Shows
Titans of Transition73. From Navy SEAL to Author: David Brown’s Unstoppable JourneySend us a textIn this episode of Titans of Transition, host Joe Miller sits down with David Brown, a former Navy SEAL, Federal Agent, and author of the memoir 'And Goliath.' They delve into David's fascinating career transitions and the concept of 'Pathological Persistence' that has driven him to overcome immense challenges and achieve remarkable success. The conversation spans David's rise from a small-statured underdog to a celebrated Navy SEAL, his investigative adventures with NCIS and the EPA's Criminal Investigation Division, and the philosophical reflections on achieving personal success. This episode is a deep dive...2024-11-0641 min
Titans of Transition71. Behind the scenes with Worship GuitaristsSend us a textUnlocking Worship Guitar Mastery: Insights From Leading ArtistsJoin host Joe Miller in a must-watch episode of Titans of Transition as he dives into the world of worship guitar with some of his favorite worship guitar artists. This insightful discussion covers career transitions, discovering and using personal gifts, and achieving fulfillment in one's career and life. In this special episode focused on worship music Joe assembled a panel of some of his favorite seasoned guitarists who share their journeys, techniques, gear recommendations, and tips for playing in worship settings. Learn how t...2024-06-181h 23
Titans of Transition68. Joe Miller - Career success could be right in front of you!Send us a textRevive Your Career: Building Trust and Strengthening Relationships at WorkFeeling stuck or unappreciated at work? This video offers actionable advice on developing healthier relationships with your superiors to aid your career growth. Using an experience from Joe's own career, it explores the concept of the 'Emotional Bank Account', a model put forth by Stephen Covey. The speaker suggests shifting perspectives from trying to get bosses to listen to us, to trying to understand them and their needs. This shift can grow your account balance, develop trust and foster stronger relationships...2024-02-1004 min
The HomeBuyer ClubEnergy Efficiency Guru Joe Miller Joins The ClubOn this weeks episode I sit down with Energy expert Joe Miller.
Joe Miller, a renowned energy efficiency guru, is transforming the way homeowners approach energy consumption. As the founder of Enable Services, Joe's mission is to help homeowners become more energy efficient and conscious, resulting in substantial savings on energy bills. With their comprehensive Retrofit Assessment, Enable Services provides a thorough evaluation of your home's energy efficiency, covering areas such as heating systems, insulation, windows, and overall energy usage. In this article, we'll explore the three key components of the assessment and how...2023-05-2628 min
Titans of Transition49. Victoria Rader - From Scared to SacredSend us a textPossibility Coach, Transformational Speaker and Best Selling Author Victoria Rader joins Joe Miller on Titans of Transition. About Victoria00:00 Start 00:36 Welcome Victoria 00:01 Intro and Highlight 01:30 About Victoria and Y2SHINE 02:53 Success Formula 03:26 Victoria's Transition Journey - "How did I get here?" From home schooling, to real estate to PhD to business owner 09:05 Transformation, Transition - being stuck. "Back to the point of fear". Committed to scared self or sacred self? 15:06 Discussion around begin stuck in one's comfort zone. "What is not comfort zone for...2022-02-2335 min
Titans of Transition45. Steffen Schackinger - Pursue you dream even when it's not the "sensible" thing to do!Send us a textThis episode was great for me! I've been playing guitar since the 5th grade. It's been more of a hobby and something I have dreamt about doing professionally but it wasn't on my path. I track lots of guitarists and about 8 years ago I came across Steffen. I was blown away by his style, technical ability and composition. There was something very unique and fresh to his music. Shortly after staring Titans of Transition I made a list of people I would love to interview. Steffen was on the list but it took...2021-11-0456 min
Oral ArgumentEpisode 216: Mac-a-tizerJoe and Christian talk about the pandemic and, then, some nonsense.2021-01-2759 min
Titans of Transition17. Joe Miller - New Years Resolutions vs Previous Year ReviewSend us a textEpisode 17 SummaryHave you doing New Year's Resolutions? How has that work for you? If you are like me it's been hit or miss and we often don't follow through with our intentions. In this episode I review how I am using, and liking, Tim Ferris' Previous Year Review process. - Joe MillerTim Ferriss' Blog on this topichttps://tim.blog/2018/12/28/past-year-review/Prefer Video?https://youtu.be/6Mi3QWhF_RUSupport the show2021-01-1806 min
No Filler w/ Joe Miller12/22 Western Conference & Opening Night Preview w/ Joey MillerJoey Miller joins the program to predict the western conference standings, obligatory James Harden discussion, season awards, and the opening night games.
3:00 West Predictions
54:00 Award Predictions
1:12:10 Opening Night Picks
This episode was really fun. We went crazy with predictions surrounding Facu Campazzo, Bol Bol, The Timberwolves, The Mavericks, The Grizzlies, and Danillo Gallinari.
You can follow Joe Miller on Twitter.
PS: Joey Miller owes Joe Miller a pizza from Pizza Tree if The Los Angeles Clippers make the Western Conference Finals. Inversely, Joe...2020-12-231h 20
Titans of Transition14. Planning vs. Doing - George Rehberg joins host Joe Miller to re-live their climb of Mt. PrincetonSend us a textEpisode #14 SummaryMany of the guests I have interviewed to discuss their transitions have recalled key moments, or events during their lives which provided powerful lessons which can help guide us in making key decisions in life. Planning vs. Doing, it's an age old debate. We don't want to get stuck in paralysis by analysis but at the same time we don't want to shoot from the hip and ignore all the risks either.George and I enjoyed re-living our Mt. Princeton climb which we completed, somehow, against a...2020-12-2333 minOral ArgumentEpisode 213: Blue Cheese OdysseyJoe lowers the boom, and we start talking. In the 213th episode of this very serious podcast, we discuss: scams, flight simulators, flight, K2, Joe's blue cheese odyssey, olives, the nature of expertise, nihilism, and the adversary system. And other things as well.2020-12-161h 11No Filler w/ Joe Miller12/4 The Joey Miller SpecialJoey Miller joins the program to discuss NBA news. We talk about the Wizards/Rockets trade, assorted Denver Nuggets content, the similarity of our names, the Lakers' improvements, the Christmas Day Schedule, and more.
You can follow Joey Miller on Twitter @thejoeymiller.2020-12-0554 min
Titans of Transition11. Jesse Miller - Highlight - Get out of the comfort zone mentality!Send us a textEpisode #11 SummaryHighlight from Episode #9 interview with Jesse Miller, Joe's nephew and son of his older brother Ken. Jesse offers some great advise for your career. Get out of the comfort zone. Kick it to the curb! Check out the full episode. Click on the end card. Like and subscribe to get more! Prefer Video?https://youtu.be/1tjUgCQUFoo"The comfort zone mentality is get out of that break the comfort zone. I had a mantra with my friends, it was probably too vulgar to...2020-12-0201 minOral ArgumentEpisode 210: ExponentialJust Joe and Christian on the pandemic, new articles, and spring break.
