It's that time of the year again, dear listener: our season five finale, where three cases, three courtrooms and one very strange year collide. 

We kick things off with the trial that dominated headlines with its circus-like atmosphere: The United States of America v. Sean "Diddy" Combs. The rapper and producer was acquitted in Manhattan of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by a jury, but convicted of transporting individuals for prostitution. The mixed verdict spared Combs a life sentence while raising questions about how far prosecutors can stretch RICO law as fans proclaimed, "Freako is not a RICO."

Next, with help from our France correspondent, Lily Radziemski, we head overseas to a trial fueled by internet rumor. French First Lady Brigitte Macron has gone on the offensive as conspiracy theorists spread false claims about her biological sex, testing the limits of free speech and whether courts can rein in online harassment.

And finally, back in Washington, D.C., reporter Ryan Knappenberger walks us through the sandwich heard 'round the District: Sean Dunn, a former Justice Department lawyer, was acquitted of assault after throwing a sandwich at federal agents during an immigration crackdown. The viral incident turned Dunn into a case study in protest, power and prosecutorial restraint.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

We're a year out from the midterm elections next November. Control of Congress hangs in the balance. Democrats are itching to rein in President Trump, while Republicans are pulling out every stop to keep power.

But behind the headlines, the real game is being played by billionaires. If the 2024 bromance between Trump and Elon Musk taught us anything, it’s that the richest Americans can pull the strings of democracy. 

In our penultimate episode of this season, we break down how the ultra-wealthy have doubled down on their political giving over the last decade, using their money to support candidates who align with their worldview. Year over year, their giving grows, stoking fears that our elected leaders are more beholden to these donors. 

Campaign finance reform and landmark Supreme Court decisions, like Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC, have transformed money into a form of speech. With super PACs and massive political spending dominating the conversation, are wealthy donors compromising the integrity of our democratic process?

Special guests:

• Rick Hasen, political science professor and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA
• Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center
• Josh Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin
• Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Gather around the firepit, fair listener, as we bring you the tale of a prisoner whose criminal history was as illustrious as his love of birds.

Robert Stroud was convicted of manslaughter and murder, but may be better known for the birds he raised and sold while an inmate at Leavenworth penitentiary. Stroud wrote two books about birds during his incarceration and gained respect among bird-lovers. That incongruity — a violent prisoner caring for these fragile animals — brought Hollywood to his prison door.

“Birdman of Alcatraz,” starring Burt Lancaster, brought Stroud a nickname and more notoriety, even though he wasn’t allowed to raise birds while an inmate at the island prison.

In our 12th (and spookiest) episode this season, author Jolene Babyak helps us peel back Stroud’s upbringing, psyche and journey through the prison system as we look into how Stroud became the complicated criminal he’s now known to be.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

From firing high profile government employees to making fundamental decisions on who can officially call themselves an American citizen, the U.S. Supreme Court and the Trump administration – its most frequent litigant lately – are turning to the court’s emergency docket to unkink the federal government’s policy hose. 

But unlike the court’s regular docket, the justices can use the emergency docket without having to explain themselves or even reveal how they voted, earning its nickname as “the shadow docket.”

With a plethora of litigation critical to the administration’s effort to reshape the federal government, Courthouse News’ Supreme Court reporter Kelsey Reichmann takes us through the maze of major issues that could be decided without any hints as to how the court came to its conclusions. 

With so much litigation rising from federal court in Washington, D.C. or directly running afoul of laws passed by Congress, Courthouse News D.C. reporters Ben Weiss and Ryan Knappenberger also contributed to this episode. 

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

As Congress and the courts attempt to untangle the complex web of human trafficking investigations related to the late billionaire Jeffrey Epstein, members of the Trump administration, some of whom trumpeted the push for disclosure as pundits and podcasters before being appointed to the inside, are now pleading with the MAGA base to move on. 

But now that they’ve lived through more than a decade of intense speculation of who flew on Epstein’s plane or went to his island of unthinkable debauchery, will they be satisfied with Trump’s explanation that the whole thing is just a hoax perpetrated by his political opponents? How do conspiracy theories like this one become so sticky? 

Join us for the next episode of Sidebar where we look into how the different arms of government are handling the unhealable sore of the Epstein files, and is there hope for justice for the lives destroyed by human trafficking beyond a prison suicide, or is this all political fodder for the next election cycle. 

