OA1213 - Thomas is back for an action-packed Rapid Response Friday! This week: we compare the letter that just earned the former President of Honduras a pardon of his conviction for definitely being involved with narcotrafficking against the Trump administration's excuses for murder on the high seas of Venezuelans suspected to be involved with narcotrafficking--and if House Speaker Mike Johnson actually has a point in blaming Barack Obama for all of this. Matt then takes a quick look at Steve Bannon's petition for review of his conviction for contempt of Congress by the Supreme Court and explains how "safe third country" agreements now give ICE the power to deport asylum seekers to Central America without a hearing on their claims.

Finally in today's footnote, Matt shares an incredible story from his week: an astonishing beyond-Kafkaesque legal argument the government has ordered his client to respond to that you will have to hear to believe.

1. "Double-Tap Warfare: Should President Obama be Investigated for War Crimes?" Florida Law Review (Jan. 2017)

2. Steve Bannon's cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court in Bannon v. US (10/15/2025)

3. U.S. v. Helen Bryan, 339 U.S. 323 (1950)

4. Matter of C-I-G-M & L-V-S-G-, 29 I&N Dec. 291, (BIA 10/31/2025)

5. Asylum Cooperative Agreement with Honduras, Federal Register (7/8/2025)

6. ACA with Guatemala, Federal Register (7/15/2025)

7. "The Night Raids," Lynzy Billing, ProPublica (12/15/2022)

8. Juan Orlando Hernandez letter to Trump seeking pardon, New York Times (12/2/2025)

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Published: December 5, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

Today on Vapid Response Wednesday: weeks after designating "Antifa" a "domestic terror organization," the White House hosted a panel of MAGA luminaries to update the President on the not-at-all-made-up threat to the nation posed by a thing which demonstrably does not exist. We begin with a short amuse douche, in which Tennessee Senator Marsha Blackburn is concerned about the extremely real Portland "Antifa hit list"--a thing which definitely exists exactly as described! Matt then explains why the war on "Antifa" is a threat to all of our civil liberties before we take a seat at the Antifa Round Table.

1. The White House "antifa round table", Youtube (10/7/25)

2. The alleged Portland "antifa hit list"

3. White House claims "more than 1,000%" rise in assaults on ICE agents, data says otherwise, NPR (10/10/25)

4. Attacks on ICE up 1,000%? Trump administration claim not backed up by court records, Los Angeles Times (12/1/25)

5. "Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence," NPSM-7 (9/25/25)

6. "Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terror Organization," The White House (9/22/25)

7. "Extremist File: Jack Posobiec," Southern Poverty Law Center

Published: December 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1212 - What's a cop to do when he stumbles onto a crime, and the evidence points to someone he knows all too well? In today's deep dive, friends become suspects, concerned parents become FBI agents, and laptops become lost jungle detritus. This criminal case out of the US District Court of the Northern Mariana Islands (a US territory in the Pacific) may not have reached the Supreme Court, or have any particularly important precedent, but what it lacks in prestige it makes up for with a fact pattern seemingly written by a law professor specifically to test your knowledge of criminal procedure and evidence. Come for the caper, stay for the OA midterm!

• U.S. v. Weindl, (D.N. Mar. Is. 2012)

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Published: December 1, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1211 - For this special Thanksgiving episode, we take a break from the news for Matt to share his gratitude in short interviews with just a few of the staff, attorneys, and partners who make his Boston immigration law firm's work possible. Stop in to meet everyone from George the office emotional support dog to Matt's long-time friend and law partner Nicole as we discuss the daily work of deportation defense in 2025 and how everyone is looking out for their mental health throughout this unprecedented crisis. Finally in today's footnote: Matt's former student and current research assistant Olivia joins to discuss the serendipitously-timed email which brought her to OA and what it takes to prepare to have an unscripted but informative conversation about complex topics. 

Thanks again to everyone listening, and most especially those who have joined the community and support the show at patreon.com/law!

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Published: November 27, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1210 - This week we welcome journalist and author John J. Lennon, who is calling in from New York's Sing Sing Correctional Facility where he is serving 25 years to life for murder. Lennon's extraordinary new book The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us tells his own story alongside that of three other men whose crimes were sensationalized by the media--including Manhattan "Preppy Killer" Robert Chambers--after they were convicted for murders which they unquestionably committed. It challenges us to consider what life is like for the subjects of these documentaries and re-enactments after the credits have rolled, and to ask what our national obsession with true crime is costing them--and all of us.

1. The Tragedy of True Crime: Four Guilty Men and the Stories that Define Us, John J. Lennon (2025)

2. The New York Times review of The Tragedy of True Crime, Pamela Colloff (9/23/25)

3. "A Convicted Murderer's Case for Gun Control," John J. Lennon, The Atlantic (8/21/2013)

4. "The True Crime Stories You See on TV Are Leaving Out Something Big," John J. Lennon, Slate (10/13/2025)

5. "When Your Crime Becomes a Dick Wolf Show," John J. Lennon, Rolling Stone (7/19/2025)

Published: November 24, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1209 - Are you done with legal doomerism? Us too. Take some time away from doomscrolling and join Matt and Jenessa for Rapid Response Friday as we consider four stories of legal corruption and authoritarianism failing in the face of honest federal judges, and a footnote about how one brave prison nurse exposed even more corruption in Epstein accomplice Ghislaine Maxwell's special treatment by the Trump administration.

