Worried about birthright citizenship + still worried that SCOTUS might reverse it? Was this truly the worst argument they have ever heard from any Solicitor General? Also: why the answer to Gorsuch's questions re Native Americans was even worse than you thought, and so much more only on today's OA

important point! As discussed on today's @openargs.bsky.social, Johnson was well aware that the Civil Rights Act of 1866 would extend birthright citizenship to EVERYONE -- and that is exactly why he vetoed it. Not great for Saeur at all!

Today would be Renee Good's 38th birthday. Let's never forget that Renee & Becca Good were a loving, lovely, lovable couple who should have celebrated many birthdays together.

Tune in Friday for our full breakdown of the stupidest argument ever brought to the US Supreme Court by the federal government--this is going to be a fun one!

43/ pro tip: "you have a number of hurdles here" is a very funny way for a judge to say "you have the shittiest case I have ever seen"

42/ KBJ: we would have to believe that (1) Framers were not actually importing the common law birthright citizenship rule and (2) what they were doing was departing from the rule in the way that you suggest -- they were seeking to have this turn on domicile. You have a number of hurdles here.

35/ Sauer: a ruling in our favor would leave "room for Congress" lol this is exactly like saying that burning my house down gives me the room to build a new house, if the only people who could rebuild my house were a white shoe law firm with no hired labor who all hated each other

Sauer goes on about "birth tourism," a problem which is approximately as urgent as undocumented people voting. His brief relies heavily on these kinds of policy arguments, which is not usually the kind of thing that someone who expects to win a legal argument does

Sauer cites Ilan Wurman's brief, a sign that he is truly on the ropes

Also weird but true fact: many people do not know this but Wurman's show with a former chair of the MN young Republicans (Rationally Based) is the closest thing to @openargs.bsky.social that is available to podcast listeners in hell

Feels appropriate to point out on No Kings day: Allowing Trump to selectively pay employees he likes, when he feels like it, rather than having Congress solve the problem, is a real constitutional threat. From @joshchafetz.bsky.social donmoynihan.substack.com/p/mike-johns...

An important reminder of the cost of the most dangerous labor done by people we keep in a state of permanent vulnerability This OA episode honoring the dead, explaining their situation, + dogwalking our national anthem into the sun was one of my favorites of 2024 open.spotify.com/episode/3BIk...

helicopter lawyering

Vital thread. More on @openargs.bsky.social this Friday, but DOJ's successful prosecution of the Prarieland "Antifa" (with 52-point quotation marks there) defendants for clearly 1A-protected beliefs, speech, & associations is a major inflection point in American fascism prairielanddefendants.com

SAVE Act coming up for a vote, today or tomorrow! Call your Senators, again! The Capitol switchboard is (202) 224-3121. (Tip: put it in your Contacts.) For direct phone numbers, see this: bsky.app/profile/cdpo...

New to OA? Here's how to listen: MONDAYS: deep dives into legal topics in the news w/Jenessa Seymour WEDNESDAYS: Thomas, Lydia, + Matt read + respond to the stupidest legal takes we can find (now also on Youtube!) FRIDAYS: Matt goes beyond the headlines to explain the law behind the news

Thanks Janet! Some recent favorites: Our reading of a 1997 Dersh oped about how the age of consent is just too damn high (2/18) An interview with the director of the largest immigration law nonprofit in the US (3/2) A deep dive on how gymnast Jordan Chiles might get her Olympic medal back (2/9)

counterpoint: if your main law podcasts are OA and @fivefourpod.bsky.social, you are listening to exactly the right number of law podcasts. But thanks!

Thanks to @aywarhiannon.bsky.social & @fleerultra.bsky.social rultra.bsky.social for having me on @fivefourpod.bsky.social to talk about the practical hope of knowing where in immigration law we can win, where we are winning, & how we will win open.spotify.com/episode/3zWN...

