The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court

By The Citizens Guide to the Supreme Court

Comedy Government & Organizations National

What's The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court about?

Brett and Nazim are two attorneys who hate being attorneys. Each week, they discuss current Supreme Court cases with the intent to make the law more accessible to the average person, while ruminating on what makes the law both frustrating and interesting. This podcast is not legal advice and is for entertainment purposes only. If anything you hear leads you to believe you need legal advice, please contact an attorney immediately

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LAST EPISODE

The Third Wrongest Decision...

07.30.2023

Brett and Nazim are back to discuss the case of Students for Fair Admissions v. North Carolina/Harvard, in which the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in school admissions. The Law starts at (8:20), and Nazim's sound is wonky ...

The Citizen's Guide to the Supreme Court episodes:

07.30.2023 The Third Wrongest Decision of the 2023 Term Brett and Nazim are back to discuss the case of Students for Fair Admissions v. North Carolina/Harvard, in which the Supreme Court struck down affirmative action programs in school admissions. The Law starts at (8:20), and Nazim's sound is wonky ...
07.09.2023 The Two Wrongest Decisions of the 2023 Term Well hello there. Your boys are back to discuss the two lousy decisions of Biden v. Nebraska (holding the President cannot forgive student loan debt pursuant to the HEROES Act) and 303 Creative v. Elenis (holding that Colorado's Public Accomodations ...
06.04.2023 Opinionpalooza This week's episode covers big opinions from the past few weeks, including Twitter v. Taamneh (whether social media is civilly liable for terrorism), Sackett v. EPA (how do different justices interpret the Clean Water Act), Pork Council v. Ross (does ...
05.14.2023 Down Goes the Internet This week's episode covers two cases, Gonzales v. Google and Twitter v. Taamneh, which appear to cover broad, important issues at first (the recruitment of terrorism on the internet), but seem more likely to affect narrow, trivial issues later on ...
04.23.2023 No Way FDA This week's episode is jam-packed with current events, as it covers Clarence Thomas' recent ethics controversy, followed by Alliance for Hippocratic Oath v. United States FDA, which asks whether the Court can overrule FDA approval for abortion medication a few ...
04.16.2023 New Kids on the Docket (Part 2) Brett and Nazim continue last week's episode of covering new cases on the docket in 2023, which include Samia v. U.S. (does the Confrontation Clause bar vague, redacted accusations), Groff v. DeJoy (what level of accommodation do employers have to ...
04.09.2023 New Kids on the Docket (Part 1) Look! We're back! Brett and Nazim return to discuss new cases added to the docket in 2023, including United States v. Hanson (whether an immigration statute is void for vagueness), and Jack Daniels Properties v. VIP Properties LLC (whether Jack ...
12.18.2022 The Seminal Case of "A" v. "The" There are no Christmas themed cases this year, so Brett and Nazim usher in our holiday break by covering In re Grand Jury, a case with anonymous parties, no facts, and the Supreme Court seemingly poised to overturn a generally ...
12.11.2022 The Grinch Who Stole Student Loan Forgiveness Ho ho ho! Just in time for the holidays, the podcast covers the most direct example of the Supreme Court possibly taking $20,000.00 out of your pocket. This week, Brett and Nazim discuss Biden v. Nebraska, which covers whether the ...
12.04.2022 Conservative Law Heat Check This week's episode covers the case of Haaland v. Brackeen, a case involving Tribal Sovereignty and (stop us if you've heard this before) an argument to overrule a decades-long statute because it was decided incorrectly in the first place. Law ...
11.23.2022 The Annual Thanksgiving Mailbag Episode Happy Thanksgiving, folks. This year's mailbag covers topics such as a Supreme Court code of ethics, the leaked Dobbs opinion, strict scrutiny on religious laws, and senate confirmation hearings, BUT ALSO covers a professional wrestling match called WARGAMES, football, and ...
11.20.2022 How Many Judges Does It Take to Define a Wetland? If you love that age-old classic, you're going to love this week's episode covering Sackett v. EPA, which asks the Court to revisit the EPA's definition of "a wetland", after they were unable to come to a consensus sixteen years ...
11.13.2022 Room Temperature News from Room Temperature Dudes Brett and Nazim are bringing up the caboose on last week's news, covering Affirmative Action oral argument highlights, Lindsey Graham looking to avoid a subpoena, and Trump asking the Supreme Court to help protect his tax returns. Everything old is ...
11.06.2022 War(hol) Profiteers This week's episode serves as the spiritual successor to Thursday's episode on intellectual property, as Brett and Nazim discuss Andy Warhol Foundation for the Arts v. Goldsmith, which asks whether Warhol's depictions of a photograph are protected by the doctrine ...