Special guest:

·      Melina Tsapos

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Forrest Fenn hid a treasure chest full of gold and diamonds somewhere out in the Rocky Mountains because he wanted kids to go outside and smell the sunshine, inspiring hosts of naturalists to hide their own treasures and, more importantly, enjoy the treasures that are U.S. public lands. 

But these treasured lands and parks have suffered abuse, neglect and the constant threat of being sold off by zealous policymakers looking to open up millions of acres of protected space for development or resource mining, an act some experts akin to political suicide. 

Join us for the ninth episode of Sidebar this season as we poke around vast swaths of beaches, mountains, canyons and river beds in pursuit of what treasures these U.S. public lands hold. 

Special guests: 

• Chris Winter, executive director of the Getches-Wilkinson Center at the University of Colorado Law School
• Historian Gwen Lockman
• Arthur Gailes, research fellow at the American Enterprise Institute
• Rick Williams, founder and executive director of the People of the Sacred Land
• John Leshy, emeritus distinguished professor of law at UC Law SF
• Author Jon Collins-Black

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The U.S. Supreme Court’s decision to legally recognize same-sex marriage in Obergefell v. Hodges hits its 10-year anniversary this year, and a radically different court is now tasked with parsing through a fresh slate of thorny questions affecting the LGBTQ community. 

The right to marry was a monumental acknowledgement, a significant step toward mainstream societal acceptance of the LGBTQ community, but the journey there was arduous, and how firm is the foundation upon which that right now stands? 

While a modern, more conservative court ponders such issues as whether parents can shield their kids from books with LGBTQ characters, we take a deep dive into pre-Obergefell America, a place where the evening news declared homosexuality as “embarrassing,” and states used sodomy laws to target same-sex couples. Join us for the eighth and final episode of our fifth season as we explore the road to Obergefell and where that road appears to be headed in the not-too distant future. 

Special guests: 

· Marc Stein

· Lee Carpenter

· Jenny Pizer

· John Bursch

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Los Angeles is in crisis, facing a staggering $1 billion budget deficit thanks to dwindling tax revenues, rising workforce costs and legal settlements. Judgments against the city have skyrocketed, with payouts nearly quadrupling from $91 million to $320 million in just four years. 

While much of this financial burden stems from lawsuits involving the Los Angeles Police Department, housing discrimination and crumbling infrastructure, the city’s broken sidewalks account for a small but growing portion of the pot due to over 4,000 miles of sidewalks in various states of disrepair. Throw in some outdated policies and inadequate tree management as invasive roots of ficus trees contribute to woes, and you have an untenable situation.

Could spending and prioritizing public spaces stave off future liabilities? Find out in our seventh episode this season.

Special guests: 

• Attorney Mauro Fiore Jr.
• Attorney Chris Ardalan
• Jessica Meaney, executive director of Investing in Place
• Attorney Paula Pearlman

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The future is here.

Sixty years ago, the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wondered whether androids dream and what about. As artificial intelligence moves from the realm of sci-fi into daily reality, helping companies and governments analyze data and make decisions, the questions of what mechanisms motivate AI and whether these programs can overcome human limitations remain unanswered.

Many tech leaders seem to believe we are on the cusp of having self-aware AI with intelligence that surpasses humans. Even if we don’t get there, we’re already facing places where current laws don’t really protect us.

Join us in our sixth episode this season for a tour through a not-so-post-apocalyptic landscape as companies and experts try to navigate how humans bring AI more and more to life. 

Special guests:

• Tyler Johnston, founder of the Midas Project
• Stephen Thaler, founder of Imagination Engines
• Ellie Pavlick, assistant professor of computer science and linguistics at Brown University
• Matthew Tokson, law professor at the University of Utah
• Scott Stevenson, CEO of Spellbook
• Ulysses Secrest, artist and owner of Aerarius Metalworks
• ChatGPT

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

In February, President Donald Trump started signing a series of executive orders and presidential memorandums against individual “Big Law” firms, accusing them of engaging in “conduct detrimental to critical American interests” and directing federal agency heads to review and scrutinize security clearances and any government contracts, as well as barring attorneys from government buildings.

These targeted executive orders — and the looming threat of more to come —  ultimately triggered several major American firms to quickly agree to provide tens of millions of dollars in pro bono legal work aligned with the administration’s priorities.

In our fifth episode this season, we look at what this means for Big Law, the $340 million of pledged pro bono legal work on Trump’s behalf and which firms are fighting back in the courts.

Special guests:

• Scott Cummings, law professor at UCLA School of Law
• Claire Finkelstein, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens.

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.