Advisory Opinions

Sarah Isgur and David French are joined by Vince Chhabria, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and Stanford professor Nora Engstrom to discuss the incredibly high number of motions granted to seal documents and the line between secrecy and protecting the public interest. They also discuss three new cases that SCOTUS added to its oral argument docket and Big Law red flags.

The Agenda:

–Shout out to our Antarctica fans

–Does FOIA apply to DOGE?

–Cooking up material support for terrorism

–Why sealed filings should be rare

–Welcome to Big Law, son

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Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—click here. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here.
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Sarah Isgur and David French discuss what’s on the Supreme Court’s docket, debate whether anonymous speech is protected by the First Amendment, and undergo a grim historical review of the death penalty after the Pentagon’s announcement that an execution will be livestreamed.

The Agenda:

–Columbus Day discourse

–Video rental records and boring 1980s movies

–Suing Hillary Clinton

–Disputes over political ad rates

–Is spending money speech?

–The problem with disclosure laws

–A gruesome history of the death penalty

Show Notes:

– Americans for Prosperity v. Bonta

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Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the surprisingly complicated Suncor SCOTUS oral argument, Justice Samuel Alito and his AI usage, and circuit cases on child sex abuse material, vaccine exemptions, and racial harassment.

The Agenda:

–Suncor Energy Inc. v. County Commissioners of Boulder County

–An appropriate use of AI by Justice Alito?

–“I don’t think Justice Alito has DraftKings on his phone.”

–Justice Barrett, zombie slayer

–Will  Ashcroft v. Free Speech Coalition ever get overturned?

–Legal traps, religious exemptions, and COVID vaccines

–The DEI-training era reaches the courts

Show Notes:

–Sherif Girgis’ Advisory Opinions episode

–Jack Goldsmith’s piece in The Atlantic

Order Sarah’s book here.

Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—click here. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here.
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The new Supreme Court term has officially started, Sarah Isgur has returned from Down Under, and Sherif Girgis is taking a job at Harvard Law School. The vibes on today’s podcast are immaculate as Sarah and David discuss the long conference before Girgis joins them to discuss Justice Samuel Alito’s new book and his recusal from the biggest case of the term.

The Agenda:

–42 pages of cert denials

–Long conference overview

–So Ordered: An Originalist's View of the Constitution, the Court, and Our Country

–Justice Alito’s op-ed in the Wall Street Journal

–The off-ramps of originalism

–Behind the scenes in Alito’s chambers

Show notes:

–Justice Alito’s CBS News interview with Jan Crawford

Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—click here. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here.
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Elie Honig, CNN’s chief legal analyst, joins David French fresh off jury duty to discuss his piece for New York Magazine on how worried we should be about election challenges ahead of the midterms. The two also discuss the Supreme Court’s 6-3 decision on third-country removals, do some level-setting on the civil lawsuit against Cornell University over an alleged gang rape, and participate in a Star Wars SCOTUS draft.

The Agenda:

–Jury duty hangover

–Immigrants ask Supreme Court to leave ruling in place preventing Trump administration from deporting them to third-party countries

–The Supreme Court Won’t Be Trump’s Election-Theft Lackey

–Jane Doe v. Cornell

–We’re having a draft!

Order Sarah’s book here.

Advisory Opinions is a production of The Dispatch, a digital media company covering politics, policy, and culture from a non-partisan, conservative perspective. To access all of The Dispatch’s offerings—including access to all of our articles, members-only newsletters, and bonus podcast episodes—click here. If you’d like to remove all ads from your podcast experience, consider becoming a premium Dispatch member by clicking here.
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