Achieving A Fair and Effective COVID-19 Response: An Open Letter to Vice-President Mike Pence, and Other Federal, State, and Local Leaders from Public Health and Legal Experts in the United States
The President in discussion with pharma execs on a vaccine
2020-03-0340 min
Oral ArgumentEpisode 209: The Gun SubsidyWe are joined by our student, Justin Van Orsdol, who has co-authored a paper with Christian about a new approach to the gun violence crisis.
Justin Van Orsdol's writing
Christian Turner and Justin Van Orsdol, The Gun Subsidy
Oral Argument 101: Tug of War
Special Guest: Justin Van Orsdol.2020-02-211h 29Oral ArgumentEpisode 208: Competition CornerWe discuss a proposal by Sen. Hawley to abolish, more or less, the Federal Trade Commission, the agency that administers consumer protection and antitrust laws, and place its responsibilities in the Justice Department. Antitrust, the unitary executive, independent agencies, Joe's Competition Commission, and more.
Josh Hawley, Overhauling the Federal Trade Commission
Mike Masnick, William Barr's Move to Rid the DOJ of Independence Shows One of Many Reasons Josh Hawley's FTC Plan Is Dangerous
2020-02-141h 05Oral ArgumentEpisode 207: BriberySometimes in law, as in other areas of life, we think we know something, but the more we think about, the more we realize we don't know it at all. Legal scholars have focused on puzzles like this before, like why blackmail should be illegal. Deborah Hellman joins us to discuss her attempt to answer a question you might not have known you had: What is wrong with bribery, and what is bribery anyway? The difficulties here shed some light on recent events.
Deborah Hellman's faculty profile and writing
Deborah Hellman, A Theory of Bribery
Oral Argument 206: What...2020-01-311h 22Oral ArgumentEpisode 206: What Are We?Joe and Christian discuss Christian's latest paper, on the way we define and separate markets, including European football, campaign finance, surrogate motherhood, and water bottles in disaster zones.
Christian Turner, The Segregation of Markets (SSRN) (SocArXiv)
2020-01-171h 40Oral ArgumentEpisode 205: iBonusChristian calls Joe out of the blue to celebrate our sixth anniversary and to talk about heroes.2019-12-2227 minOral ArgumentEpisode 204: TheocracyWe discuss new calls to integrate church and state. The conversation ranges over liberalism, religion, religious zeal, and, obviously, some nonsense.
Micah Schwartzman and Jocelyn Wilson, The Unreasonableness of Catholic Integralism
Adrian Vermeule, Integration from Within
Christina Deardurff, "The Depths of the Church Are Not to Be Disturbed": An interview with Adrian Vermeule
2019-10-131h 31Oral ArgumentEpisode 203: Fifty-FourOn immaturity, defensiveness, art, the intellect, models, and the self. And mailbag on scholarship and practice, Title VII, and Star Trek. It's Joe's birthday.2019-09-081h 43Oral ArgumentEpisode 202: ConversationsWe discuss dictionaries, up and down on maps, and excellence in seminar conversation.
Joseph Miller, Suggestions for Law School Seminars
Seminar Skills – Learning Collaboratively
2019-08-231h 24Oral ArgumentEpisode 201: The BagJust Joe and Christian, lumbering into season 2, talking about tipping and fraud in the gig economy, bar exam fiascos, legal scholarship, and fireworks.
Andy Newman, DoorDash Changes Tipping Model After Uproar From Customers
Donna Hershkowitz, The State Bar of California, Statement on July 2019 Bar Exam Release of General Topics
Oral Argument 61: Minimum Competence (guest Derek Muller)
The Weeds, Vox's podcast for politics and policy, the episode Dysfunctional Federalism with David Schleicher is accessible within their player or, obv, in your podcast app
2019-07-291h 45Oral ArgumentEpisode 200: Cite Me, Don't Slight MeWe kick off Season 2 with assorted nonsense before diving into our second SCOTUS round-up, which consists entirely of the Supreme Court's decision on the census citizenship question.
Dep't of Commerce v. New York
2019-07-082h 11Oral ArgumentEpisode 199: Offended ObserverWe discuss items from the mailbag and go ahead and conduct our annual, absurd Supreme Court round-up (fifty minutes in).
James Macleod, Ordinary Causation: A Study in Experimental Statutory Interpretation
Obriecht v. Splinter
Johari Canty, Florida Deputies Find Sign Warning Drivers About Upcoming Speed Trap
American Legion v. American Humanist Ass'n
Knick v. Township of Scott
2019-06-232h 11Oral ArgumentEpisode 193: A Giant ThunderstormFast on the heels of her last appearance, Carissa Hessick joins us to talk about corpus linguistics, which means... well, we debate this, but, generally, the use of computer-based methods to draw inferences from large databases of texts. What is this enterprise? How can and should it be used to answer legal questions? What does it mean to mean something? These questions, thunder, sense, nonsense, and a continued delving into Joe's pscyhe all feature in this episode.
Carissa Hessick’s faculty profile and writing
Carissa Byrne Hessick, Corpus Linguistics and the Criminal Law
Lawrence Solum, Legal Theory Lexicon: Co...2019-03-171h 19Oral ArgumentEpisode 190: Why We WriteJust Joe and Christian talking about, inter alia, a paper about judicial writing and practice by the late Judge Wald. Live to tape and shipped without editing. Buyer beware!
Patricia Wald, The Rhetoric of Results and the Results of Rhetoric: Judicial Writings
2019-02-111h 26Oral ArgumentEpisode 180: SpectralJust Joe and Christian on: listener feedback (01:09), the Supreme Court confirmation crisis and constitutional structure (round one) (08:00), more feedback (17:16), reading glasses (36:10), Apple and Daring Fireball and caring (41:43), peak iPhone (52:34), and the current state of the Kavanaugh nomination, partisanship, and Supreme Court nominations generally (01:01:31). 2018-09-232h 10Oral ArgumentEpisode 179: SnowglobeJoe becomes the guest guest and Mike Madison the guest host, as we talk about Joe's new research into the web of law and what citations tell us about what law means. As one might expect for a show which is ostensibly about legal theory but actually, as all good argunauts know, an extended meditation on Being Joe, this is a very special episode of Oral Argument.