1. Complaint in United States v. State of New York, Northern Dist. of NY (7/9/25)

2. New York's motion to dismiss in U.S. v. New York (8/4/25) 

3. Judge Mae D'Agostino's order granting plaintiff's motion to dismiss in U.S. v. NY (11/17/25) 

4. Indictment of James Comey, Eastern Dist. of VA (9/25/25)

5. Judge William Fitzpatrick's order granting disclosure of grand jury materials in U.S. v. Comey (EDVA)(11/20/25)

6. Judge Jeffrey Brown's order in LULAC v. Abbot, Western Dist. of TX (11/18/25)

7. Decision on the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia's motion to dismiss in 9/11 litigation, Southern Dist. of NY (8/28/25)

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Published: November 21, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

VR14 - Part 2 of the Epstein files

We continue our first look at some highlights from last week's massive release of more than 20,000 pages of material from the estate of Jeffrey Epstein released by the House Oversight Committee, including Steve Bannon and ASU professor Lawrence Krauss among others. We  also consider Megyn Kelly's appalling response before leaving the last word where it belongs: with the women who have come forward to tell their stories on behalf of themselves and those who will never be able to.

1. Epstein survivors press conference held outside the US Capitol (9/3/25)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Published: November 19, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1208 - We go beyond the Trump-related content in the latest round of Epstein disclosures by the House Oversight Committee to explore what we can learn from the many people in Jeffrey Epstein's orbit who flattered, patronized, and enabled him. Part 1 of 2.

1. Searchable database of Epstein records released by Courier 

2. Falling Upward: The Surprising Survival of Larry Summers, Robert Kuttner, The American Prospect (7/13/2020)

3. Investigation at Yale Law School, Dahlia Lithwick & Susan Matthews, Slate (10/5/2018)

4. Report on Sexual Harassment at Yale, Yale Law Women Board (10/2020)

Watch this episode on YouTube here: https://youtu.be/2NX71EJ8nJc

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Published: November 17, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1207 - We record a late-breaking reaction to the recent massive round of documents released from Jeffrey Epstein's estate and discuss how Trump may have just reached his most impeachable moment so far. Matt then shares some incredible news about how the end of Chevron deference has allowed federal judges to frustrate the administration's detention and deportation policies, and Jenessa gets into a lawsuit which challenges RFK Jr's replacement of the CDC's vaccine advisory board with people who don't advise vaccines. Finally, a footgoat [sic] on how one woman's quest to keep an unusual pet in Wyoming is running cover for some of the worst people on Earth. 

1. Google Drive link to House Oversight Committee's release of documents from the Epstein estate (11/12/25)

2. Massachusetts federal court's class certification in Guerrero Orellana

3. Matter of Yajure-Hurtado 26 I&N Dec. 2016 (BIA 9/5/25)

4. Complaint in Bontadelli v. City of Powell (D.WY 11/4/25)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Published: November 14, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

Kat Abughazaleh spent years reporting on right-wing media and movements, and she is now running to represent Illinois's 9th District in Congress on an explicitly anti-authoritarian platform. Kat joins to talk about her uniquely candid platform and community-based campaign, the state of the Democratic Party, how ICE is terrorizing Chicago during the most intensive urban immigration enforcement operation in US history, and much more.

1. Kat Abughazalah's campaign page

2. Kat Abughazaleh's author page at Media Matters for America

Published: November 12, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

In our continuing Still Good Law series, Jenessa explains how a dispute arising from a parking garage in Wilmington, Delaware became the foundation for one of the most important concepts in civil rights: determining that a private or quasi-public individual or entity is operating "under color of law." How does this concept help to hold law enforcement and other governmental agencies accountable, and how is it holding up in 2025?

1. Burton v. Wilmington Parking Authority, 365 U.S. 715 (1961)

2. Monroe v. Pape, 365 US 167 (1961)

3. 42 USC 1983

Published: November 10, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1205 - It's another good news Friday! Voting rights expert Jenessa runs down some of the highlights of the off-year blue sweep in this week's elections, as well as some recent unsung national victories for voting and disability rights. Matt then checks in on the Supreme Court's oral arguments from the challenge to Trump's unprecedented tariffs and why it is looking like he might actually lose his administration's first attempt to defend one of his second administration's policies on the merits. 

Finally, in today's footnote: Why a federal judge recently decided that a lawsuit brought by the man whose penis was once featured on the cover of the most important albums of 1990s smelled like summary judgment. 