11.03.2022 The Citizen's Guide to Intellectual Property Brett and Nazim continue a series of shorter episodes on fundamental legal topics. This episode covers intellectual property, including what is protected, how it is protected, and why we sometimes let that protection lapse in the interests of good and ...
10.30.2022 The Hogs of Federalism This week's episode is a real SCOTUS ghost story for Nazim, as the podcast covers National Pork Producers Council v. Ross, which asks whether a California law which affects pork farms in other States violates the Dormant Commerce Clause. Law ...
10.24.2022 The Citizen's Guide to Getting Sued Brett and Nazim continue a series of shorter episodes on fundamental legal topics. This episode covers the civil justice system, including how and why it takes so long, and how and why to avoid it.
10.24.2022 The Citizen's Guide to Getting Arrested Brett and Nazim continue a series of shorter episodes regarding fundamental legal topics. This episode covers the criminal justice system, including how it works and why you should try to avoid it.
10.23.2022 Nazim's Birthday Voting Rights Spectacular In honor of the prosciutto playboy's birthday, Brett and Nazim cover the two big voting rights cases before the Supreme Court this term. The first is Merrill v. Milligan, which covers Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act as it ...
10.16.2022 Masterpiece Cakes 3: Revenge of the Sachertorte The age old battle over discrimination in public accommodations is back in this week's episode, as Brett and Nazim cover the case of 303 Creative, Inc. v. Elenis, which asks whether the Colorado Anti-Discrimination Act violates a business' First Amendment ...
10.09.2022 The Neutrals!!, feat. Donald Trump, Mar A Largo, and Affirmative Action This week's coming at you extra neutral this week, as Brett and Nazim try to take a neutral approach to two big Supreme Court issues and also say the word "neutral" about a hundred times. In particular, this week's episode ...
10.09.2022 The Citizen's Guide to Equal Protection Brett and Nazim continue their series of shorter episodes with a companion episode to the Students for Fair Admissions v. Harvard / North Carolina case on Equal Protection. This episode reviews how it applies, the three applicable standards and the ...
10.02.2022 The Citizen's Guide to the Courts Brett and Nazim start a series of shorter episodes regarding fundamental legal topics. This episode covers the Judicial Branch, including what cases they can hear, how they are organized, and how appellate procedure works.
10.02.2022 The Citizen's Guide to the Executive Branch Brett and Nazim start a series of shorter episodes regarding fundamental legal topics. This episode covers the Executive Branch, including what it includes, the extent of its power, and how the Supreme Court has shaped its authority over the past ...
10.02.2022 The Citizen's Guide to Congress Brett and Nazim start a series of shorter episodes regarding fundamental legal topics. This episode covers Congress, including who can serve, what they do, and how they compare to other International legislative bodies.
08.14.2022 SEASON FINALE LIVE: Fantasy Things Draft 2022 It's the end of the term, so Brett and Nazim are coming at you LIVE from an online google chatroom. This episode grades our evergreen predictions from last summer, and sets forth new predictions for what is hoping will be ...
08.07.2022 The 2022 SCOTUS Fall Line-Up This week's episode previews some of the cases that will be covered next term, including cases about Delaware, Voting Rights, the Chevron Doctrine, Andy Warhol, Native American Sovereignty, the Independent State Legislature Theory and Affirmative Action. Your boys also discuss ...
07.31.2022 Last Call for Criminal Law It's the end the term, so this week's episode ties up loose ends, which include: a mea culpa on cannon ownership (2:00); the plan so far for the Season Finale episode (5:00); discussion on Concepcion v. U.S. (how judge's should ...
07.24.2022 Gorsuch and Tribal Sovereignty This week's episode covers three cases which discuss recent Supreme Court decisions on Native American Law and Tribal Sovereignty, including Oklahoma v. Castro-Huerta (holding that State law has criminal jurisdiction on tribal land), Denezpi v. U.S (holding that the Double ...
07.17.2022 Administra-VAGANZA!!!! This week's celebration of administrative law features two John Roberts Opinions; one of which suggests the Supreme Court is OK with the end of the world (West Virginia v. EPA) and also favors Biden's half-baked use of Admin Law over ...
07.10.2022 The Hyperbole Police This week's episode discusses two cases in which the Supreme Court prioritized Free Exercise Clause rights over Establishment Clause rights. Carson v. Makin states that Maine cannot provide a voucher system that excludes religious schools and Kennedy v. Bremerton School ...
07.03.2022 Calvinball and the Second Amendment This week's episode covers New York Rifle and Pistol Assoc. v. Bruen, where the Supreme Court struck down a New York City gun law on grounds that it violated an new interpretation of the Second Amendment. Brett and Nazim discuss ...