This show’s links:
Joe Miller's faculty profile and writing
Mike Madison’s website, writing, and blog
Joseph Miller, Law's Semantic Self-Portrait: Discerning Doctrine with Co-Citation Networks and Keywords
Jose...2018-09-091h 26Oral ArgumentEpisode 176: Ultimate MondayA full hour of pre-roll before our extended conversation (in the next episode) with Ian Samuel. Opening topics: Words, Joe's new paper, phones and their spam and locations. We argue about how to have an argument. Then we stumble into a psychological typology of judginess and prescriptivism. The heartland of the episode concerns the self, law, death, being and non-being, Joe's youthful fear of blindness, the external and internal point of view, the reality of firehouses, and law as a social practice for reaching acceptable social conclusions vs. law as a queryable thing. (Other potential show titles: Pure Pre-Roll...2018-07-311h 03Oral ArgumentEpisode 174: Podcast of RecordJust Joe and Christian on a double-album of an episode. Lots of nonsense and a smattering of sense, including: notaries public, international sport and boycotts and drugs, bears and snakes, the Deep South and weather, these days and conversation, a tiny, incomplete dip into the mailbag, the pronunciation of Argunauts, what we should do with our lives, law and neutrality, law as a substitute for war, 2 + 2 = 5 and right and wrong, hard and easy problems, freedom reasoning and the New Lochner, court packing, changing the constitution of the Supreme Court, religious tests for office and the nature of convictions about...2018-07-072h 11Oral ArgumentEpisode 168: Galaxy-Sized DiamondDo you believe that once upon a time, before the rise of the administrative state, our legislature mainly legislated, our executive just carried out laws, and judges resolved individual disputes? Prepare to have your mind blown, as Maggie McKinley explains the central and evolving role that individual petitions for redress before Congress played from before the dawn of the Republic until the 1940s. She argues that our participation in government rather than formal, institutional separation has been the historical guarantor of democratic legitimacy.
This show’s links:
Maggie McKinley's faculty profile and writing
Maggie McKinley, Petitioning an...2018-04-211h 23Oral ArgumentEpisode 166: Brooding OmnipresenceDo judges make law or find and apply it? Or both? Long ago, the realists seemingly won the argument that judging inevitably involves making law, not just identifying it. We talk with Stephen Sachs, who argues for the rehabilitation of the possibility that judges acting in good faith can indeed find the law. Will Stephen and Joe clash over what this means for Erie? You'll just have to listen to find out.
This show’s links:
Stephen Sachs' faculty profile and writing
Stephen Sachs, Finding Law
Erie Railroad Co. v. Tompkins
Yes, I said "statistics," but I...2018-04-011h 32Oral ArgumentEpisode 161: MetaScott Shapiro joins us to discuss how law relates to, well, everything. His article with David Plunkett argues that theorizing about the nature of law is a project to understand how talking and thinking about law fit into reality. But first, we talk with him about Twitter, writing, collaboration, Joe's innermost psyche, and more.
This show’s links:
Scott Shapiro’s faculty profile and academic writing
Scott Shapiro, Legality
Oona Hathaway and Scott Shapiro, The Internationalists
Oral Argument 112: Quasi-Narrative (guest Simon Stern)
Scott Shapiro and David Plunkett, Law, Morality and Everything Else: General Jurisprudence as a Bran...2018-02-041h 25Oral ArgumentEpisode 159: MagicalLive to tape, we discuss viewer mail, Tolkien, laptops, and (kind of) a couple of SCOTUS cases.
This show’s links:
Foundations of American Law (an undergraduate course created by Christian, featuring a textbook and companion podcast series with Christian and Joe)
Legal Theory 101 (Christian's introductory course to legal philosophy, featuring a reading list (with links) and a companion podcast series)
2018-01-221h 15Oral ArgumentEpisode 149: We've Been Given the Finger (Live at the Tech Law Institute)We returned this week to the annual Tech Law Institute meeting in Atlanta. We talk about data, law, and society: Joe and Christian's fight over data on the way to the conference, a new Supreme Court case involving cloud data and international boundaries, and the decisions that technology will force us to make. (Thanks to Jacob Davis for helping us provide written materials for the conference!)
This show’s links:
SCOTUSblog page on United States v. Microsoft (including links to the petitions for cert and the Second Circuit's panel opinion)
Paul Schwartz, Legal Access to Cloud In...2017-10-2254 minOral ArgumentEpisode 147: Busting FamineJust Joe and Christian, coming to you after a terrible week. We talk guns, ex-Judge Posner's book and humility, the right rules for disabled stoplights, the closing of a coffeehouse, and airplane seat reclining behavior.
This show’s links:
Oral Argument 101: Tug of War
Richard Posner, Reforming the Federal Judiciary
Steven Lubet, Richard Posner, Unedited (Part One)
Zoran Tasic, Reforming Richard Posner
Oral Argument 32: Go Figure (on Judge Posner's gay marriage opinion in Baskin) and Oral Argument 131: Because of Sex (featuring discussion with Anthony Kreis about Judge Posner's Hively opinion)
WINIR
How do you pronounce Utrecht?
Th...2017-10-061h 03Oral ArgumentEpisode 146: Somehow in the MiddleWith Charles Barzun, we discuss Justice Souter and the nature of legal justification. But we take the long way around to get there, starting with some of Souter’s opinions, moving on to philosophy – the nature of moral reasoning and its relation to fact and intuition – and then back to legal theory and Charles’s insight concerning Justice Souter’s jurisprudence.
This show’s links:
Charles Barzun’s faculty profile and writing
Charles Barzun, Justice Souter’s Common Law
Justice Souter’s discussion of Plessy and the role of history in judging (watch from minute one until about minute...2017-09-241h 26Oral ArgumentEpisode 145: The SkeletonBack after a long hiatus, we talk about Joe’s latest work on patent law and Supreme Court citations networks. Opening a banana, the opening of corpse flowers, the eclipse, news non-roundup, DACA and naming, and, finally, Joe’s paper, examining the steep increase in patent cases before the Supreme Court over the last two decades by mapping citation networks among intellectual property cases, at 20:02.
This show’s links:
Joseph Miller, Which Supreme Court Cases Influenced Recent Supreme Court IP Decisions? A Citation Study
How to peel a banana
Three Corpse Flowers Bloomed at USBG in 2017
Fred E...2017-09-081h 27Oral ArgumentEpisode 143: The GakMore than the usual nonsense and sniffles as we try to empty the mailbag. Note: Because of a massive gap between time available and time required to edit out the gak, this episode contains many more than the average number of sniffles and echoes. We tried to fire the editor responsible but learned he was one of us, unpaid, and would either be able to release this episode as is or not at all. Religion and American policy (6:19), a chrono-completist suggests a show topic (10:51), on sex discrimination (14:08), incentives for creation (22:16), boilerplate and terms of service (27:04), antitrust and big data (28:50...2017-08-011h 36Oral ArgumentEpisode 141: The Picard Meltdown PrincipleLeah Litman joins us to discuss the problematic argument that a law’s novelty is a reason to believe it is unconstitutional. In particular, she focuses on arguments that statutes that affect the separation of powers or the federalism balance are suspect if they are somehow unprecedented. Also, brief updates on: a wasp, Joe’s living situation, Christian’s health, Leah’s bee-related flight delay.
This show’s links:
Leah Litman’s faculty profile and writing
Leah Litman, Debunking Antinovelty
First Mondays
United States v. Windsor; Romer v. Evans
Printz v. United States; Free Enterprise Fund v. PCAOB; NF...2017-07-091h 20Oral ArgumentEpisode 136: The Coase of CopyrightWith Zahr Said, we discuss what makes creative works similar and the role of the “reader” in constructing a work’s meaning. Christian derails with a James Bond commercial. But we get back on track and talk about paintings, poems, Star Wars, textualism, and the Big Sick.
