OA237: Lowering the... Barr (Memo)
Opening Arguments
Opening Arguments Media LLC
4.3 • 3.7K Ratings
🗓️ 21 December 2018
⏱️ 89 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Today's Rapid Response episode takes a look at the just-released Law'd Awful Memo written by Attorney General nominee Bill Barr and sent to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein concerning the Mueller investigation. Are the argument(s) raised in the memo any good? What does this mean for the future of the Mueller investigation? Listen and find out!
We begin, however, with a brief foray into everyone's favorite show topic: BASEBALL LAW! Find out about the agreement reached between MLB and Cuba, and how (of course) Donald Trump can screw it up.
After that, it's time for an Andrew Was Wrong (and Maybe Not Wrong) on David Pecker and AMI. Along the way, we'll learn about the corruption case against Sun-Diamond Growers in connection with former Agriculture Secretary (and nearly-Senator) Mike Espy.
Then, we delve deeply into the Barr memo, taking apart the legal "arguments" and featuring a guest appearance from one Antonin Scalia!
Then, it's time to tackle the rather surprising decision by Judge Sullivan in the Michael Flynn sentencing phase. What happened? Did he go off the rails?
After all that, we end with an all new Thomas (and Matt!) Takes The Bar Exam #106 on how to best transport heroin from Kansas City to Chicago and what the judge can instruct the jury... it's complicated, but you won't want to miss it! And, as always, if you'd like to play along with us, 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!
Appearances
None! 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
- Check out Matt & Mattingly's Ice Cream Social podcast!
- Baseball law: Here's the press release from MLB.
- We discussed U.S. v. Sun-Diamond Growers of Calfornia, 138 F.3d 961 (D.C. Cir. 1998), aff'd, 526 U.S. 398 (1999).
- Don't forget to read the Barr memo for yourself, and you can also check out the Wall Street Journal article that leaked it.
- ...And here's our good buddy Antonin Scalia smacking down the logic used therein.
- You can check out the government's sentencing memorandum in Michael Flynn's case as well as the memo filed by Covington & Burling on Flynn's behalf.
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Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | The first refugee ever elected to Congress. |
| 0:07.0 | The machinery of democracy should work for everyone everywhere, not just in certain places |
| 0:25.5 | and not just on a certain day. |
| 0:27.5 | How it sees nothing without a demand, it never has and it never will. |
| 0:35.0 | We still have to be willing to show up every single day and demand our seed at the table. |
| 0:45.5 | So f**king proud of you guys! |
| 0:54.5 | Welcome to Opening Arguments, the podcast that pairs an inquisitive interviewer with a real-life lawyer. |
| 0:59.5 | This podcast is sponsored by the Law Offices of P. Antertloris LLC for entertainment purposes, |
| 1:04.5 | is not intended as legal advice and does not form an attorney-client relationship. |
| 1:08.5 | Don't take legal advice from a podcast. |
| 1:16.5 | Hello and welcome to Opening Arguments. This is episode 237. I'm Thomas Smith. |
| 1:21.5 | That over there is your lawyerly host, Andrew Torres. How are you doing, sir? |
| 1:26.5 | I am fantastic. How are you, Thomas? |
| 1:28.5 | Well, let me just do 30 minutes on getting sick over and over. |
| 1:33.5 | The only andionadalyst argument that I'll take seriously at all is the... |
| 1:40.5 | Yeah, but think about the fact that you're going to be sick every other day when you have a kid. |
| 1:45.5 | That would be the only one in retrospect that I might define convincing. |
| 1:50.5 | You have a child under three in preschool. That is basically like saying, |
| 1:55.5 | I run around in lick doorknobs all day long. |
| 1:58.5 | I have a little bacteria child that I drop off at bacteria, petri dish daycare. |
| 2:03.5 | I'm on a bad streak this last week, but I also was fun. |
| 2:08.5 | I was last night I was Schrodinger's Thomas, where I was simultaneously freezing to death and burning to death. |
... |
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