Sidebar by Courthouse News

While this U.S. Supreme Court term shouldn't result in as many sweeping decisions as the last, which upended nationwide abortion rights and gun control precedents, it'll be far from a lightweight season. The court's cases are varied: from redistricting to artist integrity to the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives tribal governments jurisdiction over the adoption and foster care of Native American children.

In this episode, we break down some of the heavyweight appeals the court will hear with the help of our very own Kelsey Reichmann.

First, we delve into two cases that could affect elections for decades to come, deciding whether states should take race into account during redistricting and if legislatures should be the ones to draw those lines or if the courts have any say in the process.

The Supreme Court will also weigh in on a copyright dispute between the Warhol Foundation and Lynn Goldsmith over a photo she took of the artist Prince that Andy Warhol used as a reference in several prints. Another case rooted in the visual arts comes to the court from Colorado. A website designer is challenging the state's Anti-Discrimination Act, saying it violates her First Amendment rights by forcing her to serve LGBT couples.

Last, we lay out the Indian Child Welfare Act, what is at stake over its continued legality, and what the law means to tribal governments, courts and their people.

Special guests:

• Sophia Lin Lakin, interim co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voter Rights Project
• Mitchell Brown, counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice
• Amelia Brankov, attorney and chair of the Art Law Committee of the New York Bar Association
• Kathryn Fort, director of clinics at the Michigan State University College of Law
• Angelique EagleWoman, law professor and director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law

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

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

It's a First Amendment fight for the modern ages: the right to free speech versus the pursuit of justice, and the stakes are often someone's freedom. In courtrooms across the country, prosecutors are going after rappers using the artists' lyrics against them.

While not a recent development in the law, the issue has entered the spotlight with the arrests of rappers Young Thug and Gunna in Georgia on charges of violating the state's RICO Act. Prosecutors allege the high-profile artists directly engaged in criminal activity ranging from drug-related to murder as members of the gang Young Slime Life, and cite some of their rap lyrics as evidence to support the claims.

Where do protections for the right to freedom of speech end under the First Amendment? Why do rap music and Black artists seem to be the target of these prosecutions when artists in other genres tell similar tales of crime and violence? We dive into this and more in our 10th episode in this season of Sidebar.

Special guests:

• Roqy Tyraid, hip-hop artist and member of the ACLU of Arizona’s Board of Directors
• Clay Calvert, law professor at the University of Florida
• Margaret Russell, law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law
• Walter Olson, senior fellow at the Cato Institute
• Charis Kubrin, professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine
• Adam Dunbar, professor at the University of Nevada, Reno
• J. Christopher Hamilton, assistant professor at the Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University

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

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

Jury duty. A cornerstone of the American justice system brings together complete strangers with almost no context to dispense justice. Being called to your civic duty as a juror can be confusing, like taking a class you never meant to sign up for.

In this episode, we take you behind the scenes in courthouses across the country to reveal the inner workings of how juries operate. Fans of true crime and “Law & Order” create new perspectives. Social media is now an unavoidable part of the process. And now, remote juries are adding a contemporary element to the selection process.

We detail how you make the final cut or get out of a jury summons. It's not always an easy process, even if you are Samuel L. Jackson. Some of the best stories about juries, however, can't be predicted or avoided with all the preparation and analysis in the world.

Special guests:

• Jo-Ellan Dimitrius, a trial consultant that has helped pick 600 juries, including for O.J. Simpson’s defense team
• Denise de La Rue, a trial consultant that helped pick juries for Ted Kaczynski, Eric Rudolph and Dzhokhar Tsarnaev’s defense teams
• Mark Drummond, director of the Civil Jury Project at NYU

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

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

From August 1942 to October 1945, the Amache incarceration camp on the dusty, desolate eastern plain of Colorado detained 10,000 Japanese Americans and other immigrants. Those imprisoned at Amache built their own town with a fire department, a beauty salon and schools. Detainees raised crops, grew gardens and held festivals to honor the changing seasons.

Just children when uprooted with their families during World War II, the survivors of the camp were left to make sense of what happened to their families while their parents wanted to move on. The next generation of Japanese Americans, the grandchildren of prison camp survivors, are working to ensure their family’s history and legacy do not disappear into the dust.

In our eighth episode this season, we talk with Amache survivors and their families who have been visiting the site on an annual pilgrimage for decades. Academic researchers and students have worked with the survivors to uncover and preserve their history. Their work was recognized nationally this past March when Amache became the newest national park.

Special guests:

• Carlene Tanigoshi Tinker, an 82-year-old survivor of Amache 
• Ken Kitajima, a 91-year-old Amache survivor  
• Erin Tsurumoto Grassi, the granddaughter of Amache survivors  
• Mitch Homma, the son of Amache survivors 
• Bonnie J. Clark, professor of anthropology at the University of Denver
• Calvin Hada, president of the Nikkeijin-Kai of Colorado 
• Gabriel “Jack” Chin, law professor at the University of California Davis
• Richard Primus, law professor at the University of Michigan

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

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

Priceless artwork and tribal artifacts have made their way across the globe through several means, some legitimate and others … not so much.

While we rely on these objects to tell us about history, tradition and culture, the way they end up in our communities sometimes raises questions about what should happen to them, where they rightfully belong and how the legal system can get them home.

Congress has passed laws regulating what should happen to items taken from tribes without their permission, including the Native American Graves Protection and Repatriation Act. The water gets muddier internationally though, as political drama takes center stage.

In this episode, we take a trip across the globe to see how this issue plays out in different communities.

The Founders Museum in Barre, Mass. is grappling with how to properly return moccasins, dolls and clothing from the Wounded Knee Massacre to the Lakota, which lost nearly 300 people in December 1890. Down the street, the Worcester Art Museum uses art once stolen by Nazis in World War II to show the difficult task of getting back Richard Neumann's renowned art collection. We also break down communications between Austria and Mexico over a storied feathered Aztec headdress.