This show’s links:
Zahr Said’s faculty profile and writing
Zahr Said, A Transactional Theory of the Reader in Copyright Law
Joseph Miller, Hoisting Originality
About Louise Rosenblatt
Oral Argument 132: The Soul of Music (guest Joe Fishman)
Joseph Fishman, Music as a Matter of Law
Mark A. Lemley, Our Bizarr...2017-05-261h 18Oral ArgumentEpisode 134: CrossoverIt’s finally here, the one where we talk with the hosts of the world-famous First Mondays podcast, Ian Samuel and Dan Epps. Topics include physics conundrums, podcasts (05:13), the politics of Supreme Court nominations (27:08), and radically changing the rules governing the Supreme Court’s docket (54:54).
This show’s links:
First Mondays
Dan Epps’ faculty profile and writing
Ian Samuel’s faculty profile and writing
Feynman on mirrors
Randall Munroe, The Goddamn Airplane on the Goddamn Treadmill
Randall Munroe, xkcd: 28-Hour Day
Christian Turner, Podcasts (and somehow this post about Streamers is still online)
The Bernie Sanders Show
Chris...2017-05-061h 32Oral ArgumentEpisode 132: The Soul of MusicWhat is music? With IP scholar Joe Fishman, we talk about music to work by, whether being unable to imagine doing anything else is a sign you’re doing the right thing, and, mostly, what in music should be protected by copyright. Is the essence of music just melody? And should copyright aim at any such essence? How does our choice about legal protection affect the kind of music people make - and should we worry about that? Why am I asking so many questions? Will these show notes ever end?
This show’s links:
Joseph Fish...2017-04-211h 09Oral ArgumentEpisode 130: Simian MentationJoe and Christian discuss submarine statutes, the essence of decisionmaking, and the problems of complexity and institutional fit. And we discuss some viewer mail: on partisan cooperation between levels of government, Joe’s lack of knitting diligence, and supercomputers.
This show’s links:
Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Partisan Federalism; Jessica Bulman-Pozen, Unbundling Federalism: Colorado's Legalization of Marijuana and Federalism's Many Forms
Christian Turner, Submarine Statutes
Harlan F. Stone, The Common Law in the United States
Marty Lederman, Why the Strikes Against Syria Probably Violate the U.N. Charter and (Therefore) the U.S. Constitution; Harold Koh, Not Illegal: But...2017-04-071h 15Oral ArgumentEpisode 124: Sung HeroJust Christian and Joe talking a little about the outrageous first week of the new administration (refugees, emoluments, Russia, and more) and then opening up the mailbag. Nixonian firings, self-driving cars, and more. No other show notes this week!2017-01-291h 21Oral ArgumentEpisode 115: Gonna Work? (Live at the Tech Law Institute)We made a return to the annual Tech Law Institute meeting in Atlanta and recorded a live episode about self-driving cars. We talked optimism, pessimism, political valence, regulatory challenges, federalism, trolley problems, and more.
This show’s links:
Oral Argument 80: We’ll Do It LIVE!
NHTSA, Federal Automated Vehicles Policy
RAND, Autonomous Vehicle Technology: A Guide for Policymakers
Duncan Black, some posts on self-driving cars: Not Gonna Work, No One Will Listen to Me, Spot the Key Phrase, "the revolutionary transportation technology”….
Chris Martin and Joe Ryan, Super-Cheap Driverless Cabs to Kick Mass Transit to the Curb
Tes...2016-10-2859 minOral ArgumentEpisode 114: Tort FestivityCausation and responsibility are interrelated, crucial, and yet puzzling concepts in law. With tort scholar Shahar Dillbary, we explore situations in which spectators “cause” accidents in a drag race that they merely witness and in which the more tortfeasors there are, the better. Also, burning Christian’s car and an update on Joe’s recent cold.
This show’s links:
Shahar Dillbary’s faculty profile and writing
The Election Profit-Makers Podcast
Shahar Dillbary, Causation Actually
About the Learned Hand formula for negligence
Shahar Dillbary, Tortfest
Special Guest: Shahar Dillbary.2016-10-201h 08Oral ArgumentEpisode 111: A Random WalkThe merits of going live-to-tape, RSS woes, podcasts, mailbag, judges and voting, decisionmaking machines, breaking the law by not facilitating others’ breaking the law, shipping Perceiving Law, cutting one’s favorite scene, a mysterious phone call.
This show’s links:
Info about the Technology Law Institute seminar at which we will record an episode in front of a live studio audience
Michael Clemente, A Reassessment of Common Law Protections for “Idiots”; Michael Clemente, Executing Idiots; Adam Liptak, Supreme Court to Consider Legal Standard Drawn from “Of Mice and Men”
Christian Turner, Perceiving Law (ssrn or socarxiv)
Joseph Miller...2016-09-161h 14Oral ArgumentEpisode 107: Unleash the JoeA special live-to-tape dig through the mailbag.
This show’s links:
Christian’s Modern American Legal Theory audio downloads (paste this into your podcast app: http://www.hydratext.com/malt2016?format=rss)
Episodes relevant to driverless cars: No Drones in the Park (guest Frank Pasquale and Sense-Think-Act (guest Ryan Calo)
Jonathan Masur’s episode: All over the Gander
SustainAtlanta
Oral Argument 74: Minimum Curiosity (guest Amanda Frost)
More Perfect (a side project of Radiolab)
Oral Argument 77: Jackasses Are People Too (guest Adama Kolber)
Oral Argument 44: Serial
Sarah Koenig, Judge Orderns New Trial for Adnan Syed (containing a link a...2016-08-131h 19Oral ArgumentEpisode 106: Legal AsteroidJoe and Christian talk about this fraught election, focusing on RBG’s Trump remarks. Joe makes a confession.
This show’s links:
ELB Podcast Episode 14: Erwin Chemerinsky, Did Justice Ginsburg Cross the Line?
Dahlia Lithwick, Deciphering Justice
Richard Hasen and Dahlia Lithwick, The Real Reason Why Judges Should Keep Quiet About Elections
Mark Sherman, AP Interview: Ginsburg Doesn’t Want to Envision a Trump Win (“I don't want to think about that possibility, but if it should be, then everything is up for grabs.” Note that this is what Christian mistakenly remembered as “all bets are off.”)
