Opening Arguments

But Who Will Execute the Executer? The Supreme Court.

OA1215 - We examine why the potential merger of Warner Brothers Discovery with either Netflix or Paramount would almost be certainly illegal under better circumstances before mourning the imminent loss of the independence of the one government agency which is supposed to stop this kind of thing. What exactly is the Federal Trade Commission, and why was destroying it a top priority for Project 2025? We then take a closer look at this week’s oral arguments in Trump v. Slaughter, in which the Supreme Court’s MAGA majority is poised to turn the FTC and dozens of other independent agencies into tools for Trump’s corruption and graft. Finally, in today’s footnote: why is an actual government website hawking the Trump Gold Card, and can the President really just make up a completely new way to give anyone with one million dollars a new path to US citizenship? 1. Trump v. Slaughter oral arguments [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Lg86tfI0W7o] (12/8/2025) 2. Humphrey’s Executor v. US [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/295/602/], 295 US 602 (1935) 3. Federal Trade Commission Act [https://uscode.house.gov/view.xhtml?req=granuleid%3AUSC-prelim-title15-chapter2-subchapter1&edition=prelim] (1914) 4. Rebecca Slaughter’s SCOTUS brief [https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-332/383932/20251107161927499_Slaughter%20respondent%20brief%20final.pdf] 5. Trumpcard.gov [http://trumpcard.gov] Check out the OA Linktree [https://linktr.ee/openingarguments] for all the places to go and things to do!

Ross Douthat says Trump's Christian Nationalism just needs more Christian in it

VR16 - This week on Vapid Response: it’s the Hat and the Hammer, with the return of both New York Times token religious conservative columnist Ross Doot-hat and Newsweek editor-at-large Josh Hammer. We begin with a savory amuse douche in which a Christian influencer preaches against making policy based on “toxic empathy” before reading  Josh Hammer taking her up on the joke by explaining why the U.S. military has the absolute right to kill anyone Josh Hammer wants dead. Finally, Ross Douthat stops in from whatever planet he has been living on with some advice for the Trump administration on how to be better Christians.

Trump Keeps Racking Up Ls in the Courts

OA1214 - As the end of 2025 approaches, we are finding real cause for hope in how federal courts have been handling the Trump administration’s unprecedented assault on the rule of law. In the first of what will be at least two parts, Matt and Thomas speedrun through just a few of the many wins--both big and small--that we have seen in a wide range of categories. 1. Just Security’s Litigation Tracker  [https://www.justsecurity.org/107087/tracker-litigation-legal-challenges-trump-administration/] 2. Farewell Messages by Recent DOJ Alumni [https://www.thejusticeconnection.org/farewell-messages/] 3. “The Unraveling of the Justice Department,” [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/11/16/magazine/trump-justice-department-staff-attorneys.html] Emily Bazelon, The New York Times (11/16/25) 4. Docket for J.G.G. v. Trump [https://www.courtlistener.com/docket/69741724/jgg-v-trump/] (Alien Enemies Act and related contempt litigation) 5. Judge William Young’s decision in AAUP v. Rubio [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.mad.282460/gov.uscourts.mad.282460.261.0_3.pdf] (9/30/25) 6. Injunction blocking Trump asylum EO in RAICES v. Noem [https://ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show_public_doc?2025cv0306-71] (7/2/25)  7. Injunction blocking ICE from enforcement in certain churches in Philadelphia Yearly Meeting v. Noem [https://clearinghouse.net/doc/161603/] (2/24/25) 8. Injunction in Center for Taxpayer Rights v. IRS [https://storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.uscourts.dcd.277519/gov.uscourts.dcd.277519.54.0.pdf]blocking IRS from sharing taxpayer information with ICE (11/21/25) 9. Injunction in Rhode Island v. Trump [https://www.courthousenews.com/wp-content/uploads/2025/11/states-v-trump-library-museum-funding-injunction.pdf] blocking EO which would have dismantled the Institute for Museums and Libraries and several other federal agencies (11/21/25) Check out the OA Linktree [https://linktr.ee/openingarguments] for all the places to go and things to do!

Is Trump Playing “Pardon, Marry, Kill” With Narcotraffickers?

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?” [https://scholarship.law.ufl.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1350&context=flr] Florida Law Review (Jan. 2017) 2. Steve Bannon’s cert petition to the U.S. Supreme Court [https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/25/25-453/379338/20251010090054995_USSC%20Petition%20for%20Writ%20of%20Certiorari.pdf] in Bannon v. US (10/15/2025) 3. U.S. v. Helen Bryan [https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/339/323/], 339 U.S. 323 (1950) 4. Matter of C-I-G-M & L-V-S-G- [https://www.justice.gov/eoir/media/1416811/dl?inline], 29 I&N Dec. 291, (BIA 10/31/2025) 5. Asylum Cooperative Agreement with Honduras [https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/08/2025-12631/agreement-between-the-government-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-the-government-of-the-republic], Federal Register (7/8/2025) 6. ACA with Guatemala [https://www.federalregister.gov/documents/2025/07/15/2025-13216/agreement-between-the-government-of-the-united-states-of-america-and-the-government-of-the-republic], Federal Register (7/15/2025) 7. “The Night Raids,” [https://www.propublica.org/article/afghanistan-night-raids-zero-units-lynzy-billing] Lynzy Billing, ProPublica (12/15/2022) 8. Juan Orlando Hernandez letter to Trump seeking pardon [https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2025/12/02/us/politics/hernandez-letter.html], New York Times (12/2/2025) Check out the OA Linktree [https://linktr.ee/openingarguments] for all the places to go and things to do!

Trump hosts (and dozes through) absolutely unhinged Antifa Round Table

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” [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cf6Em35gguU], Youtube (10/7/25) 2. The alleged Portland “antifa hit list” [https://pbs.twimg.com/media/G35W8bdXUAAoksY?format=jpg&name=large] 3. White House claims "more than 1,000%" rise in assaults on ICE agents, data says otherwise [https://www.npr.org/2025/10/10/nx-s1-5565146/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 [https://www.removepaywall.com/search?url=https://www.latimes.com/california/story/2025-12-01/dhs-1000-percent-increase-attacks-on-ice-agents-times-analysis], Los Angeles Times (12/1/25) 5. “Countering Domestic Terrorism and Organized Political Violence,” [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/countering-domestic-terrorism-and-organized-political-violence/] NPSM-7 (9/25/25) 6. “Designating Antifa as a Domestic Terror Organization,” [https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/2025/09/designating-antifa-as-a-domestic-terrorist-organization/] The White House (9/22/25) 7. “Extremist File: Jack Posobiec,” [https://www.splcenter.org/resources/extremist-files/jack-posobiec/] Southern Poverty Law Center