OA1101 - You know... that super woke institution... the US Military... well, NO LONGER! Trump's man for the job is a real piece of work. And if you don't believe us, take it from his own mom. As usual, Lydia gives us the doozy breakdown, and also how Hegseth fits right into the Project 2025 design.

Then, it's T3BE 52! 

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OA1100 - Donald Trump’s promises of “mass deportation” have been dominating the headlines, but what do we actually know about what the coming administration is planning--and who should actually be concerned? Matt explains how immigration enforcement actually works in practice under the current system, including its current practical and logistical limitations. We then break down the ways that Trump has told us that he intends to subvert or get around the existing system and the law (or lack thereof) behind these unprecedented proposals before ending with some ideas for how you can help to prepare to stand up to mass enforcement actions in your community.

Watch our new video on how Joe Biden can go out a legend!!!

• “Trump’s Possibly Illegal Border Posse,” Matt Cameron, The New Republic (5/2/2019)

• “The 287(g) Program: An Overview,” American Immigration Council (July 2021) 

• “License to Abuse: How the 287(g) Program Empowers Racist Sherriffs,” ACLU (2022)

• “National Map of 287(g) Agreements,” Immigration Legal Resource Center

• “Sweeping Raids, Giant Camps, and Mass Deportations: Inside Trump’s 2025 Immigration Plans,” New York Times (11/11/2023) 

• Make the Road v. Wolf, 962 F. 3d 612, D.C. Cir. (2020)

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OA1099 - Superstar Gavel Gavel contributor Liz Skeen joins to answer all of your questions about the arrest of Luigi Mangione and the charges he will soon be facing for his alleged shooting of United Healthcare CEO Brian Thompson in the courthouse where she serves as a public defender. Also: Biden’s record-breaking day of clemency.

•  Listen to Thomas, Matt, Liz, and our talented cast of People v. Trump transcript re-enactors on Gavel Gavel!

• Watch our new video on how Joe Biden can go out a legend

• Sign the official OA petition for Joe Biden to go out a legend

• White House press release on Biden’s December 12, 2024 clemency actions

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OA1098/T3BE51 - We conclude our review of Trump’s immigration enforcement team with the man behind Donald Trump’s immigration policies.. Who is Steven Miller, and why? You’ll want to listen to this one even if you think you know who this man is, because it’s all a lot weirder--and, somehow, worse--than you might have ever imagined. 

Then, it's time for the answer to last week's bar exam question, and Q51!

• Hatemonger: Stephen Miller, Donald Trump, and the White Nationalist Agenda, Jean Guerrero (2020) 

• “How Stephen Miller Manipulates Donald Trump to Further His Immigration Obsession,” Jonathan Blitzer, The New Yorker (2/20/2020)

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OA1097 - Trump's Staff Infection, Vol. 5

Donald Trump has just reiterated his intentions for mass immigration enforcement in a Sunday Meet the Press interview, and Lydia joins for a closer look at the people who will actually be carrying these policies out. We take a quick introductory look at runner-up Attorney General pick Pam Bondi before Lydia reviews some of Project 2025’s plans and Matt explains the different roles of the DOJ and DHS in the US immigration system. Also, why has the former governor of a lightly-populated state nearly 1000 miles from the Mexican border with nothing related to immigration on her CV been chosen as the next head of Homeland Security? We have some theories--but absolutely no questions as to why family separation expert Thomas Homan will be the next American “border czar.” 

• “Project 2025: A Mandate for Leadership,” The Heritage Foundation (2024)

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OA1096 - The President of the United States has just pardoned a blood relative and it’s--fine, actually. We review the full pardon of Hunter Biden in the greater context of presidential pardons before moving on to our main story: this week’s oral arguments in the trans rights case U.S. v. Skrmetti. The most important and very likely the most consequential case of this Supreme Court term featured the first openly trans lawyer ever to appear before the high court patiently trying to explain to some of our finest legal minds why a Tennessee law denying life-saving healthcare to certain people based on which letter is printed on their birth certificates is in fact unconstitutional discrimination. Finally, Matt drops a quick footnote to acknowledge one of the shortest periods of martial law in democratic history and to see what we might be able to learn from it.

• Statement from President Joe Biden re: pardon of Hunter Biden(12/1/24)

• Office of the Pardon Attorney | Pardons Granted by President Donald J. Trump (2017-2021)

• U.S. v. Skrmetti oral arguments (12/4/24)

• L.W. v. Skrmetti (6th Cir)(7/8/2023)

• President Yoon’s Speech Declaring Martial Law in South Korea - The New York Times (12/3/24)

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OA1095 - Trump's Staff Infection, part 4 plus T3BE50!

Lydia Smith joins us once again to take us through another volume of Trump's Staff Infection. This time, we focus on the Intelligence Agencies.

Then, it's T3BE50! Submit your answer on Bluesky or Reddit!

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OA1094 - Denaturalization and an executive order revoking birthright citizenship for children of undocumented parents have both been in the news a lot recently, and Matt would like everyone to take a breath and do some realistic risk assessment. We review what it actually takes to denaturalize someone under our current system, and what it would take for a majority of even this Supreme Court to say that the Fourteenth Amendment doesn’t say exactly what it says. 

• Departure Statement of Wong Kim Ark, National Archives San Francisco

• U.S. v Wong Kim Ark, 169 US 649 (1898)

• Trump announcement on birthright citizenship executive order, Agenda 47 (2024)

• Birthright Citizens: a History of Race and Rights in Antebellum History, Martha Jones (2018)

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OA1093 - In this episode recorded on Thanksgiving Day, two vegetarians carve up the Canadian turkey born Aubrey Drake Graham. Are Drake’s exploratory legal actions against Universal Music in response to Kendrick Lamar’s “Not Like Us” the weakest move in the history of rap beefs? Matt shares some of his favorite diss tracks before we consider these filings and how Drake thought he could possibly come out of this looking good. We also take a look at Jack Smith’s motion to dismiss both of the federal criminal cases against the 47th President-elect of the United States,  and what we can learn about the possible future (?) of these cases from both his motion and DC federal judge Tanya Chutkan’s order granting it. Finally, in today’s footnote Thomas provides valuable evidence for the prospective plaintiffs in a cease and desist demand recently made against the ONLY guitar endorsed by Donald Trump.

• Government’s Motion to Dismiss in U.S. v. Trump (11/25/240

• Judge Chutkan’s order on government’s motion to dismiss U.S. v. Trump (11/25/24)

• OLC memo on immunity for sitting presidents (10/16/2000)

• OLC memo on presidential self-pardons (8/5/1974)

• Verified Petition in Frozen Moments LLC v UMG/Spotify  (NY Drake payola filing)(11/25/24)

• Verified Petition seeking depositions in TX (TX Drake defamation filing)(11/25/24)

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OA1092 plus T3BE49 - we continue our conversation with Somali-American author and advocate Abdi Nor Iftin.

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

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