Advisory Opinions

The Dispatch

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Advisory Opinions is a new podcast from The Dispatch. Hosts David French and Sarah Isgur have a weekly conversation about the law, culture, and why it matters.

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5.0

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Best episodes

Top 10 Advisory Opinions Episodes

Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Advisory Opinions episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Advisory Opinions for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Advisory Opinions episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Colorado Court Blocks Trump from '24 Ballot. Now What?

Advisory Opinions

12/20/23 • 90 min

In this emergency pod, Sarah and David discuss the Colorado Supreme Court’s decision to disqualify Donald Trump from the state’s primary and general election ballots. They take listeners through:

—How they speed read court opinions;

—The self-execution of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment;

—The concept of non-justiciability (and how to pronounce it);

—Problems with congressional drafting;

—Debating incitement; and

—What will SCOTUS do?

Show Notes:

-Prof. Will Baude on Section 3, Insurrection, and Trump

-Coup de Target

-Incitement of Insurrection

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2 Listeners

Why Our Border Is Broken

Advisory Opinions

01/30/24 • 63 min

Sarah and David dive deep into the state of immigration law and Texas Gov. Greg Abbott's legal battle with the Biden administration.

The Agenda:

—Amicus briefs for funsies

—The asylum system problem

—How to fix the crisis at the border

—The border deal in the Senate

—Civil War cosplay

—National Guard and Texit detour

—Football vs. politics redux

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2 Listeners

Guns. Ho.

Advisory Opinions

11/10/22 • 71 min

Yes, David and Sarah share their post-election thoughts (including the Trump question), but they also talk some law! From Judge James Ho (the scourge of Yale Law School) nudging SCOTUS to recognize an unenumerated right to make a living, to New York state’s gun laws hitting a wall in court... the takes are a-flowing. But none more shocking than David’s all-time top two songs.

Plus: David ruefully performs a post-mortem to his midterm pre-mortem.

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1 Listener

2023 Year In Review And 2024 Predictions (With David Lat)

Advisory Opinions

12/28/23 • 69 min

Sarah joins David Lat's Original Jurisdiction to review 2023's best (and worst) legal cases and lawyers and make some hopeful (and less hopeful) predictions about the coming year.

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1 Listener

The Presidential Assassination Argument

Advisory Opinions

01/11/24 • 58 min

Sarah and David address a few corrections from Tuesday’s episode before turning to the oral argument on Trump’s prosecutorial immunity.

On the Agenda:

—Can presidents order Seal Team Six to assassinate rivals?

—Who is going to win this case?

—Did we just fix qualified immunity? (No.)

—Political advertising at the Ninth Circuit

—Should I go to law school? Pt. 97

Show notes:

—Marbury v. Madison

—Mississippi v. Johnson

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1 Listener

Ignore the Gaslighters on the Hur Report

Advisory Opinions

02/13/24 • 85 min

Memory issues, ghost writers, and presidential prosecutions. Media outlets are cherry picking bits and pieces from the Hur Report on Biden’s handling of classified documents, but Sarah and David spend a full episode analyzing its legal standards and implications.

The Agenda:

—Disclosing biases

—Standards of evidence

—Biden’s too old

—Can we get the full recordings?

—No security clearance for the ghost writer

—Partisan brains reading the report

—“No Zionists Allowed” in a bookstore

Show Notes:

—The Hur report

Today's episode is supported by Burford Capital. Follow the link to learn more: http://burfordcapital.com/ao

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1 Listener

Story Time for Fed Court Nerds

Advisory Opinions

11/28/23 • 72 min

Sarah and David return from their Thanksgiving feasts to serve up a very nerdy episode on fed court law. Enjoy:

-David giving a lowdown of the Voting Rights Act

-Hacking minority districts

-Laws created by court precedents versus laws created by statutes

-Any standing experts out there?

-Undoing the Warren Court

-Section Two Rights vindicated in civil court

-Reporters: Don’t go to activists for legal analysis

-Elon versus Media Matters

-Match maker Sarah, make me a match

Show Notes:

-Eight Circuit two to one opinion

-Section Two of the Voting Rights Act

-Elon v Media Matters

-Video: Hostage reunites with family

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1 Listener

Hamburger Mary's Risqué Drag Show

Advisory Opinions

11/21/23 • 79 min

Sarah and David have a big ol' pod today, wherein they discuss a First Amendment case involving risqué drag shows at a burger joint, hunter harassment laws, and challenges to Donald Trump's ballot access. Spoiler: Sarah was right. Also:

-Masked protesters and Anti-Klan laws

-Bad facts make bad laws

-Lawyers and Non-germaine activities

-David's window-dressing ignorance

-Boudreaux's Butt Paste

-Trump's ballot access in Colorado

-Guys: you gotta get married.

Show notes:

-Hamburger Mary's at SCOTUS

-Hunter Harassment laws challenge

-Compulsory bar membership

-Trump's ballot access challenge in Colorado

-The Meaning and Ambiguity of Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment

-Ilya Somin in Reason

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1 Listener

Courtroom Cams and Elon's Crusade

Advisory Opinions

09/07/23 • 76 min

Exciting news from host-in-absentia Sarah Isgur. Partisan gerrymandering. Cameras in courts. David French and guest-host David Lat have so much to cover in so little time. Here we go:

-New arrivals

-Purdue Pharma update

-Should the Trump trials be televised? (The Davids disagree)

-Wisconsin's judicial elections mess

-Alabama's ongoing redistricting wars and systemic racism

-Elon Musk goes after the ADL

Show notes:

-2020 DOJ press release on Purdue Pharma and the Sackler Family

-Just Security on Judge Jones's supplemental briefing order

-Caplan v. Trump (Section 3 ruling)

-Charlie Sykes on the Wisconsin Supreme Court drama

-Singleton v. Allen (Alabama Voting Rights Act case)

-David Firestone on Alabama Voting Rights Act case

-Elon Musk blames ADL for lost revenue (NBC)

-Musk blames Latham for San Francisco’s problems. Huh? (Reuters)

-David French's NYT column on Texas age-verification law

-AO episode featuring Ari Cohn on age-verification laws

-Video version of this episode

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1 Listener

Biden's Coercive Social Media Tactics

Advisory Opinions

10/24/23 • 66 min

Sidney Powell may be the best lawyer ever, SCOTUS might finally have a tech term, and David’s humble brag didn’t get past anyone. Sarah and David fly through a mix bag of legal topics including:

-Presidents coercing social media platforms

-Plea deals from fraudsters

-“Cheese-bro”

-David brings up trans issues

-Sarah brings up feminism

-Law firms dealing with “unlawful” affirmative action practices and fellowships

-A gun case

-ANOTHER gun case (but with ghosts, kind of)

-Employment division triggers David

-And...pot-smoking generations

Show Notes

-Bong Hits 4 Jesus