Adam...2016-07-291h 17Oral ArgumentEpisode 104: Drunk in a Dorm RoomChristian, Joe, and frequent co-host Sonja West dig into the mail and tweet bags and discuss nonsense, sense, and antisense. Topics include: Judge John Hodgman’s weighing in on speed trap law, podcast listening speeds, the Slate Supreme Court Breakfast Table, the insurable liability approach to the gun crisis, Joe sings (yes) a line from “The Externality Song” and (relatedly, obv) Hamilton vs. Upstream Color, price matching and the morality quiz, footnoting and in-text citation and madness, an argument over Guantanamo and rights, more on the culturally polarized gun debate and on rights generally, Posner’s skepticism of academia, and how...2016-07-081h 32Oral ArgumentEpisode 100: A Few Minutes in the Rear-View MirrorIn honor of our base 10 number system, we revert to type and have recorded a long, self-indulgent episode. We reflect on our show, respond to feedback, and wonder about law and legal academia. Also Joe’s travels and nonsense. Feedback includes the other side of the expedite problem, a morality quiz for Joe, the proper playback speed for this show, political processes in arrest and indictment, professionalism norms and racism, SSRN’s purchase by Elsevier, more on the Bluebook and its connection with the problems of legal knowledge creation, and what our jobs are and whether we should keep doin...2016-06-111h 49Oral ArgumentEpisode 99: PowerJoe is at the airport for a special pre-roll segment. Then we say hello to Lisa Heinzerling, administrative law expert (5:23). After a substantive and goofy discussion of legislation and regulation courses (6:29), we discuss the development of what Lisa calls “the power canons” resulting from recent decisions of the Supreme Court (10:39). If you’re Congress, how do you write a statute meant to solve problems that might evolve in type or degree? Do you have the power to do so, or are you limited to speaking to the here and now? Does the Supreme Court have the power to limit legisl...2016-05-271h 12Oral ArgumentEpisode 96: Students as MeansA show about, among other things, the morality of the law journal system. We start with Joe’s ailments and our scheduling issues. (You’re welcome; we know this is why people tune in.) Then a little about online review sessions, Slack, online classes, and video conferencing (2:32). Radiohead, Trump, and Ted Cruz (9:02). Next we open the mail and Twitter bags: Carl Malamud, the re-christened Indigo Book, and the possibility of a transcript of one of our episodes, all followed by Chris Walker’s posts on Prawfsblawg about student law journal podcasts (13:19). Next, listener Justin on laptops in classrooms and uncons...2016-05-061h 25Oral ArgumentEpisode 92: Deficit PeacockWe’re joined by tax scholar Daniel Hemel to discuss a puzzling problem. Why don’t presidents use their regulatory powers to affect tax law like they do to affect the law in many other areas? But before that, we talk about Christian’s birthday disappointment (0:01:15) and law reviews and the Bluebook (0:06:47). Then we talk Joe’s Oral Argument cruise proposal and segue to today’s topic (0:21:32), a president’s power to tax (0:27:19), an example of “carried interest” (the tax issue that flared up in the 2012 presidential campaign) (0:37:12), Daniel’s game-theoretic model and discussion of hawks, peacocks, debt ceilings, and presidential h...2016-03-181h 23Oral ArgumentEpisode 90: We Are a Nation of Time-ShiftersOur main topic is fair use, the engine of so much cultural reuse and advancement. We’re joined by one of the doctrine’s most interesting scholars, Mike Madison. But the conversation spans: Joe’s telecomm cursing issues (0:00:36), FBiPhones and the Apple-FBI imbroglio (0:09:26), and fair use (0:28:27), including discussion of Mike’s Big Idea of social practices (0:53:03), reverse engineering, parody, video tapes, and much more.
This show’s links:
Mike Madison’s website, writing, and blog
FCC v. Pacifica Foundation
FCC v. Fox (Fox II) (containing a link to Fox I)
This American Life 267: Propriety (It’s all good, but...2016-02-271h 30Oral ArgumentEpisode 87: Content of the MarkJoined in the studio by IP scholar Mark McKenna, yielding a two to one ratio of IP to non-IP people at headquarters, we discuss: the dilapidated state of headquarters (0:00), computers in the classroom and the first installment of Joe’s Quandary (6:11), topics we do not yet but one day will discuss and the topic for our upcoming live show (15:25), the speech implications of the revocation of trademark registration as with the Washington football team (20:12), and Knitting with Joe and one other bit of feedback (1:20:15).
This show’s links:
Mark McKenna’s faculty profile and writing
The Clear...2016-01-311h 22Oral ArgumentEpisode 86: The Further FreedomingJoe shook off the plague and won a major prize all in one week. In celebration, we debate and discuss the lottery, choosing numbers, and the endowment “effect.” Into the mailbag we go and discuss our Speluncean episodes, an executioner’s privilege, robotic burritos and sandwiches, engineering happiness and social welfare functions, school funding, freedom, bro country, speed trap brief return, Canadian real estate as political barometer, the rougiest judge, knitting, and the Re-Framing.
This show’s links:
Gregory Klass and Kathryn Zeiler, Against Endowment Theory: Experimental Economics and Legal Scholarship
Oral Argument Hymn 1 and Hymn 2
Regina v...2016-01-221h 03Oral ArgumentEpisode 83: Embodied JoeWe’re back with a casual show that starts with Star Wars and criticisms of George Lucas. Then we move to the loneliness of authorship, models of law, movies that make us cry, and an appeal to the listeners to join us live on a future episode.
This show’s links:
In Tribute to Marcia Lucas from The Secret History of Star Wars
Original Trilogy (a fan website containing, among other things, information about fan edits)
Jonathan Soble, Japan’s Top Court Upholds Law Requiring Spouses to Share Surname
My Cousin Vinny
Serial
Miracle on 34th Street...2015-12-181h 08Oral ArgumentEpisode 80: We'll Do It LIVE!We talk about the war between ad networks, data brokers, publishers, and consumers in front of a live studio audience. At the invitation of Paul Arne and the Tech Law section of the Georgia State Bar, we recorded this episode at the annual Tech Law Institute. But, of course, Big Data didn’t need this description to know that.
This show’s links:
The Thrill of Victory and the Agony of Defeat
The Bush-Kerry (not Bush-Gore as Christian had remembered) debate moment that seemed similar to Joe’s “Want some ranch?” utterance
The Technology Law Section of the Sta...2015-10-251h 03Oral ArgumentEpisode 75: Air GapWe start with some feedback and thoughts on the Constitution, the Declaration of Independence, criminal law, and Christian’s brush with Upstream Color greatness. Also Joe’s thank-you notes. Then we’re joined by Mary Ellen O’Connell to talk about international law, weapons, hacking, Stuxnet, war, and killer robots. Mary Ellen maintains that the law we have is perfectly capable of dealing with what seem like new challenges.
