By Courthouse News
Sidebar by Courthouse News tackles the stories you need to know from the legal world. Join reporters Hillel Aaron, Kirk McDaniel, Amanda Pampuro and Kelsey Reichmann as they take you in and out of
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The podcast currently has 57 episodes available.
The art world isn’t limited to museums and galleries anymore, with pieces now embedded in courthouses across the country — from the majestic marble palace of the U.S. Supreme Court to landscapes urging conversations about climate change at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver.
How did we move away from serious images of Lady Justice and authoritative judges clad in black robes to swaths of color and happy trees? How did art get into the judicial system to begin with?
In our penultimate episode this season, we bring you the artists who capture vivid portraits that honor state justices and attorneys not often memorialized in art and how courtroom sketches transcend photography to paint a picture of a defendant up close and personal or document moments of social change.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
Sensational headlines, societal upheaval and a gruesome crime that shook Fall River, Massachusetts, to its core.
Turn off the lights and cozy up to the fireplace as we bring you the spookiest type of story we can — one straight from the history books.
America's first trial of the century came from an unusual source: Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old unmarried upper-class woman in 1892 New England. Borden's father and stepmother met their final moments in one of the most brutal of ways, at the hands of someone with an axe.
Did she do it? With the help of two writers, we bring you inside the courtroom for Borden's trial, a legal spectacle set against the backdrop of yellow journalism and a nation gripped by details of a crime among the affluent, complete with an all-star cast of attorneys.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
It's October, so you know what that means ... spooky season is finally here! And with it, the Supreme Court is back in session, complete with ghosts of the gun variety.
In this year's SCOTUS preview, we bring you the cases you need to know. The court will weigh in on a Biden administration rule to redefine firearms to address the public safety risk of ghost guns in America. We delve into the complexities and legal arguments that ignited a heated debate with gun manufacturers and the NRA over what truly constitutes a firearm.
The court will also hear about the death penalty case of Richard Glossip, who has faced the specter of execution nine times for a crime he claims he didn't commit. From the dubious testimony of the actual murderer to the systemic failures that have kept Glossip on death row, the case has led even unlikely proponents to question the mechanics of our justice system.
And we tackle Tennessee's controversial SB1 law, which bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors. This controversial legislation pits the state's focus on the experimental nature of such treatments against the medical community's endorsement of their necessity. This legal battle doesn't just impact Tennessee; it could reshape the landscape for transgender rights nationwide.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
Zombie voters. Sham elections. Voter fraud.
In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, election lawsuits are flooding courts across the U.S., with the timing of some geared more toward grabbing headlines than achieving legal resolutions. Allegations aren’t considered true until a judge’s final order, but that doesn’t stop people from believing them.
In our 10th episode this season, we uncover the raw truths behind the politicized world of election integrity starting in Grand Junction, Colo., where a 2021 municipal election became a flashpoint for ideological battles and unfounded claims of voter fraud leading to the intricate legal quagmire surrounding Tina Peters, a former Colorado election official embroiled in controversy.
From there, we zero in on the world of pre-election litigation and voter registration errors in legal battles raging across states like Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania, touching on the delicate balance between security and transparency.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
Known for his unwavering conservative stance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's career has been marked by significant legal battles, including a protracted securities fraud case and intense impeachment proceedings that left an indelible mark on his legacy.
And yet, his trajectory from state representative to Texas’ top cop continues upward, setting him up as a possible candidate for a potential second Donald Trump administration.
In our ninth episode this season, we unravel how a group of whistleblowers reported alleged misconduct by Paxton to the FBI, sparking a series of retaliatory actions and a legislative probe that set the stage for a dramatic showdown in a high-stakes impeachment trial that led to a not guilty verdict.
What broader implications for the state Republican Party's internal dynamics awaited post-acquittal? Dear listener, tune in so you don't miss out on this exploration of one of Texas' most polarizing and powerful political figures.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
All aboard, fair listeners, as we take you on a summer tour of the fascinating world of courthouse architecture and how it shapes our justice system.
Can courthouse design impact justice?
You’ve joined us right in the middle of America’s greatest era of civics construction. Over the last 30 years, the federal government spent more than $10 billion building or renovating more than 200 federal courts, not to mention all the new state ones. Due to growing caseloads, more judges get appointed, who, in turn, need more space for more staff.
In our eighth episode this season, we detail the history behind grand, historical courthouse and the innovation of more modern designs, like the “Cube” in Los Angeles. From the architects crafting light-filled, functional courthouse spaces to the sheriffs seeking to amplify light inside to prioritize mental health and security for inmates and staff alike, we bring you the thoughts behind the critical evolution in courthouse design.
A quick editor’s note: we are off for our summer break until August. See you then, same time, same place!
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of nationwide injunctions coming from single-judge divisions in the federal court system. These judges were handpicked by the people filing these lawsuits.
You may have heard of one: U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. With Kacsmaryk’s rulings, Texas has been able to dictate federal discrimination guidance for transgender employees and commandeer the Biden administration’s immigration policies. He also tried to limit abortion access nationwide, issuing a ruling that would have removed the abortion drug mifepristone from shelves across the country.
In Sidebar’s seventh episode this season, we bring you the inside baseball of judge shopping. Federal rules govern how many judges are assigned to a court, and when a court has a division with only one judge at the helm, it becomes easier to know who will hear your case.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
Receipts. Proof. Timeline. Screenshots.
What fuels the flames of drama in episodes of Bravo’s hugely successful “Real Housewives” franchise can also come into play off the screen when current and former reality stars duke it out in court against in each other and their former producers and employer.
In our sixth episode this season, we expose the dark side of reality TV chaos. From claims of an unsafe work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress made by cast members against producers, to sexual assault by their costars, how much of what we see is actually ... well, real?
What does the future of these shows look like in light of these burgeoning legal battles and amid a call to arms by former start Bethenny Frankel to unionize in a “reality TV reckoning”? Does any accountability fall at the gilded doorstep of Bravo and Andy Cohen for the behaviors of their Bravolebrities?
Tune in to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real. Real litigious.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
Would you believe us if we told you copyright law is the biggest regulation on free speech in the United States?
When you exercise your First Amendment right to paint a picture or write the next great American novel, your speech belongs to you. No one can take it and pass it off as their own.
But when all the power is vested solely in one person, the rights of others slowly begin to dwindle.
If you think copyright is just a term for media executives and lawyers, come along as we unravel its constitutional underpinnings.
In our fifth episode this season, we dissect this intricate balance that copyright law maintains between protecting creators and ensuring the public’s unfettered access to cultural treasurer, detailing the symbiotic relationship between artistic works and the fundamental right to speak freely.
Copyright is all around us because speech is all around us.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
The landscape of abortion rights in America is unrecognizable in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.
Join us for our fourth episode this season as we navigate this tumultuous terrain, dissecting the seismic shifts and looming legal — and political — battles that promise to keep this issue at the forefront of national discourse. As states become battlegrounds with polarized stances on reproductive laws, how will the growing schism impact our collective moral compass and individual liberties?
Hold onto your seats as we examine the Supreme Court’s potential reshaping of federal authority over FDA-approved abortion medications like mifepristone and the state-level legislation redrawing the battleground of reproductive rights by either restricting or safeguarding abortion access, spotlighting Alabama’s legal contortions over fetal personhood and its deep entanglement with in vitro fertilization treatments that could eventually redefine reproductive autonomy.
Special guests:
This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.
Editorial staff is Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.
The podcast currently has 57 episodes available.
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