The Law Is My Ass

In this exciting 39th Episode we talk about the legalities of the current protests and demonstrations by NFL players, coaches, and owners, and along the way we also answer the following questions (among others):

• Can Lingerie League football players be disciplined for pre-game protests? (Hint: most definitely);
• Can your local high school's football players be disciplined for pre-game protest (Hint: less likely);
• Can NFL players be disciplined for pre-game protests? (Hint: unlikely, but not because of the First Amendment);
• Can women drive in Saudi Arabia (Hint: not yet - but soon!);
• Are the Supreme Court travel ban appeals going to be dismissed as moot? (Hint: signs point to maybe);
• Is Andrew going to be a great attorney some day? (Hint: the jury is still out);
• Is ICE trying to prevent immigration detainees from obtaining legal representation (Hint: all signed point to yes);
• What the heck is the Jones Act (Hint: OSHA for the Ocean!)

All that and more! Listen in, subscribe, send your listener questions to [email protected], and above all, keep it legal!

In this the 38th episode of The Law Is My Ass, Sid and Joe interview podcast-regular and benefits expert Eric Schillinger about the Graham-Cassidy bill that the Senate is considering RIGHT NOW as it's likely last effort to repeal Obamacare in this fiscal year. What does it mean, and how would it affect you? Listen and find out! And as if that weren't enough, we tackle the following pressing legal questions:

• Is there another way to look at the Second Amendment? (Hint: yes)
• Do Californian's have to stop force feeding their geese again? (Hint: yes, but abusing chickens, cattle and pigs is still allowed)
• Is Equifax in deep doo-doo? (Hint: you know the answer)
• Is Wells-Fargo trying to pull a fast one? (Hint: guess)
• Is Taylor Swift going down for copyright infringement? (Hint: Joe votes no, Sid votes yes, and Eric abstains)
• Can Jeff Sessions punish cities that don't want immigration officers storming into their jails? (Hint: courts say "no"!)
• What web giant has the funniest in-house IP attorneys? (Hint: starts with N, ends with x, and has an "etfli" in the middle)

All that and more in this week's shorter-than-usual episode of The Law Is My Ass. Tune in, and keep it legal!

In this the 37th (!) episode of The Law Is My Ass, and along with exciting special guest Amy Bach of advocacy organization United Policyholders (check out their website right here: http://uphelp.org) talk about last week's Supreme Court foray back into the travel ban litigation, and take on the following pressing questions:

• Are strippers properly classified as independent contractors (Hint: probably not);
• Is Equifax about to drown in litigation (Hint: all signs point to yes);
• Is Google a sexist employer (Hint: some employees are saying so!);
• Is President Trump's pardon of Sheriff Arpaio constitutional (Hint: some say no!);
• How many insurance companies does it take to pay a homeowners hurricane claim (Hint: it's a trick question! There's no insurance!);

All that and listener questions in today's exciting installment of The Law Is My Ass!

On this the 36th episode of The Law is My Ass podcast, Sid and Joe interview Veterans Benefits expert Jeffrey Marion, talk about the Trump administration's torrid pace of appointing judges, and you might get answers to the following questions:

• Is the Trump administration doing nothing? (Hint: not unless appointing judges is "doing nothing")
• Does Senator Franken have a big blue slip? (Hint: Yes!)
• How is the administration faring at the Ninth Circuit? (Hint: lost again)
• Are municipalities still jailing people just for being poor? (Hint: as of this week, one fewer)
• Is credit reporting agency Experian a good corporate citizen? (Hint: all indications point to "NO!")
• Is Verizon tracking your web use? (Hint: Yes!)
• How is a TBI like herbicide-induced cancer? (Hint: both can get you veterans disability benefits)
• How is a ship at port different from a ship at sea? (Hint: in the same way that brown water is not blue)
• How can we help our veterans? (Hint: listen and find out!

All that and more! Tune in, listen up, and keep it legal!

We're excited that Sid is back from his summer comedy tour of Scotland, and thrilled to present you Joe's interview of Rutgers Law Professor Katie Eyer about laws affecting the transgender community!

Before that, Sid and Joe give a shout out to sponsors Green Light Jerky and perennial supports Roberts Bartolic LLP and their  ERISA Watch Newsletter. And in the Random Legal News of the Week with Sid and Joe, you'll learn:

• Does Wells Fargo cheat its customers? (Hint: apparently);
• Did Obama wiretap Trump Tower? (Hint: nope);
• Is Judge Posner retiring? (Hint: nope, he is retired #MovingFast);
• Can Wyoming sue VW for diesel pollution? (Hint: doubtful);
• How many judges can President Trump nominate in one week? (Hint: tune in next week and we'll give you a number);
• Can Texas outlaw sanctuary cities? (Hint: not this week);
• Is the New York Times a good source of information? (Hint: about Gill v. Whitford, so far, yes!);
• Can you go to prison for not paying a parking ticket? (Hint: in Florida, yes! #winning);
• Do courts think that calling someone transgender is an insult? (Hint: at least one court says that it is not!)

Give it a listen, and keep it legal!