Special guests:

• Ann Meilus, president of the Barre Museum Association
• Manny and Renee Iron Hawk, Lakota members of HAWK 1890, a society for the survivor descendants of the Wounded Knee Massacre
• Shannon O’Loughlin, a citizen of the Choctaw Nation, and CEO and attorney for the Association on American Indian Affairs
• Claire Whitner, director of curatorial affairs and curator of European art at the Worcester Art Museum
• Wesley Fisher, director of research for the Conference on Jewish Material Claims Against Germany and the World Jewish Restitution Organization
• Jennifer Kreder, law professor at the Salmon P. Chase College of Law at Northern Kentucky University

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

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

It feels like hardly a day goes by when you don't hear about the passage of a new, sweeping abortion law, an abortion-rights group challenging the law or another state weighing in on the treatment of transgender children, medically or within the school system. At the core of all this is bodily autonomy. How much say does an individual have over their own body?

The phrase "my body, my choice" has been often used by those seeking to defy public health orders for the past two years. Meanwhile, state lawmakers have made consequential decisions impacting the ability of Americans to make personal healthcare decisions, which are a matter of life and death.

In our sixth episode this season, we look at Texas Governor Greg Abbott ordering the state's Department of Family and Protective Services to investigate parents of transgender kids receiving gender-affirming care, a process he called "abusive." We also dive deeper into the fallout of the state's ban on abortions beyond six weeks of pregnancy and the copycat laws that have cropped up around the nation.

Special guests:

• Laura Briggs, professor of women, gender, sexuality studies at the University of Massachusetts Amherst
• Louise Melling, deputy legal director for the ACLU
• Kimberly Mutcherson, dean and professor of law at Rutgers 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.

A quick note before we jump in: this episode contains discussions about abuse. 

It's not often that a case goes to trial that touches on many elements that intrigue the public. Celebrity, the #MeToo movement, public opinion and the media's coverage all swirl together as cameras are ready to capture the defamation trial between Hollywood stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard.

The former husband and wife square off in court over a $50 million defamation lawsuit Depp filed after Heard wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post detailing her experience as a domestic violence survivor. Heard didn't name Depp in the piece but had previously sought a restraining order against the movie star for allegedly assaulting her.

In this episode, we break down how we got here, the intersection of the #MeToo movement, journalism and defamation law that the case manages to encompass, and dive into how social dynamics dictate the public's response to domestic violence claims.

Special guests:

• Xiyin Tang, assistant professor of law at UCLA School of Law
• Jason Whiting, professor of marriage and family therapy at Brigham Young University
• Raees Mohamed, defamation attorney at RM Warner
• Michael Balter, journalist
• Lyrissa Lidsky, dean of the University of Missouri School of Law

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

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

Need a primer for this year's midterm elections? We've got you covered.

We talk to reporters and experts about how former President Donald Trump is still shaping American politics after losing reelection almost two years ago.

The glue that binds Republicans together isn’t just "Stop the Steal" and other theories circulating about voter integrity: it’s a camaraderie built around identity and resistance to changing demographics.

How is the GOP changing its messaging in "purple" districts where voters may be less keen on Trump talk and more interested in their bottom lines?

We also look at the "Great Resignation." Spoiler alert: it's not just impacting your friends and family. So far, 53 representatives have announced they will not be running for reelection this year.

A quick warning before you jump in: this episode contains adult language. 

Special guests:

• Michael Rocca, political science professor at the University of New Mexico
• Gunner Ramer, political director at the Republican Accountability Project
• Jon Caldara, president of the Independence Institute
• Megan Burns, communications and digital director for the Colorado Democratic Party
• Kristi Burton Brown, chairwoman of the Colorado Republican Party
• Tyler Allcorn, candidate for Colorado’s 8th Congressional District

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

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

The internet never forgets. 

It's an invaluable tool, but also one that provides little forgiveness for some individuals whose past run-ins with law enforcement, financial woes and photos of a night out on the town become publicized. 

We are coming to you in this episode with a primer on why the "right to be forgotten” became law in the European Union, and how the concept plays out in courtrooms and newsrooms across the United States as the government and the media try to determine what deeds can and should be erased from the internet at large. 

While the EU requires search engines to remove links in search results upon valid request, the U.S. has long sided with people's right to know and speak freely without fear of censorship. But that has not stopped the conversation from entering into our public discourse. 

Special guests:

• Ali Arko, defamation and content removal attorney with Kohrman Jackson & Krantz
• Paul Sternberg, internet defamation attorney
• Daniel Castro, vice president of the Information Technology and Innovation Foundation
• David Krause, editor of The Aspen Times

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

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

In this episode of Sidebar, we examine the human, ecological and political toll of the current and former administration's approaches to the U.S.-Mexico border.

While physical barriers and infrastructure have entered into our collective imagery of today's border, nothing has a more tangible impact than policy. The Trump administration implemented the Remain in Mexico program in January 2019, forcing asylum-seeking migrants to wait in Mexico for their day in U.S. court. That policy remains in effect to this day, further complicating the Biden administration's goal of enacting lasting change to the immigration system as migrants arrive at the border searching for refuge.

Efforts to build a border wall didn't begin or end with President Trump, though, and it hasn't stopped affecting the conservationists that live and work in the region advocating for native habitats and species. The National Butterfly Center of Mission, Texas, has found itself in the middle of a fight between the federal government and Trump supporters over the wall.

Special guests:

• Ev Meade, director of Proceso Pacífico
• Marianna Treviño-Wright, executive director of the National Butterfly Center
• Brian Segee, endangered species legal director of the Center for Biological Diversity

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

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