This show’s links:
Mary Ellen O’Connell’s faculty profile and writing
Danielle Allen, Our Declaration
The Declaration of Independence
Upstream Color
Dan Goodin, Meet “badBIOS,” the Mysterious Mac...2015-09-181h 26Oral ArgumentEpisode 72: The Guinea Pig ProblemWith Michelle Meyer, a scholar of bioethics and law and a longtime listener of this show, we talk about human testing and Facebook. There’s a lot to talk about, but it doesn’t dissuade us from our customary, introductory nonsense, this time including a gift from listener Michelle, Star Wars, Joe’s mangling of last names, and Joe — and this actually happened — eating dog food. If you hate fun and want to get right to the colloquium part of America’s Faculty Colloquium, it starts a little after 23 minutes in. Should corporations be able to experiment on its customers an...2015-08-281h 55Oral ArgumentEpisode 71: Rolex Tube SocksWith IP scholar Mark McKenna, we discuss a body of law we at least all agree should exist: trademark. Why is it essential? What are design patents? (Christian didn’t really know. But he opposes them nonetheless.) How do and should they differ from trademarks? Should there be a much shorter but partly functional protection for innovators’ identities as innovators? We discuss the example of Apple, Samsung, Android, and dilution.
This show’s links:
Mark McKenna’s faculty profile and writing
About the escutcheon
About Joe Miller, the Alaskan politician
The A.V. Club’s Podmass, featuring...2015-08-221h 15Oral ArgumentEpisode 70: No Drones in the ParkDrones and robots are or soon will be watching you, driving you, delivering to you, and maybe even trying to kill you. They’re loud, nosy, deadly, useful, safe, and dangerous. There are many different kinds of them and many different kinds of us. What should we do when, say, a man shoots a camera-bearing drone out of the sky above his property? Or when a creditor remotely shuts down your car when you’re behind on your payments but, unfortunately, while you’re on the highway? For some answers and more questions, we chat with delightfully deep-thinking Frank Pasqua...2015-08-071h 18Oral ArgumentEpisode 68: Listen to My Full PointJust Christian and Joe focusing on a few topics from listener feedback. Our discussion includes: BPA-free containers, Joe’s health, John Pfaff in the news on prison reform and mass incarceration, Pluto and seagulls, listener Anthony’s good news, the Church of Marijuana, religious exemptions, racist appointments, what “tuition” means, how to choose a law school, how to prepare for law school (we disagree), what law schools should be, and feedback we decide to delay.
This show’s links:
Oral Argument 51: The Faucet (guest John Pfaff)
German Lopez, Mass Incarceration in America, Explained in 28 Maps and Charts (vo...2015-07-181h 25Oral ArgumentEpisode 62: Viewer MailIt’s just Joe and Christian this week, clearing out viewer mail. We discuss our show, Kerbal Space Program, the bar exam, Virginia’s bar exam dress code, follow-up on ExamSoft, licensing and control, probability, the Monty Hall problem, and being hit by meteors.
This show’s links:
Kerbal Space Program (and see, e.g., this video tutorial by the Scott Manley)
Temma Ehrenfeld, Should You Knit?
Randall Munroe, Orbital Mechanics on xkcd.com
David Letterman’s Viewer Mail and the Pyramid of Comedy
Oral Argument 61: Minimum Competence
Daniel Solove, The Multistate Bar Exam as a Theory o...2015-05-221h 38Oral ArgumentEpisode 61: Minimum CompetenceLongtime listener, first time Oral Arguer Derek Muller joins us to talk about the bar exam, through issues particular (the great ExamSoft meltdown of 2014), large (the purpose and utility of the exam overall), and sartorial (Virginia). Joe makes a shocking confession.
This show’s links:
Derek Muller’s faculty profile and writing
The Virginia Board of Bar Examiners’ Mandatory Dress Code
Derek Muller, Visualizing the Grim Final Numbers from the July 2014 Bar Exam
National Conference of Bar Examiners, National Data for 2014 MBE and MPRE Administrations
Reuters, U.S. States Extend Bar Exam Deadlines After Software Havoc
Jerry...2015-05-151h 36Oral ArgumentEpisode 56: Cracking and PackingWhen you have election law and constitutional law scholar Lori Ringhand on your show, you start, of course, by talking about the problem with email, the uses of texting, and apps like Periscope. Lori thinks Christian should read more novels. Fueled by listener Bunny’s small-batch, home-roasted, fine coffee, we move on to the much easier topics of race, voting, and gerrymandering. What do you do when the Supreme Court’s color-blindness understanding of the Equal Protection Clause collides with the Voting Rights Act? And why do geographic voting districts with single winners make sense anyway? Voting’s hard to mak...2015-04-101h 37Oral ArgumentEpisode 54: No ThrottlingChristian finds himself among two telecommunications and IP experts, Joe and guest Aaron Perzanowski, to discuss the FCC’s recently issued regulations mandating some form of “net neutrality” on broadband internet providers. Will these regulations hold up? Why does your cable company want to provide you with “antivirus” software? What did we receive in the mail last week? Which listener thinks we’re full of it? It’s all in this week’s show.
This show’s links:
Aaron Perzanowski’s faculty profile and writing
Episode 52 and Episode 53 on King v. Burwell
William Baude, Could Obama Bypass the Supreme C...2015-03-271h 43Oral ArgumentEpisode 52: NihilismJoe and Christian try to understand King v. Burwell, or Obamacare II, in light of the oral argument last week.
This show’s links:
The SCOTUSblog page for King v. Burwell, containing the briefs, commentary, and links to the argument`
The Supreme Court’s page for downloading audio of the oral argument
Dahlia Lithwick’s Amicus episode about the case
2015-03-071h 35Oral ArgumentEpisode 51: The FaucetWhy have prison populations exploded? Yeah, we bet you have an opinion on this. But we’ve got someone on the show with the math: Fordham law prof and empiricist extraordinaire John Pfaff. Everything you think you know about our staggering levels of imprisonment are probably wrong. Also, we offer to set up the Supreme Court audio live stream. Also we report on one listener’s Oral Argument power rankings.
This show’s links:
John Pfaff’s faculty profile and writing
Blakely v. Washington and United States v. Booker
United States v. Vernier, increasing a sentence for cred...2015-02-281h 30Oral ArgumentEpisode 49: The Pot Calling the Kettle BeigeFrom an undisclosed location, Joe phones in to talk Arsenal, cigarettes, IQ, marijuana, transcendence, IP law, the regulation of the internet, a look back at taxing eggs, getting rid of Groundhog Day, and nonsense (but I repeat myself).
This show’s links:
Episode 7: Speed Trap
Fresh Air, Why Teens Are Impulsive, Addiction-Prone and Should Protect Their Brains (text from and a link to the audio of a Fresh Air interview with neurologist Frances Jensen)
Flowers for Algernon and Lucy
INS v. AP, Traffix Devices v. Marketing Displays, and Bonito Boats v. Thunder Craft Boats
Tom Wheeler (FC...2015-02-071h 11Oral ArgumentEpisode 48: Legal TruthWith evidence and criminal procedure scholar Lisa Kern Griffin, we discuss the role of narrative, storytelling, and probability in assessing guilt and innocence. Also, feedback on coffee, citation, librarians, and argument.
