May it Displease the Court

In June 2015, the Supreme Court ruled that marriage is a fundamental right guaranteed by the 14th Amendment that must be afforded to same-sex couples. 

Since then, anti-LGBTQ activists, with funding from creepy right-wing billionaires and help from Republican state legislators in gerrymandered “red” states, have sought new ways to marginalize and bully LGBTQ people. To fracture the unity of LGBTQ people and their allies, the legislative attacks have targeted transgender people. First manufactured concerns about bathroom access, next trans people’s ability to participate in sports, and most recently, attacks on transgender youths and their bodies with the increasing trend of criminalizing trans medicine.

How has the medical community responded to the criminalization of practices, which are the standard of care for gender dysphoria, and the insertion of legislators who want to prohibit parents of trans youth from making decisions about their children’s medical care?

In this episode, Michigan State Professor stef shuster, who wrote the book wrote Trans Medicines - The emergence and practice of treating gender, joins host Mary Whiteside.

*Since recording, the American Medical Association has come of opposing any and all criminal penalties for patients and families attempting to access gender-affirming care and protecting physicians from legal threats for providing care. 

**Also, several important Court decisions have come out stopping laws banning or limiting gender-affirming care from taking effect. Huge wins for the trans community! However, these favorable decisions will undoubtedly be appealed, so the fight is not over.

Find us @courtpod on Twitter, and May it Displease the Court on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Clapper

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources

https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs11199-020-01131-3) 

https://msutoday.msu.edu/news/2020/toxic-masculinity-is-unsafe-for-men

https://socialscience.msu.edu/news-events/news/archives/2020/2020-06-16.html 

​​https://socialscience.msu.edu/research/thematic/sgm/journal.html 

https://jamanetwork.com/journals/jamapediatrics/article-abstract/2783699 

https://www.endocrine.org/news-and-advocacy/news-room/2022/endocrine-society-alarmed-at-criminalization-of-transgender-medicine 

Here in America, the number of people we choose to incarcerate makes up 25% of the world’s prison population. And that statistic was driven by mainly by state and local “tough on crime” prosecutors.

Prosecutors have a huge amount of power and control over who get criminally charged, who doesn’t, what crimes get pursued, and what crimes get ignored, who gets a plea bargain, and who gets denied or offered rehabilitative diversion programs. 

If you want to change the system the fastest way is to become a reform District Attorney. But while that may be popular with the majority of voters in some areas, even these officials face a ton of well-funded resistance.

In this episode, Justin Kollar, who has been working as and for the Reform Prosecutor Movement since 2012 joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss the ways prosecutors can use their power to advance justice and divert resources to truly help communities and make them safer. 

Find us @courtpod on Twitter and May it Displease the Court on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Clapper

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources

https://fairandjustprosecution.org/about-fjp/our-work-and-vision/ 

https://www.civilbeat.org/beat/kauai-prosecutor-stepping-down-for-nonprofit-gig/ 

https://fairandjustprosecution.org/about-fjp/our-team/

The Constitution protects our right to an impartial jury. Still, the normal process of selecting a jury often lets attorneys' unconscious or conscious biases infect jury selection. If a juror’s biases are undetected or dismissed as something that can be set aside, they can inflect the verdict leading to wrongful convictions.

Biases are habits of thought or patterns of thinking that include preferences, inclinations, or just impressions. Biases can include cognitive shortcuts that can lead to wrong assumptions or errors in judgment. Judging a past event using what you know today is hindsight bias. Confirmation bias is only seeking information to confirm a prejudgment. All of these are impediments to a fair jury.

The stakes could not be higher for an innocent person accused of a crime. If a jury fills in gaps in the government’s proof with stereotypes, hunches, and vague bad feelings, then the 

In this episode, trial attorney Rhian Jones joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss the dangers of hidden biases on a jury and ideas to make jury selection better and fairer.

Find us @courtpod on Twitter and May it Displease the Court on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, and Clapper

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources

Rhian Jones

• http://etksdefense.com/attorneys/rhian-jones/

Peremptory Challenges

• https://www.npr.org/2021/09/06/1034556234/arizonas-supreme-court-eliminates-peremptory-challenges 

https://abovethelaw.com/2015/11/criminally-yours-dont-eliminate-peremptory-challenges/ Article on Willie Simmons: https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/

We hear the terms cancel culture and wokeness thrown around these days, but do you know what they mean? A common defense tactic of someone embroiled in a public and embarrassing controversy is to proclaim loudly, through their platforms, they have been canceled, and of course, the people canceling them have to be woke.

That is what Dr. Nicholas Niciosa and his wife, Mary, claimed after they received public criticism after it became known that they hosted a party with racist themes at their mansion. A lawsuit was filed by an employee whose supervisor took him and other employees to this party during work hours. 