Thanks to @acaciajustice.org's Shaina Aber for joining us on today's show to discuss the special challenges facing immigration nonprofits and their clients in the second Trump term! Please consider a donation to help cover Acacia's lost federal funding here: acaciajustice.org/donate/

@annabower.bsky.social is doing one of the most important jobs in American journalism right now: showing up to federal courts and telling us exactly what is being said and done in there in our names as it happens 🫡

As discussed on Friday's show (2/13) the secret memo telling ICE that they can do this literally just says that their lawyers have told them that neither the Constitution, the regulations, nor the law prohibits warrantless entry to arrest someone with a prior deportation order

introducing our newest patron tier (true masochists only)

Believe that they're really ending the surge in Minnesota when people on the ground say it's happened but also *even* if this is nothing but more face saving, it's a huge acknowledgement that they know they're losing and that the people of Minnesota are never going to stop protecting their neighbors

Here is the episode where we go through the emails in which the only woman on the 2007 Epstein prosecution team tries to push for real justice for survivors--known and unknown. youtu.be/-V4YPl2uB1M?...

This was such a great convo!

@seriouspod.bsky.social and I had a FANTASTIC convo with @letsgomathias.bsky.social on @wokepod.bsky.social about all things antifa and he has some really inspiring stories to share on the pod AND in his new book, out now! www.simonandschuster.com/books/To-Cat... podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/w...

The @openargs.bsky.social podcast has a good dive into immunity, qualified and otherwise, and the narrow, ambiguous road of legal recourse when the federal government misbehaves. We live in a time where understanding the decision tree is important. podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/t...

Tomorrow's front page of the Minnesota Star Tribune: Jan. 24, 2026

You know what Congress can do: open its own investigation into Renee Good’s death and make its own referral to DOJ. And if the Republicans don’t want to do it, I think we know have 10 attorneys and 1 FBI agents perfectly willing to testify at shadow hearings held by the Democrats.

Next up on Law'd Awful Movies: Kim Kardashian fails the acting bar in Ryan Murphy's atrocious "All's Fair"-- but how is the law? The law is also bad. Get ad-free listening along with our most entertaining episodes on Patreon! patreon.com/law

One court decision, two different headlines. Guardian on the left, NY Times on the right. Which one more directly conveys information and the stakes to the reader?

I have appreciated Silky's work for years and her book "Unbuild Walls" helped me to better understand how to center decriminalization and abolition in both my legal advocacy and my journalism, so this one was extra fun for me. Still thinking about this one, and I think you will be too.

If you can’t run against the fucking Gestapo, then get out of the way for those who can.

Thanks to @silkys13.bsky.social of the Detention Watch Network for a great conversation about the challenges & opportunities of organizing against mass deportation & detention in this moment, how lawyers can (and can't) help, & where she is finding hope right now youtu.be/zonU1PEmrd0?...

This is necessary reading from the Detention Watch Network's Silky Shah. She'll be joining on tomorrow's show for a great conversation about 23 years of fighting ICE on the ground, what this moment means to her, the tough choices these times require, and imagining life after ICE

BTW if you want background on the Maduro story, listen to the one and only Liz Skeen @openargs.bsky.social podbay.fm/p/opening-ar...

Do you really need us to explain why a US military invasion of Greenland would be illegal or are we good here

#AbolishICE From the @openargs.bsky.social podbay.fm/p/opening-ar...

"ICE IS NO GESTAPO!" COMPLAIN GESTAPO ENTHUSIASTS The National Review piece we read and discussed five months ago (starting around 6:45) on why ICE is definitely not the Gestapo has aged like lettuce youtu.be/hiwC6szbOWM?...

JOHN EASTMAN DID J6 pass it on

"If [ ] Eastman & [ ] Trump’s plan had worked, it would have permanently ended the peaceful transition of power... [I]f the country does not commit to investigating and pursuing accountability for those responsible, the Court fears January 6 will repeat itself." --federal judge David Carter 3/28/22

RT this if you know that John Eastman did J6

@seriouspod.bsky.social's 5-second review of the pro-insurrectionist "The Eastman Dilemma": "it's like someone did 4% of the work on this movie, and then died"

Former attorney John Eastman bears more personal responsibility for J6 than Donald Trump, and yet most Americans will never know his name. Let's be sure they do. open.spotify.com/episode/33Lm...

just a reminder of the initial, in the moment, right wing reaction to jan 6 my favorite is greg gutfeld saying republican condemnation of the jan 6 rioters is an example of their moral superiority over the left www.mediamatters.org/media/4018641