Surprise, listeners! We’re coming to you, almost live, with a special breaking news mini episode on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to keep former President Donald Trump on Colorado’s ballot.

Our very own Amanda Pampuro and Kelsey Reichmann meticulously dissect the twists and turns of the legal journey that led to this point, from the initial lawsuit by concerned Colorado voters to the constitutional debates the ensued before SCOTUS.

How great is the magnitude of this ruling, not just for Trump’s potential return to the highest office in the land, but for its groundbreaking implications on the constitutional standards that determine who can lead the nation?

Special guest: 

·         Mark Graber, law professor at the University of Maryland

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

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

Look around, dear listener. 

Everything is heart-shaped and pink. People are getting ready for a special night with their special someone. 

In our second episode this season, we take you through the dark alleyways of online dating, where $1.3 billion vanished into the pockets of scammers in just one year, and peel back the layers of marketing sleights of hand that extend far beyond the realm of matchmaking. 

From mimosas without champagne to candy heart boxes with more filler than chocolate, we dissect the conflict between what's advertised and what lands in consumers' hands — a legal battlefield constantly redefining the line between enticing and misleading. 

Special guests:

• “Al,” pro se plaintiff who sued Bumble  
• Kevin Lewis, sociology professor at UC San Diego
• Attorney Spencer Sheehan
• Attorney Robert Freund
• Jennifer Pomeranz, public health attorney and NYU professor
• Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth in Advertising

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

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

Welcome to season four of Sidebar! We're kicking off our first episode of 2024 by traversing the digital terrain of internet sleuths, those armchair detectives whose keyboards are the new magnifying glasses.

Everyone has a hobby. Something to keep them busy, pass the time or unwind after work. Maybe listening to your favorite podcast is that thing. One such hobby that has grown with the help of the internet and social media is internet sleuthing. On websites like TikTok, Reddit and Websleuths, people post the latest theories about mysteries big and small.

Since the high-profile murder of Gabby Petito, it feels like hobby investigators have gained more prominence, from the initial mystery of the University of Idaho student murders to the Rainey Street Ripper, the Austin, Texas, serial killer that wasn't.

What's behind the psychological forces that drive this online phenomenon?

Special guests:

• David Schmid, professor of English at the University of Buffalo
• Rachel Monroe, author of “Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession”
• Chance Townsend, assistant editor at Mashable

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

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

Season four of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.

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

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

Welcome to our end-of-the-year gala episode of Sidebar.

It's hard to divvy out awards for the most important or interesting cases of 2023 when former President Donald Trump has dominated so many of them. This was the year Trump took over Courthouse News, appearing in court as a defendant many times.

From charges in New York that Trump schemed to make illegal hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and an indictment over Trump mishandling classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort to another indictment in Georgia over conspiracy to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, 2023 saw Trump dominating headlines. This trend is unlikely to die down next year as the cases ramp up and he forges ahead as the Republican Party's No. 1 guy to run against President Joe Biden.

But it wasn't all about Trump. No courtroom drama is off-limits as we also spotlight the fraud trial of cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried and the murder trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Sit back, pop some bubbly and join us as we sift through the year's most riveting legal tales.

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

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

No institution in American life has a far-reaching and outsized role in communities quite like the public school system.

Take a seat, Sidebar listeners, as we dive into the heart of public education and its role in our democracy for our penultimate episode this season. We take you beyond the classroom, looking at landmark rulings like Brown v. Board of Education and highlighting the dual role of public schools: to educate and to unite individuals of various backgrounds in a shared vision.

Gear up to navigate the treacherous waters of the school choice movement with us, from religious schools to church-state separation and the impact on the future of public education.

