired, their trademark application was Denied, and US copyright was definitionally Forbidden, anyone could see that Nothing Really Matters to the US Patent and Trademark Office, and Fender was left Walking in the Snow. Very similar (some might say identical) body shapes entered the market. It’s Late, but perhaps not too late. Fender sailed the Seven Seas to another country with different copyright laws. But with only a German court order in hand, will Fender be able to make this exclusive protection Live Forever, or is it just Cheap Talk other guitar makers can ignore? Contrary to the hot takes everywhere, it could be A Hard Day’s Night before we get a definitive answer. Is any of it JU$T? You decide. Tune in for the history that got us here, an overview of US IP law, and to hear Jenessa argue with a computer, and 90% of people talking about this, who just cannot seem to link to the documents they’re referencing… Fender patents, relevant to Stratocaster: Guitar shape (utility/functional features): U.S. Patent No. 2,960,900 (issued Nov. 22, 1960) Guitar shape (design/ornamental features): U.S. Patent No. Des. 169,062 (issued Mar. 24, 1953) Bridge and pick-up assembly: U.S. Patent No. 2,573,254 (issued Oct. 30, 1951) Tremolo: U.S. Patent No. 2,741,146 (issued Apr. 10, 1956) Pickup and circuit: U.S. Patent No. 2,817,261 (issued Dec. 24, 1957) Adjustable neck: U.S. Patent No. 3,143,028 (issued Aug. 4, 1964) Dating a Fender Stratocaster, Adirondack Guitars. Relevant Fender trademarks Fender brand name: FENDER, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 0805075 (issued/renewed Mar. 8, 1966) Stratocaster name: STRATOCASTER, U.S. Trademark Registration No. 0839997 (issued Dec. 5, 1967) Headstock: U.S. Trademark Registration No. 1148870 (issued Mar. 3, 1981) USPTO, 1512 Relationship Between Design Patent, Copyright, and Trademark. Stuart Spector Designs, Ltd. v. Fender Musical Instruments Corporation, 94 USPQ2d 1549 (TTAB 2009) [precedential]. Düsseldorf Regional Court (Az. 14c O 64/25) Carolin Thurner, The Fender Stratocaster before the Regional Court of Düsseldorf - First application of the ECJ Principles from Mio/konektra to a work of applied art in Germany, Lexology. Katheriner Sayer (May 28, 2026), The Brewing Fight Over the World’s Most Popular Electric Guitar, Wall Street Journal. Josh Gardner, Fender reportedly demands boutique builders stop making Stratocaster-style guitars: This is what it means for the industry, Guitar.com. Wayne’s World clip Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →35 Judges Say Trump's DOJ Committed Fraud on the Court
3w ago00:42:04Tap to summarizeOA1267 - Is Trump’s 1.8 billion dollar “anti-weaponization” fund really done, or is there something else going on here? Also can a few dozen federal judges really reopen any given civil suit with one magic filing? We take a closer look before going behind the recent commutation of former Mesa County (CO) elections clerk Tina Peters’ sentence by Colorado governor Jared Polis to the actual legal basis behind her successful appeal of her sentence to the Colorado Appeals Court. Finally in today’s footnote: an NPR host’s lawsuit claiming that Google stole his voice. People v. Peters, Colorado Appeals Court #2026COA24 (4/2/2026) “MOTION FOR RELIEF FROM JUDGMENT OR ORDER, OR, IN THE ALTERNATIVE, FOR LEAVE TO APPEAR AS AMICI CURIAE BY THIRTY-FIVE FORMER FEDERAL JUDGES,” Trump v. IRS, filed 5/27/2026 Initial complaint in Green v Google et al (filed 1/23/2026) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →Molly Hemingway's Alito Book Is EMBARRASSING Propaganda
3w ago01:09:30Tap to summarizeVR34 - This week in Vapid Response: Vanilla Ice provides the platonic ideal of an amuse douche before we order up an excerpt of the worshipful new Alito biography by the editor-in-chief of The Federalist. We then take a closer look at MAGA’s desperate attacks on Trump accuser E. Jean Carroll as expressed in a recent piece in the Examiner. OA Book Club is coming for all patrons! Sign up now for ad-free listening at patreon.com/law, and start reading our first selection ahead of our first live Zoom meetup later this month. “Alito Is The Most 'Courageous' Justice You've Never Read About,” Mollie Hemingway, The Federalist (April 21, 2026) Carroll couldn't remember the year. But she remembered to lie,” Joe Concha, The Examiner (May 30, 2026) Watch us on YouTube! Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
Transcribe →When Super Soaker Got Sued by a Totally Lame Squirt Gun
3w ago00:53:36Tap to summarizeOA1266 - Can wearing a corset be considered a “public” use of the product? What makes someone (or some thing) an inventor? What is it exactly that makes the Super Soaker so rad? Get the answers to these questions and more from… patent law? Jenessa walks us through some of her favorite wacky cases (that also teach us core patent law concepts). Egbert v. Lippmann, 104 U.S. 333 (1881) Thaler v. Vidal, 43 F.4th 1207 (2022) Larami Corp. v. Amron, 27 U.S.P.Q.2d 1280 (E.D. Pa. 1993) Larami Corp. v. Amron, 91 F.3d 166 (Fed. Cir. 1996) Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!
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