A shout out to all our new subscribers, and our thanks to Roberts Bartolic LLP's ERISA Watch newsletter for plugging the prior episodes featuring our interview with Judge Alex Kozinski!

This week we're on vacation (there's some sort of eclipse-type thing happening and Joe is going to watch it, while Sid continues to try to make Scottish people laugh out loud) - but we're offering a special episode consisting solely of our full, unedited interview with Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski. No travel ban update (the hearing is August 28 in Seattle ;); no Random Legal News of the Week (there was so much - but it will have to wait); not even any music! This week it's just Joe and Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski taking about everything from brief writing, to Ayn Rand, to His Honor's views on the death penalty. 

Enjoy this special 90-minute episode, check back for new episodes starting in September, and in the meantime, as always, keep it legal!™

More Kozinski! After special guest co-host Will Maguire and Joe wade through the travel ban update and the legal news of the week (FBI raids! Google Bros! Breaking Bad!) - we play the second half of Joe's interview with outspoken and controversial Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski, including his honor's thoughts about

• The Fourth Amendment
• How to be friends with the judges you criticize in your dissents
• Digital privacy and the third party doctrine
• Whether your mom is a good legal editor
• Criminal justice reform
• The death penalty

We will be on hiatus until September - but we hope you'll listen in, and, as always, keep it legal!

This week Joe and special guest co-host Vernon C. Grigg III walk you through the week's legal developments, including the re-invigorated Ninth Circuit appeal of the revised Hawai'i injunction against the second administration travel ban; the marketing of medications directly to state drug court judges; Wells Fargo's misconduct, which just keeps going, and going, and going; and the Mueller grand jury that empaneled last week but best of all - we close with Part 1 of our 2-part 90-minute interview of Ninth Circuit Judge Alex Kozinski! In this the first half of the interview we touched upon

• His childhood in Romania
• His libertarian political views
• Kurt Vonnegut
• Bananas
• Movies and judicial opinions
• Antitrust laws
• The Senate Blue Slip process
• The power (or lack thereof) of big corporations, and
• Proposals to divide the Ninth Circuit

Next week will be even juicer - in Part 2 of the interview, we touch on the future of privacy rights, the 4th Amendment, and the 3rd Party Doctrine in the digital age, more on judicial opinion writing, his views on the death penalty, and dinner with the Ginsburgs and the Scalias. And as if that weren't enough, Judge Kozinski himself answers your listener questions.

As always, thanks for listening, and keep it legal!

In this the 31st episode of The Law Is My Ass, with Sid away in Scotland, Joe and guest co-host Vernon C. Grigg III (who was also our guest in episode 24 on the topic of obstruction of justice) covered a ton of ground, including:

• What's happening with the Travel Ban litigation? (Hint: nothing, more or less)
• What's happening at the Supreme Court? (Hint: death penalty appeals)
• As between MJ and OJ, who is the week's winner? (Hint: OJ)
• Any new law suits against Trump? (Hint: Seriously? We can barely keep up with all the old ones!)
• Anybody sue Apple lately? (Hint: The University of Wisconsin just got a HALF A BILLION DOLLAR award in a patent suit against Apple...)
• Can Trump pardon himself? (Hint: reasonable minds may differ)
• Is Trump going to fire Sessions and Mueller (Hint: seems like a bad idea)
• Is the whole Trump family going to jail for "collusion"? (Hint: "collusion" is not a crime)
• With the DOJ arguing that Title VII does not prohibit discrimination against gays and lesbians, are there legal prohibitions against such discrimination? (Hint: Probably)
• All of which begs the question, what the heck does "begs the question" mean, and should lawyers say it? (Hint: not what you think, and it's up to them)

Listen in for your weekly dose of all things law - thank you as always for listening, and keep it legal!

***YOU WON'T WANT TO MISS NEXT WEEK'S EPISODE WITH OUR VERY SPECIAL GUEST: NINTH CIRCUIT JUDGE ALEX KOZINSKI ! ! !***

We have some some very exciting news about our next two episodes (Hint: we will be interviewing a sitting Ninth Circuit judge for the August 5 episode # 32!!!)

Once we get that out of the way, this week we cover the developments in the ongoing travel ban litigation that the mainstream press has hardly covered at all (both the Ninth Circuit and the Supreme Court issued important clarifying and procedural decisions last week). But unlike the rest of the media, we bring you up to speed! We also answer pressing questions like "Is it legal to make mouthwash on an antifreeze machine?" (Hint: unlikely); "Is Harley Davidson still going to buy me a new stove?" (Hint: no, Jeff Sessions let them off the hook); "Can the government seize my assets without proving I did anything wrong?" (Hint: Jeff Sessions thinks it's a great idea, but Justice Clarence Thomas is skeptical); can the President pardon himself? (Hint: most likely yes, but even that might not protect him and we'll explore that in depth next week with our guest co-host and former prosecutor Vernon Grigg!).

Then we have our FIFTH guest interview with Eric Schillinger about the substance and procedure of the Senate's efforts to repeal the ACA (aka "Obamacare") - and conclude that the proposals are getting wackier every day.

Finally a listener question that points out just how complicated it can be to destroy the government from the inside out.

Thanks for listening and keep it legal!