This show’s links:
Lisa Kern Griffin’s faculty profile and writing
Sonja West, First Amendment Neighbors, citing Joe Miller, Christian Turner, and Sonja West, Oral Argument 1: Send Joe to Prison at 46:53, available at http://oralargument.org/1
Bunny’s coffee-roasting links: the Nesco Professional 800-watt Roaster, Green Coffee Buying Club, and information from Sweet Maria’s; Listener Zachary’s links: the Fresh Roast Plus 8 and White Moun...2015-01-301h 23Oral ArgumentEpisode 42: Shotgun AphasiaWhen should the police be able to search your phone, your computer, your email, or your dropbox? Orin Kerr thinks that over time, and in the face of changing technology and social practices, courts maintain a relatively consistent balance between privacy and the state’s interest in criminal investigation. The legal changes that maintain that consistency seem to be acceptable to originalists, pragmatists, and living constitutionalists alike. From cell phones to horses and buggies to automobiles and confidential informants. It’s the search episode. And then … yep, speed traps. Joe and Orin make a spiritual connection as non-warners.
This...2014-11-211h 33Oral ArgumentEpisode 41: Sense-Think-ActRobots. What are they? Just a new sort of tool, qualitatively different kinds of tools that do things we neither expect nor intend, new kinds of beings? With the incipient explosion of complex robots, we may need to re-examine the way law uses and understands intention, responsibility, causation, and other basic concepts. We’re joined by Ryan Calo, who has achieved the outrageously awesome feat of earning a living thinking about robots. (It’s pronounced Kay-low. So Joe got this one right.) We discuss flying drones, chess computers, driverless cars, antilock brakes, and computer-conceived barbecue sauce.
This show...2014-11-151h 39Oral ArgumentEpisode 40: The Split Has OccurredThis is the week the circuits split. We discuss Judge Sutton’s opinion for a panel of the Sixth Circuit upholding bans on gay marriage in several states. Although Joe and Christian mainly agree about this case, Joe finds plenty of other things Christian says and does to be irritating, especially during our first eighteen minutes when we discuss feedback.
This show’s links:
Michael Dorf, Why Danforth v. Minnesota Does Not Undermine My View About State Court Decisions to Follow Lower Federal Court Precedent
Our episode with Peabody award winner, Tom Goldstein
About typefaces (and the...2014-11-081h 44Oral ArgumentEpisode 34: There’s Not Really a Best FontWe discuss the role of design in the practice of law with renowned typographer-lawyer Matthew Butterick. The conversation ranges among very practical tips for making better documents, why so many legal documents are poorly designed, why lawyers should care about design, and what it even means to design a document. Matthew explains why IRS forms are some of the most well-designed legal documents around. Also, Joe manages to connect (positively) enjoying physical books with smelling gasoline.
This show’s links:
About Matthew Butterick, also here and @mbutterick on Twitter
Nicholas Georgakopoulos, Knee Defender, Barro’s Error, and...2014-09-271h 25Oral ArgumentEpisode 33: Other MindsCan non-human animals be “victims” of a crime? The Oregon Supreme Court recently decided they could be. We talk with Matthew Liebman, senior attorney with the Animal Legal Defense Fund, about the law of animals. Why and how do we prohibit animal cruelty? Is it to protect our own feelings, the inherent rights of animals themselves, a little of both? Does prohibiting cruelty protect us from hurting one another? Does a housefly have a right to an education? We discuss the difficulties of being perfect, the omnipresence of trade-offs, whaling by native peoples, whether a chimpanzee can sue in habe...2014-09-201h 40Oral ArgumentEpisode 32: Go FigureWe’re back with knees and gay marriage. And constitutional scholar Lori Ringhand. In the battle between recliners and knee defenders, Joe tells us the real enemy is the airline who has sold the same space twice. Somehow nose-punching, rapid window shade flipping, and the high arctic figure into the discussion. Turning to Judge Posner’s smackdown of midwestern marriage bans, we start with style: is there such a thing as too much smack? Then we turn to the really interesting bit, Posner’s reimagining of judicial scrutiny of discrimination. Also: speed traps.
This show’s links:
Lori...2014-09-131h 29Oral ArgumentEpisode 30: A Filled Milk CasteJoe’s favorites case(s) part deux, Carolene Products, the filled milk case to end all filled milk cases. We talk about a case most famous for its fourth footnote. That’s right. This episode, alongside volumes upon volumes of legal scholarship, is almost entirely concerned with a footnote. But this one almost casually suggests a principle to divide the power of the federal government between courts and the political branches. Bonus content: an idea about returning to school later in life and follow-up on the monkey selfie.
This show’s links:
Episode 28: A Wonderful Catastrophe, includ...2014-08-231h 35Oral ArgumentEpisode 29: Alpha DogIt’s our back to school episode. We pick up in the middle of a conversation about the order of the months of the calendar and then turn to our main topic: how to teach law. With Mehrsa Baradaran we delve into why classes might turn on you, how to manage the awkward student-teacher relationship, and presumptions of competence and incompetence. We dig into Mehrsa’s Teaching While Woman blog post and all our experiences with privileges, failures, and successes. First names, last names, cold-calling? Authenticity, professionalism, and, obviously, nudist colonies. Also: Mehrsa’s aspiration to be the Postmaster Genera...2014-08-151h 16Oral ArgumentEpisode 28: A Wonderful CatastropheNow we turn to Joe’s favorite case(s). And monkey selfies. First, some great listener feedback, and Joe’s argument that feedback should be at the end of the show. Then we dive into Erie, the first of two cases decided on April 25, 1938 that together are his favorite case(s). A man injured by an errant door on a passing train brings the case that fundamentally transforms the federal judiciary. Justice Brandeis transcends transcendental nonsense to recognize that courts make common law rather than discover it and thereby gives up power in a move Joe likens to George Wash...2014-08-081h 31Oral ArgumentEpisode 27: My Favorite CaseWhat’s your favorite case? It’s a difficult question, but in this episode Christian answers it: the infamous decision in Plessy v. Ferguson that upheld racial apartheid under the “separate but equal” principle. Joe accuses him of cheating a bit, because Christian’s “favorite” is actually Justice Harlan’s celebrated solo dissent. Its greatness, though, does not lie in any sort of perfection. Severely flawed and yet great, at the same time.
This show’s links:
Plessy v. Ferguson, which you should scan through as bit, as recommended during the show
Some background here and here on Homer Ples...2014-07-191h 28Oral ArgumentEpisode 26: Form 700We are joined by budding media celebrity, Sonja West, who got her start on Episode 1 of Oral Argument. We again turn to the Hobby Lobby decision and the Supreme Court’s odd epilogue. With Sonja’s expert guidance we try to make sense of the web of religious liberty. Also, war on women or the century of gender equality?
