Navigating Asylum Claims and Supreme Court Frustrations

OA1096 - The President of the United States has just pardoned a blood relative and it’s--fine, actually. We review the full pardon of Hunter Biden in the greater context of presidential pardons before moving on to our main story: this week’s oral arguments in the trans rights case U.S. v. Skrmetti. The most important and very likely the most consequential case of this Supreme Court term featured the first openly trans lawyer ever to appear before the high court patiently trying to explain to some of our finest legal minds why a Tennessee law denying life-saving healthcare to certain people based on which letter is printed on their birth certificates is in fact unconstitutional discrimination. Finally, Matt drops a quick footnote to acknowledge one of the shortest periods of martial law in democratic history and to see what we might be able to learn from it.

• Statement from President Joe Biden re: pardon of Hunter Biden(12/1/24)

• Office of the Pardon Attorney | Pardons Granted by President Donald J. Trump (2017-2021)

• U.S. v. Skrmetti oral arguments (12/4/24)

• L.W. v. Skrmetti (6th Cir)(7/8/2023)

• President Yoon’s Speech Declaring Martial Law in South Korea - The New York Times (12/3/24)

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