1. Supreme Court oral arguments in Learning Resources, Inc  v. Trump (11/5/2025)

2. The International Emergency Economic Powers Act (IEEPA) of 1977

3. "Regulating Imports with a Reciprocal Tariff to Rectify Trade Pratcies that Contribute to Large and Persistent Annual United States Goods Trade Deficits," The White House (4/2/2025)(executive order on tariffs)

4. Solicitor General John Sauer's brief in Learning Resources 

5. Plaintiff's second amended complaint in Elden v. Nirvana LLC et al

6. D.C. federal judge Coleen Kollar-Kotelly's opinion in combined litigation challenging Trump's executive order on citizenship requirements for voting (10/31/25)

7. DC federal judge Amir Ali's order in National Association of the Deaf v. Trump  (11/4/25)

8. Order granting defendants' motion for summary judgment in Elden v. Nirvana, LLC (9/30/2025)

Published: November 7, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

VR12 - Yes, we absolutely thought this was coming out pre-Halloween. Halloween may be over, but NEVERTHELESS THE SPOOKTACULAR PERSISTED!

In this Vapid Response double feature, Thomas, Matt, and Lydia are haunted by two ghoulish takes from the past: 

1. FEATURE FROM THE BLACK LAGOON: Politico's insanely longform access journalism piece from August 2024 on how Project 2025 was so totally over, just never happening, nothing to see here

2. EROSSERHEAD: New York Times resident traditional conservative Ross Douthat's 2015 analysis of why Donald Trump is definitely not a fascist

We then screen a short horror film recently shot at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue.

1. "The Inside Story of How Project 2025 Fell Apart," Ian Ward, POLITICO (8/2/2024)

2. Project 2025 Tracker - Home

3. "Opinion | Is Donald Trump a Fascist?," Ross Douthat,  The New York Times  (12/3/2015)

Published: November 5, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1204 - As House Speaker Mike Johnson continues to pretend that he doesn't have to seat Democrat Adelita Grijalva well over a month after she was elected to represent Arizona's 7th Congressional district, we take a closer look at the last time that Congress refused to swear someone in and what the Warren Court had to say about it. Who was Harlem Congressman Adam Clayton Powell, why was the House so intent on excluding him in 1966, and how precedential might Powell v. McCormack  be for the lawsuit which Arizona has filed on Grijalva's behalf?

1. Powell v. McCormack, 395 U.S. 486 (1969)

2. Adam by Adam; the autobiography of Adam Clayton Powell, Jr ,  Adam Clayton, Powell Jr. (1972) (Internet Archive)

3. 2 USC Sec 25

4. Complaint in Arizona v. House of Representatives (filed 10/21/25)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

Published: November 3, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron

OA1203 - Happy Halloween! We take shelter from a year of ghoulish legal news in the COURTHOUSE OF HORROR, a cabinet of macabre legal curiosities including:

1. "SO I TRADEMARKED AN AXE MURDERER": The historic Lizzie Borden House takes a whack at a nearby coffee shop

2. "THE BONE DETECTOR": Recent patent bar survivor Jenessa Seymour brings us the unbelievable story of the spookiest--and silliest!--lie detector ever registered by the US Patent & Trademark Office

3. "ATTACK OF THE TORTIOUS CLOWNS": Can you sue a haunted house for your fright-related injuries? 

4. "THE GREENBRIER GHOST": The bizarre tale of how a victim's testimony from beyond the grave helped to convict her killer in an 1896 West Virginia murder trial

5. "CANDYMAN 5: SUMMARY JUDGMENT": In a tasty conclusion to last year's Halloween footnote on consumers disappointed with the spookiness of their seasonal treats, a Florida federal judge finds as a matter of law that there is no wrong way to make a Reese's.

Finally, we close on a serious note with Jenessa's guide to how every registered voter can do their part next week to change the plot of our ongoing American horror story.

1. Order in Ghost Adventures LLC v. Miss Lizzie's Coffee, LLC, No. 23-2000 (1st 

Cir.)(Selya, J.)(11/15/2024)

2. "Federal Judge Known for Polysyllabic Prose Dies at 90," Trip Gabriel, The New York Times, (3/21/2025)

3. "Would You Confess Your Criminal Misdeeds to This Skeleton?," Cara Giaimo, Atlas Obscura (5/16/2017)

4. "Apparatus for Obtaining Criminal Confessions and Photographically Recording Them," Patent #1749090, H.A. Shelby (filed 8/10/1927)

5. "The Greenbrier Ghost Reexamined," Greenbrier Historical Society, Arabeth Balseko (1/20/2022)

6. Summary judgment order in Munoz v. Six Flags St. Louis LLC (10/12/2022)(Wallach, J.)

7. Order granting motion to dismiss in Vidal et al v. The Hershey Company, FLSD No. 24-60831 (9/19/2025)(Damian, J.)

8. "Your Cheat Sheet To The 2025 General Elections," Daniel Nichanian, Bolts (10/1/2025)

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Published: October 31, 2025

Host: Thomas Smith
Host: Matt Cameron