Advisory Opinions

On today’s episode, David and Sarah take a quick look at an intriguing cert grant at the Supreme Court and then dive into a fascinating discussion about amending the Constitution with University of Texas law professor Sanford Levinson. He thinks the Constitution has some structural problems, and David and Sarah walk through his critiques. By the end, they ask, is there any constitutional reform that can save us if we’re determined to be dysfunctional? Show Notes:-Sarah in Politico: “It’s Time to Amend the Constitution”-Levinson: “The Iron Cage of Veneration”-Levinson explains The Democracy Constitution project-Democracy: “A New Constitution for The United States”-Levinson: “The Price of an Unchanging Constitution” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

It's an emergency podcast! (Well, at least in part). David and Sarah recorded a mailbag podcast Thursday morning, complete with fretting about when the Supreme Court would rule in the vaccine mandate cases. Then, SCOTUS ruled! So this podcast keeps the mailbag and cuts the fretting. Instead David and Sarah spend the first half walking through the vaccine opinions. It's exactly the kind of conversation that everyone loves, a deep discussion of administrative law. Show Notes:-NFIB v. OSHA-Biden v. Missouri Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, David and Sarah do a deep, deep dive into the vaccine mandate oral arguments at the Supreme Court. Sarah walks us through the HOP's (husband of the pod) arguments, and she and David decide the vital question of which basketball analogy to use to describe the likely outcome. They also take a quick look at the health care worker mandate and make their predictions. Show Notes:-Biden v. Missouri oral argument-Nat. Fed'n of Indep. Bus. v. Dept. of Labor oral argument-Wall Street Journal article with sketch of Scott-SCOTUSblog: “Court seems poised to block vaccine-or-test policy for workplaces but may allow vaccine mandate for health care workers”-Reason: “Sloppy Arguments Over COVID Mandates at SCOTUS” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s episode, David and Sarah start with a husband-of-the-pod update, debate a federal district court judge’s ruling temporarily granting more than two dozen Navy SEALs a religious exemption from the Navy’s COVID vaccine mandate, and spend the lion’s share of their time talking about the infernal Electoral Count Act and saving America from electoral chaos. Show Notes:-U.S. Navy SEALs 1-26 v. Joseph R. Biden, Jr.-French Press: “Stop Screwing Around and Reform the Electoral Count Act”-Reason: “How Justices Scalia, Sotomayor, and Breyer Inscribed Books to RBG” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and Sarah talk about everything from COVID, to goat rescues, to the Supreme Court, to TikTok in this wide-ranging first pod of 2022. Do you wonder how you rescue a goat? Why is John Roberts the most popular federal official in the land? Is it lawful to discriminate on the basis of race in medical treatment? What's it like to live with a person who's set to argue the biggest SCOTUS case of the new year? Are kids on TikTok fair game for the media? If these are your questions, this podcast has the answers. Show Notes:-NY State Department of Health eligibility for Paxlovid or Monoclonal Antibody Treatment Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On our last podcast of the year, Sarah takes you to the 2021 National Lawyers Convention at the Mayflower Hotel in Washington, D.C., and introduces you to a dozen judges from all levels of the judiciary. You get a little law, singing, bourbon and bullets, and some important advice for law students. Did you expect David and Sarah to end the year any other way? Show Notes:-Give someone a Dispatch subscription this Christmas-"We'll Be Back" by Judge Elrod and Judge Eskridge-Read David in The French Press-Read Sarah in The Sweep Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On today’s podcast, David and Sarah dive back into vaccine mandates, as the CMS mandate for health care workers and the OSHA guidelines for private businesses head to the Supreme Court. Then it’s First Amendment and compelled speech time at the 5th circuit with a student from Sarah’s rival high school from back in her football orchestra days. This case has it all: free speech, communists, and Bruce Springsteen. It's also a conversation about the similarities— and differences—with one of David’s long-time favorite cases: West Virginia v. Barnette. Show Notes:-6th Circuit upholds vaccine mandate-Reason: “Biden Administration Imposes Vaccine Mandate on Health Care Facilities that Participate in Medicare or Medicaid”-Reason: “Health Care Worker Vaccine Mandate Reaches the Supreme Court”-Oliver v. Arnold-Born in the U.S.A. lyrics Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In today’s episode, Sarah and David discuss the Supreme Court's decision not to enjoin the New York vaccine mandate for health care workers and focus on a very interesting, super-intriguing dissent. Then, they have a conversation with Virginia Solicitor General Michelle Kallen about the Equal Rights Amendment, its ratification by Virginia, and whether the ERA is now part of the Constitution. Finally, with the help of a listener, they finally realize that Sarah's name is a sentence. Show Notes:-Dr. A v. Hochul-Virginia v. Ferriero Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

If you woke up this morning thinking about Jussie Smollett, the Texas abortion law, California gun rights, and California vaccine mandates, then this is the podcast for you. David and Sarah dive into a legal issue that might overturn Smollet’s conviction, analyze the Supreme Court’s decision to permit a very narrow facial challenge to S.B. 8, discuss Gavin Newsom’s swing-and-miss, and wrap up the main portion of the pod with a discussion of vaccine mandates in San Diego schools. Show Notes:-Whole Woman’s Health v. Jackson-9th Circuit vaccine mandate ruling Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

David and Sarah have another action packed pod. First, the US Solicitor General weighs in on whether the Court should hear the case about whether Harvard’s admission policy violates race discrimination laws. Then they talk about a case that was argued this week at the Court that looked at (once again) whether states could refuse to allow voucher money to go to religious schools. Then the 9th Circuit had some feisty dissenting opinions when it upheld California’s ban on high capacity magazines for guns. And lastly, should judges be able to pick their replacements? Show Notes:-Wall Street Journal: “Federal Courts Aren’t Royal Ones”-New Yorker: “On “Succession,” Jeremy Strong Doesn’t Get the Joke” Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices