Opening Arguments

OA1275 - As June ends and another Supreme Court Season wraps, it is time to look back and survey the damage: significant blows to voting and trans rights, harder times for immigrants throughout the system, and a vast expansion of executive powers. But we also go beyond the headlines to see what has been going on with some of the Court’s more routine business. What can we learn from their more mundane 9-0 decisions--and can we actually find some good news here among the wreckage? Matt does his best. Finally, in today’s seasonal footnote: why the world believed for exactly five minutes that Samuel Alito had closed Supreme Court Season by announcing his retirement on Tuesday, and what we can learn from this weird mistake about how mainstream media covers the Supreme Court.
Executive Power / Immigration
Trump v. Barbara — 25-365 (June 30, 2026)(birthright citizenship)

Learning Resources v. Trump — 24-1287  (Feb. 20, 2026) (IEEPA tariffs)

Trump v. Cook — 25A312 (June 29, 2026) (Fed removal)

Trump v. Slaughter — 25-332 (June 29, 2026) (FTC removal)

Mullin v. Doe — 25-1083 (June 25, 2026) (TPS)

Mullin v. Al Otro Lado — 25-5 (June 25, 2026) (asylum at the border)

Blanche v. Lau — 25-429 (June 23, 2026)(LPRs at the border)

Urias-Orellana v. Bondi — 24-777 (Mar. 4, 2026) (asylum standard of review)

Criminal Law
Barrett v. United States — 24-5774 (Jan. 14, 2026) (§924(c)/(j) stacking)

Bowe v. United States — 24-5438 (Jan. 9, 2026) (successive §2255 petitions)

Ellingburg v. United States — 24-482 (Jan. 20, 2026) (restitution / Ex Post Facto)

Chatrie v. United States — 25-112 (June 29, 2026) (geofence / 4A)

United States v. Hemani — 24-1234 (June 18, 2026) (cannabis & 2A rights)

Hunter v. United States — 24-1063 (June 18, 2026) (appeal waivers)

Pitchford v. Cain — 24-7351 (May 28, 2026) (Batson / AEDPA challenge)

Olivier v. City of Brandon — 24-993 (Mar. 20, 2026) — (§1983 rights with prior conviction)

Case v. Montana — 24-624 (Jan. 14, 2026) (emergency-aid / 4A)

Villarreal v. Texas — 24-557 (Feb. 25, 2026) (counsel during recess)

Clark v. Sweeney — 25-52 (Nov. 14, 2025) (habeas / new-trial reversal)

Civil/Voting Rights
Landor v. Louisiana DOC — 23-1197 (June 23, 2026) (RLUIPA damages)

 Louisiana v. Callais — 24-109 (Apr. 29, 2026) (Voting Rights Act §2)

West Virginia v. B.P.J. — 24-43 (June 30, 2026) (trans student athletes)

Wolford v. Lopez — 24-1046 (June 25, 2026) (2A concealed carry)

Chiles v. Salazar — 24-539 (Mar. 31, 2026) (conversion therapy)

NRSC v. FEC — 24-621 (June 30, 2026) (1A / campaign finance)

Procedural Issues
Enbridge Energy v. Nessel — 24-783 (Apr. 22, 2026) (removal deadline)

 Coney Island Auto Parts v. Burton — 24-808 (Jan. 20, 2026) (Rule 60(b)(4) finality)

Other
SCOTUSblog Stat Pack (2025-2026)[PDF]

“NPR retracts story about Alito retirement,” Kelly McBride, NPR (June 30, 2026)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

VR36 - In Mullin v Doe, Samuel Alito just proudly stripped Temporary Protected Status from more than one million people who were lawfully living and working in the US as of the time of the decision--and all on the shadow docket, without even waiting for the full merits of the case to be heard. We go deep today on what may go down as his single worst majority opinion to consider Alito’s explanations of how some of the most disgustingly racist things a sitting US president has ever said in public (most of which were in support of his decision to terminate TPS for Haitians) couldn't have possibly related to why Trump decided to terminate TPS for Haitians.  We close with a quick look at Clarence Thomas's concurrence iin which he yearns for a return to simple times when the federal government was not expected to provide equal protection under the law to anyone--but most especially not immigrants.
Mullin v. Doe (June 25, 2026)(Alito, J.)

