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Opening Arguments

OA191: Fact and Fiction About Brett Kavanaugh

Opening Arguments

Opening Arguments Media LLC

Law, Opinion, Politics, News, Liberal, Legal, Supremecourt, Harvard, Atheist

4.33.7K Ratings

🗓️ 13 July 2018

⏱️ 81 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Today's Rapid Response Friday does not take a victory lap about our successful prediction that Brett Kavanaugh would be Donald Trump's next nominee to the Supreme Court (but seriously, we called that right, y'all.)  Instead, Andrew and Thomas break down some of the current stories surrounding Kavanaugh to separate  fact from fiction and try and articulate the best mainstream case against confirming Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court. In the pre-show, we give a shout-out to everyone who made the Opening Arguments Wiki possible -- go check it out!  It's amazing! After that, Andrew Was Wrong returns with a clarification from Episode 187 where Andrew misspoke.  And also, the guys have a slight laugh at Andrew's inability to pronounce locations of things. The main segment tackles a bunch of current stories surrounding Judge Kavanaugh, including:  (1) the allegation that Judge Kavanaugh has concluded that sitting Presidents can't be indicted; (2) the Yale open letter opposing his nomination; (3) a truly stupid article in The Hill arguing for a lawsuit to block Kavanaugh; (4) the potential conflict of interest with Kennedy's retirement; and (5) the notion of "packing the Court" in 2020.  Phew! Next, Andrew gives us an eight-second sneak peek at a court's refusal to permit the Trump administration to modify the Flores settlement and why that's good news. Finally, we end with an all new Thomas Takes The Bar Exam #83 involving spousal privilege.  If you'd like to play along, just retweet our episode on Twitter or share it on Facebook along with your guess and the #TTTBE hashtag.  We'll release the answer on next Tuesday's episode along with our favorite entry! Recent Appearances Andrew was just a guest co-host on Episode 75 of the Skepticrat podcast; go check it out!  Also, Andrew will be discussing Judge Kavanaugh with conservative talk show host Chuck Morse.  If you'd like to have either of us as a guest on your show, drop us an email at openarguments@gmail.com. Show Notes & Links
  1. For starters, here is the Tweet from Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez we criticized, along with the pretty funny humor piece from Andy Borowitz.
  2. You should definitely read Kavanaugh's 2009 Law Review article “Separation of Powers During the Forty-Fourth Presidency and Beyond” in the Minnesota Law Review.
  3. This is the Yale Open letter.
  4. This is the dreadful Ken Levy article in The Hill that Andrew debunks.
  5. These are the actual Senate Rules, and remember that we broke down the "nuclear option" way back in Episode 59.
  6. On Anthony Kennedy's negotations, check out Rule 3(C)(1) of the Code of Conduct for U.S. Judges, which we previously discussed in Episode 129.
  7. As homework for next week, read the Court's order denying the Trump Administration's request to modify the Flores settlement, which we first covered in Episode 184.
  8. Finally, NEVER ENDING FAME AND FORTUNE goes to:Paul Duggan, Zach Aletheia, Eric Brewer, Teresa Gomez, Andrew Hamilton, Robin Hofmann, and Beverly Karpinski-Theunis for creating the OA Wiki!
Support us on Patreon at:  patreon.com/law Follow us on Twitter:  @Openargs Facebook:  https://www.facebook.com/openargs/ Don't forget the OA Facebook Community! For show-related questions, check out the Opening Arguments Wiki And email us at openarguments@gmail.com

Transcript

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0:00.0

He thought I was going to read me my rights.

0:04.3

You have the right to have your face kicked in by me.

0:06.3

You have the right to have your balls stunted by him.

0:08.4

I'll wait where I'm at.

0:18.6

They're pretty simple.

0:19.8

The forms are all standard, boilerplate.

0:21.8

OK, well, we're all hungry.

0:23.0

We're going to get to our hot plate soon enough.

0:24.5

All right, let's talk about the contract here.

0:26.7

Sorry.

0:31.0

You'd be surprised how many doors a letter from a lawyer

0:34.2

can open or close.

0:36.1

It seems like you're talking slower

0:37.7

since you started charging by the hour.

0:44.6

What's the meaning of this?

0:45.4

This is my quiet time.

0:46.4

We're going to have to take you into custody.

0:48.4

That's outrageous.

0:49.2

What am I charged with?

0:50.0

Don't have to tell you anymore.

0:51.3

Clearly haven't been reading your Scalia.

0:55.0

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