Opening Arguments

OA1233 - We are not conspiracy theorist type people. But... yeah man I don't know. But also, so much more in these files to talk about. If you know anything about the federal government’s 2007 plea deal with Jeffrey Epstein you know that it was bad. But newly-released documents from the Epstein files show that it was actually much worse than that! Thanks to a newly-released legal memo, a draft indictment, and internal emails between prosecutors we now have a much better understanding of the disagreements within US Attorney for the District of Southern Florida Alex Acosta’s office as they finalized the terms of a much-too-friendly agreement between the US government and a billionaire pedophile which a federal appeals court would later call “a national disgrace.” Matt has the receipts for this special emergency episode.
You can also watch this episode on YouTube!
Steve Bannon’s Interview with Jeffrey Epstein (directly downloaded from the DOJ)

Investigation into the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Southern District of Florida’s Resolution of Its 2006–2008 Federal Criminal Investigation of Jeffrey Epstein and Its Interactions with Victims during the Investigation (Department of Justice Office of Professional Responsibility, 2020)

Incident Report (Palm Beach Police Department, 2006) 

Epstein indictment draft (United States Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Florida, 2007)

Appendix in The People of the State of New York v. Jeffrey E. Epstein (2013)

Opinion - Alex Acosta acted with professionalism and integrity in handling the Jeffrey Epstein case (Miami Herald, 2/16/2019) 

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E21 - CONTENT WARNING / TRIGGER WARNING: references to child sex abuse, child  sex abuse  materials, survivor accounts
Watch this episode on YouTube!
The Epstein Files have been released--or have they? Days after the Department of Justice’s delayed and poorly-redacted release of millions of new documents connected with the world’s most infamous sex trafficker, we sit down for a first look at what is (and isn’t) in here. We begin with Deputy Attorney General Todd Blanche’s attempt to fight for the right to party with Jeffrey Epstein before evaluating the DOJ’s efforts to comply with its Congressional mandate to release the files more than a month after they were supposed to. We also look at a heartbreaking journal from an anonymous survivor to  try to understand before Matt pulls out some selections from keyword searches which implicate Elon Musk, mega-financier Leon Black, magician David Copperfield,  sitting Secretary of the Treasury Howard Lutnick, former Obama administration lawyer Kathy Ruemmler, and many more.  Also: what to make about the wilder allegations you may have heard involving Donald Trump, and what it means to “be in the Epstein files” at all.
NEXT TIME: the most disgusting plea deal in American history somehow gets… worse? 
Epstein Files Transparency Act, PL 119-38 (11/19/2025)

Epstein Library search page, DOJ.gov

(CW/TW) Anonymous survivor’s  journal, removed from DOJ Epstein Library but backed up to Archive.org on 2/1/26 (CW/TW)

OA1232 - Hey OA-ers, this episode was a Gavel Gavel bonus, but we wanted to be sure everyone was updated on what's going on with the Luigi Mangione trials. New York public defender Liz Skeen is here to break it all down! And since the judge made some rulings on 1/30, I've got an update for ya!
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OA1231 -
The DHS funding battle is important, but really can't accomplish what you might hope it can. When it comes to the Fed, ALL OF A SUDDEN the court cares about the real world effects of their decisions. And a figure skating related footnote!

Part 2 of 2.
OA 1230 - Seeing all the obstacles to holding government officials accountable, Congress created Section 1983, allowing citizens to sue for money damages for violations of their civil rights. We cover how that works, the one weird trick it uses to get around state sovereign immunity, and how that accidentally created the infamous qualified immunity doctrine that has made police seemingly unaccountable. We also discuss proposed reforms that might fix issues of qualified and sovereign immunity.
42 U.S.C § 1983

Pierson v Ray, 386 U.S. 547 (1967)

Graham v Conner, 490 U.S. 386 (1989)

Pearson v Callahan, 555 U.S. 223 (2009)

Kisela v Hughes, 584 U.S. 100 (2018)

Barnes v Felix, 605 U.S. 73 (2025)

Barnes v Felix, 138 Harvard L. Rev. 291 (2025).

Julia Yoo, The Problem with Policing in the United States, ADVOCATE (Feb. 2021).

David J. Ignall, Making Sense of Qualified Immunity: Summary Judgment and Issues for the Trier of Fact, 30 Cal. W. L. Rev. 201 (1994). (NOTE: Good review for basics, but note the date!)

Bivens v. Six Unknown-Named Agents of the Federal Bureau of Narcotics, 403 U.S. 388 (1971)

Egbert v Boule, 596 U.S. 482 (2022)

S. 122 Qualified Immunity Act of 2025 119th Cong. (2025)

S. 3186 Constitutional Accountability Act 119th Congr. (2025)

H.R. 6091 Bivens Act of 2025 119th Congr. (2025)

H.R. 4944 Ending Qualified Immunity for ICE Agents Act 119th Congr. (2025)

Qualified Immunity Abolition Act of 2026 (no bill number assigned yet)
Gelinas, S. (2026, January 18). Markey, Pressley renew push to end qualified immunity after ICE shooting death. Athol Daily News.


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