Appendix with emails filed into Mullin v. Doe (June 16, 2026)

Mullin v. Doe oral argument transcript (April 29, 2026)

Memorandum Opinion, Miot v. Trump, D.C. Dist. Ct. #25-cv-02471 (Feb 26, 2026)(Reyes, J.)

OA1274 - Can you sue if someone posts something nasty about you online? I mean maybe, but not like this. In today’s episode, Lydia introduces us to the wild world of “Are We Dating the Same Guy?” and Jenessa walks us through a lawsuit that trips over its own feet while trying to take them down. It’s a great opportunity to learn about some interesting Illinois laws against doxxing and your right to your likeness, and why the plaintiff failed miserably at mobilizing those laws in his favor. …Also, it wouldn’t be a modern drama-filled lawsuit without attorneys using AI and failing to fact check. Tune in to hear a judge rage against the lying machine, and the lawyers that used it.
D'Ambrosio v Meta Platforms, Inc., No. 25-2231 (7th Cir. 2026)

Oral arguments

Docket

Permalink to Marc Trent’s website

Sanction laws:
Fed. R. Civ. P. 11.

Fed. R. Civ. P. 38.

28 U.S.C. § 1927

28 U.S.C. § 1912


Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1273 - On June 23, 2026, eight people were sentenced in DOJ’s first so-called “Antifa” terrorism prosecution by federal judge Reed O’Connor in the Northern District of Texas to a combined 450 years in federal prison for their participation in a protest held at the Prarieland ICE detention facility on July 4th, 2025. Six of these defendants were charged with what amounted to being present at (or in the vicinity of) the protest, and one who wasn’t even there received 30 years for moving a box of First Amendment-protected publications. In this continuing coverage of one of the most unjust criminal prosecutions of the second Trump administration, Matt goes deep on the government’s case to show just how shoddy the “material support for terrorism” charges really were, and how DOJ used a few text messages, some consumer fireworks shot off on the 4th of July far from any people or property, and $4805.95 in property damage to engineer sentencing enhancements which virtually guaranteed that these protesters would receive harsher punishments than many defendants in the federal system charged with far more serious offenses. What does all of this mean for the future of dissent in the U.S., especially given the national security memo which promised heightened investigation and prosecution of “anti-Americanism, anti-capitalism, [ ]anti-Christianity… and hostility towards those who hold traditional American views on family, religion, and morality” after the assassination of Charlie Kirk? Then in today’s footnote: An Arizona appeals court takes on one man’s truly contemptible email address.
OA 1252: “Peaceful Protestors Are Facing Decades in Prison - Inside the Prairieland Trial” (OA interview with Defense Committee member and attorney Xavier de Janon)

18 U.S.C. § 2339A (“Material support” statute) 

Full docket in U.S. v. Arnold et al — CourtListener

Meet the Defendants (Prairieland Support Committee website)

First Superseding Indictment

Second Superseding Indictment

Jury Verdict

Benjamin Song — Rule 29 Motion

Maricela Rueda — Rule 29/33 Motion 

Benjamin “Champagne” Song’s statement at sentencing (6/23/2026)

Defense court-documents hub

Commans v. Dunbar, Arizona Court of Appeals #CA-CV 25-0256 (2/6/2026)

Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!

OA1272 - We are excited to welcome veteran journalist Peter Canellos to discuss his new book Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement. In this first-ever biography of Samuel Alito, Canellos draws from extensive interviews and years of research to provide a complete portrait not only of Alito as a person and a jurist, but of the reactionary conservative legal revolution which helped get him to the Supreme Court. In this conversation we go beyond the basics of the book to discuss (among many other things) who Alito really is, how his early life shaped his view of the world, and why so many people who knew him before his nomination now say that they don't recognize who he became after it. 
SAVE THE DATE! Join us  this Sunday June 28th at 4:30 EDT for our first meeting of the OA Book Club--featuring a brief visit from this month’s author Peter Canellos! This new monthly bonus will be available to patrons at every level going forward,, so please subscribe anytime at patreon.com/law!
Revenge for the Sixties: Sam Alito and the Triumph of the Conservative Legal Movement, Peter Canellos (2026)
Check out the OA Linktree for all the places to go and things to do!