In this episode, we bring back one of the best people on the planet Prof.Lee Pierce. She joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss cancel culture, free speech, and wokeness.

Find us on Twitter @courtpod and May it Displease the Court on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Youtube shorts, and we will launch a youtube channel soon.

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources:

• https://www.democratandchronicle.com/story/news/2022/08/11/rochester-ny-firefighter-alleges-captain-took-him-to-racist-party-mocking-juneteenth/65400205007/ 

Article on Willie Simmons: https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/

The Conservative majority on the Supreme Court is upending the legal landscape overturning cases like Roe v. Wade, making it almost impossible for states to enact limits on gun possession, and more, all under the guise of a legal theory called originalism. 

In this episode, we bring back one of our most popular guests, Prof. Eric Segall. He joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss his book Originalism as Faith.

Listen as Professor Segall debunks originalism as a legal theory. Self-avowed originalists on the Supreme Court only use the Constitution's original meaning in their opinions when it helps their argument. But, even though they claim originalism is the only correct method of Constitutional interpretation. They effortlessly abandon originalism when it doesn’t help them reach their desired results. In short, originalism is nothing more than a rhetorical device that plays well on Fox News. It masks the Justices’ true motive, which is to impose their moral value judgments on the rest of us without admitting that it is their views. They prefer to claim that they are only doing the will of the Founders, which somehow matches identically with what the Republican Party and their wealthy and religious donors want them to do. What luck!

Find us on Twitter - Prof. Segall is @espinsegall and @scotussegall on TikTok

The podcast is @courtpod on Twitter and May it Displease the Court on Facebook, Instagram and TikTok

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources:

• Originalism as Faith

• Additional References

• Article on Willie Simmons: 

https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/

Political divisions are driving wedges at all levels, national, state, communities, and families. The fracture may seem unbridgable. But Americans agree that our government does not work for us. It works for the rich and powerful. Even acknowledging the problem can make you feel overwhelmed, and the knee-jerk reaction is often to look away because the solution feels impossible to achieve. 

In this episode, Daniel G. Newman joins host Mary Whiteside to discuss his graphic novel Unrig: How to fix our broken democracy, art by George O’Connor.

Unrig a nonfiction graphic novel by democracy reform leader Daniel G. Newman and artist George O’Connor takes readers on a journey. First it explains how the system is rigged in favor of the rich and powerful and then highlights the heroic efforts of those unrigging the system to limit the influence of big/dark money and to return political power to the voters. 

​”If you're overwhelmed by negative news and despairing for the direction of our country, Unrig is a tonic that will restore your faith and reveal the path forward to fix our broken democracy.”

Find us on Twitter - Daniel is @danielgnewman, and the podcast is @courtpod.

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources:

• Learn about and buy Unrig

Kathy Krauseneck, a wife and mother of a three-year-old girl, was murdered with an ax while sleeping in her bed nearly 40 years ago. Her husband, James, was initially a suspect, but almost 40 years passed, and no one was charged in Kathy’s death. The District Attorney reopened the case, and a new forensic pathologist looked at the evidence. 

Armed with a new forensic opinion, the DA’s office indicted James for the death of his wife 40 years ago, claiming the case is solved. But is it

In this episode, we speak with defense attorney Don Thompson, whose firm Easton, Thompson, Kasperak, and Shiffrin, represent James and attorney Alison Carling, who used to live in the house which was the crime scene of the infamous Brighton Ax Murder. 

Find us on Twitter - @courtpod. 

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources

• https://news.yahoo.com/james-krauseneck-sentenced-25-years-205415303.html?guccounter=1&guce_referrer=aHR0cHM6Ly93d3cuYmluZy5jb20v&guce_referrer_sig=AQAAACDrNVg0af3GFiGtqs7EFbZnjb2h_Tn3ZkHe_DIpxV9wnRszg6XHMQ1ye4wMvkviPZzSzAJvrMPFpYfXrJIT-bCf9QEEgZLt_4tP_we3cdwWxecPj_1QGYv_wyX0lFKqXTRzolDAJpJ5DtfYlSP9ExtcLp4BG05Yp20mv1AXO74L 

https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/ 

In this episode, we continue the taboo discussion about law clerks. Only this time, we get even more controversial. 

Did you know that Federal Judges empowered to judge discrimination and harassment cases are exempt from the same anti-discrimination laws that apply to other government branches and private employers? Yup, Judges are above the law. And some Judges abuse their staff with impunity. 

In this episode, we speak with Aliza Shatzman, co-founder of The Legal Accountability Project, a nonprofit aimed at ensuring that law clerks have positive clerkship experiences while extending support and resources to those who do not. 

Find us on Twitter - @courtpod. 