06.26.2022 The Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Decision This week's episode laments the Supreme Court's decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization, including Brett and Nazim's criticisms of the majority and concurring opinions, and a discussion on how this case alters the legacy of the justices and ...
06.19.2022 We Are Living in a Conservative World and I am a Conservative Girl The podcast returns strong off its summer bye week, covering three cases which deal with conservative majorities, including Johnson v. Arteaga-Martinez (can a Circuit Court create bond hearings for detained immigrants), Garland v. Gonzalez (can detained immigrants sue the government ...
06.05.2022 What We Do on the Shadow Docket This week's episode covers three Supreme Court Orders that don't have long opinions, but cover interesting issues that may pop up a few years down the line. This includes Netchoice LLC v. Paxton (instituting a stay on a Texas law ...
05.29.2022 The Second Amendment This week's episode covers the text, punctuation, history, case law, current developments, and future predictions on the Second Amendment and reasonable gun control regulations. We intended on covering two cases about federalism, but never got around to it. The law ...
05.22.2022 How Political Is It? This week's episode discusses the political influence of two cases. The first is FEC v. Cruz where Ted Cruz struck down campaign finance laws, and the second is Patel v. Garland in which the Court refused to consider mistakes in ...
05.15.2022 The Long-Awaited Boston Flag Episode You asked for it, and you got it, folks. This week's episode covers Shurtleff v. City of Boston, aka the second-most interesting thing that happened in the Supreme Court two weeks ago. There's a lot to disagree with here, from ...
05.08.2022 GUEST EP: Gabe Roth on Judicial Ethics On this week's podcast, Brett interviews Gabe Roth from Fix the Court about judicial ethics and recusal reform for the Supreme Court. Gabe discusses the scope of Fix the Court's reform in light of current events, what is like to ...
05.03.2022 Alito's Draft Dobbs Opinion The emergency podcast alarm has rarely sounded so definitely, as Brett and Nazim discuss the fall-out from Alito's leaked opinion in Dobbs, including what a draft opinion means for the outcome of the case, what a leak means for the ...
05.01.2022 Thank God for Football This week's case discusses Kennedy v. Bremerton School District, in which the Court must determine whether a public school football coach who prays on the field violates the Establishment Clause. This case is ripe with factual issues, legal issues, and ...
04.24.2022 Laws 2, Constitution 0 This week's episode covers the age-old battle of LAWS v. CONSTITUTION. The first case is U.S. v. Vaello-Madero, in which the Supreme Court held that denying Puerto Rican residents SSI benefits did not violate Equal Protection. The second case is ...
04.17.2022 Soft on Crime This week's episode covers Concepcion v. U.S., which continues the Supreme Court's interpretation of the First Step Act, a bi-partisan law aimed at lowering sentencings for drug dealers, but maybe wasn't drafted super well. Law starts at (04:10).
04.10.2022 First Amendment Red Flags This week's episode starts with a discussion on Justice Jackson's appointment to the Supreme Court (starts from the beginning), and moves to a discussion about Shurtleff v. City of Boston (17:26), which asks whether a government policy which allows citizen's ...
03.27.2022 Ketanji Explains It All This week's supersized episode covers the Senate Confirmation hearings of Ketanji Brown Jackson, while also covering Clarence Thomas, Ramirez v. Collier, and Wisconsin Legislature v. Wisconsin Election Commission. The law starts from the beginning and is mostly consistent except for ...
03.20.2022 Harry Potter and the Gerrymandered Maps This week's episode covers two brief Supreme Court orders with big political ramifications for the future. Moore v. Harper (N.C.) and Toth v. Chapment (PA) are two State Supreme Court decisions where the Court decided the political maps instead of ...
03.13.2022 Boston Marathon Bomber & the Less-Famous Abortion Decision This week's episode covers recent decisions in U.S. v. Tsarnaev (reinstating the death penalty for the Boston Marathon Bomber) and Cameron v. EMW Women's Surgical Center (allowing AG to intervene in abortion case when everyone else gave up). It's all ...
03.06.2022 Drugs and the Mind Police This week's episode is all about drugs and the mindset needed to distribute drugs illegally. Ruan v. U.S. asks whether a doctor accused of violating the Controlled Substance Act should be judged by an objective standard (would every doctor think ...
02.27.2022 The Philadelphia Eagles and Administrative Law This week's episode covers Biden v. Texas, a case which asks whether Biden is required to continue a Trump era immigration policy due to some kind of administrative law revenge plot. This week's episode also discussed how this whole ordeal ...
02.20.2022 Religious Rights Surivivor Series Well, Mene Gene, it is the Establishment Clause vs. the Free Exercise Clause because this week's case is Carson v. Minkin, in which a Supreme Court with three new justices must decide whether a State can refuse children from choose ...

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