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!
A close-up of Renee Nicole Good smiling at the beach, wearing a hat and reflective sunglasses. Becca Good is reflected in the sunglasses, holding up her phone to take the photo.
A photo of Renee and Becca Good smiling inside a shop or restaurant, with the shop window behind them in the background.
A selfie of Renee Nicole Good and Becca Good sitting in their car, smiling and wearing matching reflective sunglasses. Reflected in their sunglasses is the car's glovebox with their son's stuffies sticking out of it.
A photo of Becca and Renee Good smiling, wearing matching purple shirts and matching sunglasses perched on top of their heads, with a wooden fence and trees in the background behind them.
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
These actions aren't just illegal, although they are that. They aren't just unconstitutional, although they are that. They are anti-constitutional: they strike at the core of one of the principles that allows our entire constitutional order to function. From the Founding through the present day, the power of the purse has been understood as one of Congress's most potent tools against the executive: the executive can't do anything without money, and he can't spend money without Congress. If Trump is able to get away with ignoring that, with arrogating the entire power of the purse to himself, then Congress has pretty much no way of checking him.
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...
Not unless plaintiffs could show that Truth was actively pushing j6 content in the window of time ahead of it to the point that it was a product design decision rather than hosting content. This suit was groundbreaking bc it approached the apps as defective products rather than complicit platorms
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...
Just reposted separately, good find!
helicopter lawyering
Lol wow ty! This looks like footnote material
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...
We are still podcasters at heart and that is still where nearly all of our audience is, but we've been having a lot of fun on Youtube on Wednesdays! Check us out and subscribe to catch new releases and shorts
youtube.com/@seriouspodn...
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
We just recorded the episode with the "victim's" testimony describing the sandwich assault and it is the most fun you are ever going to have hearing the testimony of someone who was the victim of an alleged federal crime
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/
Danke!
@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 🫡
Political speech is the most protected speech, for good reason. The consequences for this kind of insanely casual lying in a democracy are supposed to be not getting rewarded with re-election but here we are
bsky.app/profile/matt...