This show’s links:
Sonja West’s faculty profile and writing
Oral Argument 1: Send Joe to Prison, guest Sonja West
Sonja West’s appearance on MSNBC’s The Last Word with Lawrence O’Donnell
Burwell v. Hobby Lobby Stores
T...2014-07-111h 23Oral ArgumentEpisode 23: Rex SunsteinWe dive into the legal nature of the regulatory state with Ethan Leib of Fordham Law School. In what sense is the making of regulatory policy, whether on the environment or on net neutrality, a legal process? Should regulatory agencies adhere to precedent or otherwise be bound by law-like doctrines? We learn about the White House’s influence over rulemaking through OIRA and question how OIRA should function and what legal principles should govern it.
This show’s links:
Ethan Leib’s faculty profile and articles
This Week in Law 263: More Bodies on Blackacre, on which Joe an...2014-06-201h 21Oral ArgumentEpisode 20: Twelve Billion DollarsWe start, of course, with speed traps and the suggestion of a radio talk show host that giving speed trap warnings is a religious obligation. Our major topic, though, is the insanity of the textbook market. Christian takes a typically moderate position and argues that all textbooks should be free. Joe takes a typically strident position and argues that it’s more complicated than that. We discuss our respective projects to change the nature and distribution of law school casebooks. Topics include: textbooks as playlists, how their production is like and unlike the production of wikipedia, the traditional model an...2014-05-231h 40Oral ArgumentEpisode 18: Oral ArgumentWe finally get around to talking about oral argument on Oral Argument. And, oh do we do so in style. Supreme Court advocate and SCOTUSblog co-founder Tom Goldstein joins us for a portion of the show to talk about what oral arguments are, whether they are worth their costs, what they accomplish, and more. Joe complains about absurd hypotheticals. Christian is unfamiliar with any other kind. Also, we begin with errata, in which we acknowledge Christian’s abuse of the English language.
This show’s links:
Tom Goldstein’s profile and law firm
SCOTUSblog and its About...2014-04-251h 06Oral ArgumentEpisode 17: Flesh ListPsst, do you want to buy a kidney? How about a human egg, or a baby? We talk about taboo markets and tragic choice with Kim Krawiec. Topics range from egg “donation” to kidney transplants, altruism, reference transactions, military service, sex, and more. How do we allocate scarce goods when enough of us just don’t believe the goods should be traded like loaves of bread? Program note: We failed to ask Kim whether Joe is monstrous on account of his views on speed trap norms. Our apologies to the listeners and to Kim.
This show’s links:2014-04-191h 20Oral ArgumentEpisode 13: A Special Place in Hell for JoeOur guest, Dave Hoffman, writes about everything and helped to found one of the premier legal blogs, Concurring Opinions. We talk about the role of legal blogs in the public sphere and for the academy. And speaking of writing, what’s wrong with legal scholarship? What should we be doing, and how can the forms of writing, the fora for writing, and the expectations for scholars help or hinder that? Also, too, the return to the show of speed trap law and whether Joe satisfies the basic norms of civility.
This show’s links:
David Hoffman’s bio...2014-03-211h 01Oral ArgumentEpisode 12: Heart of DarknessThe U.S. News rankings of law schools are out! We wish they would go away. After follow-up on last week’s episode and a dip into viewer mail, we discuss what problems the rankings might be attempts to solve, how they are calculated, and the obvious problems with them. Joe reports that after the conversation, as after other discussions of the rankings, he felt like he needed a shower.
This show’s links:
Episode 11: Big Red Diesel
Typography in ten minutes from Butterick’s Practical Typography, see also his Summary of Key Rules
Ben Carter, Typogr...2014-03-151h 44Oral ArgumentEpisode 11: Big Red DieselThe Spring Break episode in which Joe and Christian take a break from solving the world’s legal problems to talk about the technology and culture of writing. We start with some listener feedback, and then Joe reports on an accidental experiment he performed with his car lights. Moving on to email, we discuss a number of bad habits, including needless attachments and clicking on links. Then, the big daddy: Microsoft Word. We discuss what Christian thinks is horribly wrong with it and the excellent, usable alternative to the whole concept of the WYSIWYG word processor. We argue. We cl...2014-03-081h 41Oral ArgumentEpisode 10: My Beard Is Not a Common CarrierThis is the one about the internet, that which is neither truck nor tube. Christina Mulligan joins us to talk about our beloved cable companies, Netflix, network neutrality, regulation, monopolies, common carriers, sunken and ancient computers, and her super-secret new project (which Christian suggests could yield an excellent new conspiracy theory that would make Logan Sawyer cry). Also we answer viewer mail. Because this is a super-sized show (pour a beverage), we also mention bonobos, Schweddy Balls, Candy Crush, Candyland, the odd shape of either my coffee mugs or Joe’s face, whether we should change our name to im...2014-03-021h 56Oral ArgumentEpisode 9: Torches and PitchforksLaw and banking in one podcast. Take deep breaths lest your racing heart burst in your chest. You think I'm joking. Probably because you don't know Mehrsa Baradaran. But then, you probably do, because everyone does. We talk about, among other things, how one should say “Mehrsa,” what banking is, It’s a Wonderful Life, how banks are subsidized and regulated, how 40 percent of the country doesn’t really bank or at least “underbanks,” and payday lenders. Christian does not call Joe “Adam Smith.” Mehrsa defends banking at the post office (dubbed by one banking industry exec “the worst idea since the For...2014-02-221h 14Oral ArgumentEpisode 8: Party All Over the WorldFresh off a week-long, snow and ice shutdown, Joe tells Christian he doesn’t want to be called Adam Smith anymore. We discuss viewer mail. Then we circle back to the emerging show specialty: whether you can be charged for warning drivers of a speed trap. Turns out it’s a debate that sprawls over more than a hundred years. We also talk about leveling up one’s understanding of law, from bare opinions about disputes to theories of institutional assignment. Roll for initiative: it’s time for Oral Argument.
This show’s links:
Electric Light Orchestra...2014-02-1555 minOral ArgumentEpisode 7: Speed TrapJoe calls in from an undisclosed location(Santa Clara, CA) for a short show. We begin by discussing listener Alan’s demand for more conflict, an Idaho listener’s request for more Darcy, and listener Amy’s request to discuss her parking ticket. The conversation turns to a federal court’s preliminary injunction in favor of a man who was charged for warning drivers of a speed trap by flashing his lights.
This show’s links:
Parking Is Hell: A New Freakonomics Radio Podcast
Jury Nullification
Civil Disobedience
Recipe: Cold-Brewed Iced Coffee
Elli v. City of Ellisville...2014-02-0740 minOral ArgumentEpisode 6: Productive ThoughtlessnessJoe, Christian, loyal dog Darcy, a fire, some coffee, and melting snow. We kick back and talk about stuff that has been on our minds. This leads to three very different topics. First: we disagree whether the Supreme Court should strike down the President’s recess appointment to the National Labor Relations Board. Text vs. history vs. practice. Second: The Atlanta snowstorm traffic fiasco, in which we discuss mountaineering and computer programming. Third: What makes Dahlia Lithwick so great? Darcy makes a few appearances.
This show’s links:
Cornell’s Legal Information Institute
SCOTUSblog page for NLRB v...2014-02-011h 17