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources:

• https://ballsandstrikes.org/ethics-accountability/judicial-accountability-act-2021/

In this episode, we examine how you can use the courts to fight police brutality. 

A brief review of the death of Daniel Prude, which we discussed at length in a previous episode.

Imagine your brother is visiting you from out of state. Sadly, he experiences a mental health crisis and runs out of your house on a freezing winter night. You call the police, desperate, asking for help finding your brother. You have no idea that getting the police involved will cause your brother to die.

That is what happened to Joe Prude and Daniel Prude in March 2020.

Police found Daniel naked, clearly unarmed, acting erratically in the freezing cold. Daniel’s life ended seven days after police handcuffed him, naked, face down in the middle of the street, put a spit sock over his head and restrained him on the ground until he lost consciousness.

Police and government officials tried to cover up police actions that resulted in Daniel’s death. Don sued to have the police body camera footage released to the family and held a press conference to inform the public.  Protests erupted, and the police cracked down hard. 

In this episode, we speak with Don Thompson, Joe Prude’s attorney. He will update you on Daniel Prude’s family’s wrongful death litigation against the Rochester Police and City government.  Also, what happened with the prosecutions of the protesters?  And to fight police brutality directly, Don filed a federal civil rights lawsuit against the police department city and state officials for decades of police brutality. 

Find us on Twitter - @courtpod. 

Drop an email at [email protected]. 

We would also love to rate and review the show. It helps others find the program.

Sources:

• Independent Investigation into Daniel Prude’s Death

• Article on Willie Simmons: https://www.essence.com/news/willie-simmons-life-prison-alabama-habitual-offender/

Mary was a recent guest on HILF - History I'd Like to F**K with Dawn Brodie to discuss the Supreme Court.

Dawn is joined by lawyer, Mary Whiteside, for a journey through the often-dark history of America's highest court. Hear about the worst villains, the occasional heroes - and why Mary and Dawn both still have hope for the future.

Dawn is joined by lawyer, Mary Whiteside, for a journey through the often-dark history of America's highest court. Hear about the worst villains, the occasional heroes - and why Mary and Dawn both still have hope for the future.

Dawn met guest, Mary Whiteside, while they were both backlot tour guides at Universal Studios, Hollywood. When Mary suggested the HILF subject of the Supreme Court, Dawn was a bit stymied. The legal system can feel a little dark, a little depressing, and just too damn hard to understand sometimes - with the dates and the names and the precedents and -- what's an amicus? Which is why Dawn immediately said yes, because Mary is not just a guest with a HILFY curiosity, she's a real lawyer, and a mom, and funny and cool and ready to go down on Justice...

00:02:13 - Dawn introduces Mary with a question of how a lawyer found herself being a movie studio tour guide to begin with. Mary explains that she was always interested in being a performer but that being a lawyer gave her (and her mom) the security she was looking for. ...And performing for the jury is like a little play. 

00:08:22 - Along with the subject, Mary assigned Dawn the book INJUSTICES by Ian Millhiser. 'The Supreme Court's History of Comforting the Comfortable and Afflicting the Afflicted.' It is a dark path through some dark history which, as Mary says, gives you lots stuff to get pissed off about it.

00:12:40 - Dawn begins with a quick overview of your middle school social studies, and the origin of the Supreme Court in the constitution. As one of the three branches of government, the purpose is to create reasonable checks and balances on the Executive and the Legislative... That's it's purpose, but certainly not always it's function. 

00:19:14 - Mary gives the HILF on the individual that she thinks is the 'best' justice to have ever served on the Supreme Court, Sonia Sotomayor. 

00:29:17 - Dawn and Mary discuss the history of the changing number of justices on the Supreme Court from 5 in the very beginning, to as many as 10 after the Civil War. FDR briefly discussed raising the number to 15 but was quickly shot down politically for even suggesting it. Today, the subject has come up again and is no less controversial. 

BREAK

00:37:18 - Dawn and Mary resume with a conversation about what it's like to be a Judge and how they are the closest thing to Royalty we have in America, given their lifetime appointments. 

00:40:25 - After discussing the 'best' Justice ever to have been on the court, Mary now gives us the 'worst'... and what do you know, it's another one who is sitting there currently, Clarence Thomas. In addition to questioning the constitutionality of his decisions, Mary takes issue with the ethics of his wife, Ginny Thomas working as a powerful lobbyist and consultant on cases he oversees. 

00:57:56 - After a lot of bad news and despair for the cause of democracy, Dawn and Mary discuss how the idea of Revolution is both the greatest threat and the last resort of any System... and too many people want it for too many different reasons. 

01:03:08 - And before we sign off, as promised, a little home. The latest justice, Ketanji Brown Jackson, has a strong record and can be a sound voice of reason in an unreasonable time. And of course we can still vote... for now.