Special guests:

• Derek Black, law professor at the University of South Carolina
• Steve Suitts, adjunct lecturer at Emory University
• Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
• John Bursch, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom
• Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief

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

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

Happy Halloween, all you goblins and ghouls. Prepare yourselves for a real spooky season treat as we traverse the gloomy annals of witch trials. Join us for our 12th episode this season as we dispel myths and shine a light on how and why these judicial proceedings played out across Europe and the United States. We're talking grand juries, indictments, spectral evidence and even acquittals in what were considered by the standards of the time to be fair trials.

There are no tricks here as we examine the chilling circumstances behind the notorious Salem witch trials and the ensuing paranoia that led to widespread accusations and tragic executions. How has Salem maintained its hold on the American psyche for more than 300 years?

Hold on to your broomstick as we ride through this spine-chilling side of the past.

Special guests:

• Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and author of “The Witches: Salem, 1692”
• Marion Gibson, Renaissance and magical literatures professor at the University of Exeter and author of “Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials”

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

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

Another year, another five-alarm fire burning before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News’ Supreme Court reporter and the newest addition to the Sidebar team, joined just in time for this year's preview of the court's upcoming term.

The top court in all the land is back at it again following landmark decisions that it has delivered for the conservative legal movement in ending the constitutional right to an abortion, rewriting Second Amendment jurisprudence and allowing churches to have more influence in public institutions. All the political and legal shake-ups have brought us to where we are today, with the justices set to consider if more people should be allowed to own a firearm, if you can trash talk your mayor and if the government can function as it always has.

Trust us, you’ll want to stick around for that last one to hear if it will fuel a fire impacting every facet of United States government as we know it.

Special guests:

• Sarah Bennett, principal and managing attorney at Sodoma Law North
• Kevin Lindke, plaintiff in Lindke v. Freed before the Supreme Court
• Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at FIRE
• Dan Walters, professor at Texas A&M University School of Law
• Jasmine Harris, professor at 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.

The love story between Hollywood megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was destined for public fascination from the start as they merged family, philanthropy and a rather unexpected shared passion — wine. So, when they split in 2016, no one saw it coming. What followed was one of the most bitterly contested celebrity divorces in recent history. 

But what came after was in some ways even uglier — a lawsuit over Miraval, an estate in the south of France and home of its namesake rosé. This lawsuit opened a window into Brangelina's private lives and revealed why their marriage ultimately fell apart. 

In our 10th episode this season, we dissect the court documents to understand the broader implications of this battle. The couple bought Château Miraval to create a haven away from Hollywood, but the vineyard dispute ultimately revealed how their rosé relationship soured into vinegar. The denouement will be anything but neat as the court parses out who owns what. 

Fitting, in a way, since perfect endings are rare outside of Tinseltown.

Special guests:

• Constance Grady, culture writer for Vox
• Tamlyn Currin, wine writer and editor for Jancis Robinson
• Nancy Chemtob, founder and partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda
• Steven Mandel, founder at The Mandel Law Firm

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

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

Welcome back, listeners, from what we hope was a calm, relaxing break. 

If it was anything like ours, just when you cozied up with a summer read, you were likely jarred back to reality by a pesky robocall asking about your auto warranty. 

Receiving unwanted robocalls remains a universal experience 32 years after Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to empower Americans to fight off unwanted calls. In our ninth episode this season, we explain why the law did little to stop overseas scammers and instead created financial incentives for plaintiffs and their attorneys, ultimately leading to the Supreme Court's determination of what constituted an "autodialer." 

Now, an Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Taskforce of 49 attorneys general are taking on Avid Telecom, a Voice over Internet Protocol provider accused of sending or trying to send more than 24.5 billion calls. 

Will the outcome inspire Americans to start answering their phones? Press one for yes or two for no. 

Special guests:

• Noah Duguid, who sued Facebook over unwanted texts 
• Roger Anderson, founder of the Jolly Roger Telephone Company
• Eric Troutman, defense attorney and “czar” of the TCPA 
• Chris Laccinole, a frequent TCPA litigator 
• Isaac Shloss, chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the Professional Associations for Customer Engagement 
• Attorney Jay Edelson

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

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