Opening Arguments

OA1279 - This week on Rapid Response Friday: A federal judge rips up the corrupt “settlement” Trump reached with his own IRS at the unprecedented request of a group of 35 former federal judges just in time time for aspiring Attorney General Todd Blanche’s confirmation hearing, humanizing the latest victims of ICE, and a metafootnote about a DC judge who hates footnotes nearly as much as Matt loves them.
The Agenda:
Williams' IRS ruling

Blanche confirmation hearing

Salgado Araujo shooting

Duran Guerrero shooting

Boasberg's footnote crusade

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VR38 - This week in Vapid Response Thomas, Lydia, and Matt review some truly awful takes from a MAGA economist on the true cause of low crime rates, Rep. Nancy Mace on her extremely real and not-at-all-racist concerns about the dangers of judges with dual citizenship, and a then-20-year-old Rolling Stone columnist in 1969 on his immediate disdain for what would become one of the greatest rock albums of all time.
“Trump’s Immigration Enforcement Really is Slashing Violent Crime,” John R. Lott, Jr, The Federalist (July 9, 2026)

FBI’s National Crime Victims Survey data

“Governing America means loyalty to America,” Rep. Nancy Mace, Newsweek (July 4, 2026)

Judge Sparkle Sooknanan’s preliminary injunction order in League of Women Voters v DHS

Judicial nominee Sparkle Sooknanan’s responses to Sen. Lindsay Graham’s judicial questionnaire (March 20, 2024)

“The Top 15 Bullshit Album Reviews That Rolling Stone Magazine Had the Balls to Publish,” Reel Harmonies (July 14, 2014)

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OA1278 - On its face, the decision in Watson is a pretty narrow ruling. Some states allow ballots postmarked on or before election day, but arriving after election day, to be counted. The court decided they can continue to do so.
But at stake was so much more. Bubbling under the surface, election deniers were trying to open a door to far more aggressive limitations on voting rights. With this decision, that door is quite firmly shut… by Barrett? Come hear Jenessa try to survive the cognitive dissonance of finding an ACB opinion extremely well-written, thorough, and appropriately critical of out-of-context half-assed attempts at historical analysis in the dissent.
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OA1277 - We continue our coverage of the Trump administration’s criminalization of dissent with a brief update on the sentencing of the last remaining Prairieland defendant and a closer look at similar federal prosecutions of ICE protesters in Minneapolis, Spokane, and a number of other jurisdictions. Matt then explains how the DOJ just complicated a case against someone alleged to have leaked the second Jack Smith report in the funniest possible way. Finally, in today’s footnote: that one time that Dan Crenshaw and William Shatner tried to make Starfleet happen.
“Final federal Prairieland ‘antifa’ defendant sentenced to six years after helping shooter evade arrest,” The Dallas Morning News (6/6/2026)

Indictment in United States v. Stuckart et al., Eastern District of Washington (7/9/2025)

“DOJ Targets Anti-ICE Demonstrators with Conspiracy Charges,” PBS Newshour on Instagram (3/31/2026)

Indictment in United States v. Sant et al., District of Minnesota (6/11/2026)

Trump’s Spaghetti-Against-the-Wall Indictment Against ICE Protesters — and How to Fight It, The Intercept (6/17/2026)

“As ICE protesters like ‘Spokane 3’ are targeted, many still stand up,” Seattle Times (6/15/2026)

“In-Your-Face DOJ Aide Rides Prosecutors for ‘Chief Client’ Trump,” Bloomberg (2/19/2026)

‘Go Big and Go Loud’: Inside the Justice Dept.’s Push to Prosecute Protesters, New York Times (3/19/2026)

Indictment in United States of America v. Carmen Mercedes Lineberger, Southern District of Florida (5/19/2026)

“William Shatner Wants to Know: What the Heck is Wrong With You, Space Force?” William Shatner, Military Times (8/26/2020)

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VR37 - Ben Shapiro and Matt Walsh both wrote furious, error-riddled columns attacking the Supreme Court's birthright citizenship ruling in Trump v. Barbara. And so Thomas, attorney Matt Cameron, and producer Lydia ran the columns through an AI detector and their BS detectors to see just how fake and how BS they were. Spoiler: it's a lot.