Oral Argument

Jocelyn Simonson returns to the show to wake us up to the many public interests on both sides (and no sides and all sides) in criminal cases. We discuss whether prosecutors are synonymous with "the People" and how a broader conception of "the People's" interests in criminal adjudication might suggest more robust public participation in the criminal process.

Special Guest: Jocelyn Simonson.

Exactly five years after our first show, we record a conversation on the ephemeral or perduring nature of podcasts and blogs, dockless scooters and local regulation, and viewer mail.

Brexit, China, international trade, security, distribution, resentment, madness, and coffee with Tim Meyer.

Special Guest: Tim Meyer.

Here's your Thanksgiving Holiday episode, perfect for travel and your other holiday needs. If you listen only for law-related content, you'll probably want to skip to 01:17:16, where we somewhat casually discuss the controversy over whether the supposed Acting Attorney General was properly appointed. But we discuss many mailbag-related topics: the California fires and climate change (00:25), politeness and over-decorousness (8:53), how we imagine the mailbag and the miracles of pre-computer-age physical organization (11:06), how to find a good coffeeshop and the origins of "heyday" (22:15), our supposed bad taste in movies and our regard for certain consumer electronics (38:47), caselaw access and textbooks (55:44), seekers (59:44), markdown and word processing and the inevitable demise of Oral Argument (01:03:19), a discussion of the pretending Acting Attorney General and meltdowns and trainwrecks (01:17:16), podcast recommendations (01:33:30).

Episode 183: West Coast Model (guest Chris Elmendorf)

Why is housing so expensive in major West Coast and northeastern cities? Not just more than you might want to pay, but, often, prohibitively expensive with little sign of new supply in areas people want to live. Chris Elmendorf joins us to explain this problem and the limited effectiveness of two types of solutions, the Northeastern and West Coast models. Drawing on the intergovernmental approach of the Voting Rights Act, Chris argues that a strong state role in reviewing the regulatory activities of local governments, if done in the right way, could be the way forward. And it points to a dramatic rethinking of how land use law should be made and what problems it should try to solve.

This show’s links:

Special Guest: Chris Elmendorf.

The publication of legal scholarship is, compared with that in other academic disciplines, is, well, weird. Almost all legal journals are edited by students, and authors submit to many journals at once. We talk with Scott Dodson about his paper with law student and journal editor Jacob Hirsch. They elaborate a model code of conduct that could easily be implemented and would prevent some of the system's worst pathologies and bad behavior. We also have a little "post-roll."

This show’s links:

Special Guest: Scott Dodson.

We talk with our colleague Sandy Mayson about the use of algorithms in criminal law decisionmaking - and especially their troubling and difficult to disentangle incorporation of race. From bail to sentencing to policing effort to hiring and admitting to college, we subject different social groups to different risks of erroneous treatment, predicting, for example, that an individual is likely to commit another crime when in fact he or she will not reoffend. What should we do? Reject the use of algorithms - is that even possible? Attempt to "correct" the algorithms? Sandy teaches us about the difficulty of achieving algorithmic fairness.

This show’s links:

Special Guest: Sandy Mayson.

Just Joe and Christian on: listener feedback (01:09), the Supreme Court confirmation crisis and constitutional structure (round one) (08:00), more feedback (17:16), reading glasses (36:10), Apple and Daring Fireball and caring (41:43), peak iPhone (52:34), and the current state of the Kavanaugh nomination, partisanship, and Supreme Court nominations generally (01:01:31).

Joe becomes the guest guest and Mike Madison the guest host, as we talk about Joe's new research into the web of law and what citations tell us about what law means. As one might expect for a show which is ostensibly about legal theory but actually, as all good argunauts know, an extended meditation on Being Joe, this is a very special episode of Oral Argument.

This show’s links:

Special Guest: Mike Madison.

This week, it's the latest edition of "Things Haven't Always Been Like This". Farah Peterson teaches us about the judges of the early 1800s and their now-strange-seeming institutional world in which judging and legislating were less distinct and more collaborative.

This show’s links:

Special Guest: Farah Peterson.