Season 5, Episode 25 (Show 234): Speaking the Law
July 9, 2025
The Supreme Court is heard from in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Casa – or are they?
CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.
The Birthright Citizenship case, Trump v. Casa, reached the Supreme Court – sort of. The Court ruled on the executive branch’s request for a stay in response to nationwide injunctions issued by three different circuit courts, where the executive order purporting to alter more than a century’s practice regarding the Constitution’s guarantee of birthright citizenship was blocked by these courts. In doing so the Court declined – that is, the majority declined – to address the merits. Still, the nationwide injunction issue was addressed – at least for now.. Akhil takes the Court to task for avoiding the merits, and he offers numerous ways by which this could have been – should have been – done. He also presents a new approach that litigants in these cases might consider as they deal with various tactics the government may employ in the service of an executive order they may not expect to be upheld. Along the way Akhil offers some suggestions for consequences that might be faced by the executive officials, maybe not in our government as currently functioning, but at least in theory. There’s a lot here even if what is most notable for many of us is what the Court has left hanging.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)
Show Notes:
Season 5, Episode 24 (Show 233): Children, Indoctrination, and Ideas
July 2, 2025
The Supreme Court issued a number of highly anticipated opinions last week. We take up the case of Mahmoud v. Taylor, concerning parental rights and religious education.
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The end of the term arrives, and the Court is busy. We begin our dive into the cases with Mahmoud v. Taylor, a case involving inclusive books in a school, parental guidance of religious education, opt-outs, advance notification, and issues of gender and sexual education. Professor Amar goes beyond the case with an overall theory of religious accommodation; indeed, he goes beyond this into questions of parental rights and how it may interact with first amendment law. We also have some announcements of future events.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)
Show Notes:
Season 5, Episode 23 (Show 232): Imbalance of Power
June 26, 2025
President Trump launches attacks on Iran. Congress is not involved. A problem?
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The US enters a violent part of the world once again, as Iran’s nuclear facilities are bombed. The President orders this without consulting Congress; indeed without asking for, much less receiving a declaration of war. Does the Constitution require this? What has past practice been? What was true at the founding? Has it changed over the centuries? Many twists and turns to the reasoning emerge as we explore this largely indefinite area of Constitutional Law. Meanwhile, Akhil gives a speech on the Revolution and the Constitution which sounds surprisingly relevant at this time.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)
Show Notes:
Season 5, Episode 22 (Show 231): A Judicious Life, Part Two – Special Guests Justice Stephen Breyer, Professor Nadine Strossen, Professor Kermit Roosevelt
June 19, 2025
Three more outstanding guests join us as we revisit Justice Souter’s passing, this time with an emphasis on his jurisprudential importance.
CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.
Former Justice Breyer returns to Amarica’s Constitution with reflections on his long-time colleague and, yes, his friend, in a rare opportunity to hear about relationships on the Court. Meanwhile, former Souter clerk and current Professor at Penn Carey Law School, Kermit Roosevelt, looks back on the clerkship as well as at the threads that have emerged in the law and in his career from Justice Souter’s insights and methodology. And Nadine Strossen, long-time president of the ACLU as well as dear friend to Justice Souter explores many of the first amendment and other cases that Justice Souter had profound things to say, often in dissent. This is a powerhouse episode, but a tender one.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)
Show Notes:
Season 5, Episode 21 (Show 230): Count to Ten
June 11, 2025
The Supreme Court denies cert in a gun case, but in the process it raises a plethora of issues and drops all sort of hints. We clue you in.
CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.
The Supreme Court left lower courts somewhat in the lurch in its recent Bruen decision; last year, in Rahimi, it attempted to clarify matters. Now an assault weapons case reaches the Court, Snope v. Brown, but the Court declines to hear it. Nevertheless, Justice Kavanaugh, though agreeing with the denial of cert, writes a commentary which calls for another, unspecified case to be heard in the near future, and he gives an indication of how he might approach it. We see this as in line with earlier writing he did in Bruen, but there are many unanswered questions in what seems like an intention to utilize a straightforward reasoning. We raise many of these questions, and in doing so, offer our readers a look back at the path gun cases have taken to get to this point, and a look ahead in the hope that some of these heretofore unresolved issues are given their due; that the Justices “count to ten,” before the Court takes what might be too headstrong a path forward.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)
Show Notes:
Season 5, Episode 20 (Show 229): Competence, Character – and Cannon
June 4, 2025
President Trump says he is dumping the Federalist Society and will make judicial nominations on a different basis. Worrisome. The filibuster is in the news. And a new book on Charles Sumner speaks to our moment.
CLE Credit Available for this episode from podcast.njsba.com.
Trump says he will no longer take advice from the Federalist Society, and Leonard Leo in particular, for judicial nominations. The criteria he will use instead appear to be cause for great concern, and we discuss this. Meanwhile, the Senate is poised to bypass the filibuster for more than judicial nominations, which calls for an analysis that we provide. And the publication this week of Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation brings its author, Zaakir Tameez, onto our podcast to speak to Sumner’s enduring relevance.
(LAWYERS AND JUDGES ARE ELIGIBLE FOR CONTINUING LEGAL EDUCATION CREDIT by visiting podcast.njsba.com after listening.)