{"podcast":{"title":"Opening Arguments","slug":"opening-arguments-1055646","podcast_index_feed_id":1055646,"rss_url":"https://openargs.libsyn.com/","website_url":"http://openargs.com","image_url":"https://static.libsyn.com/p/assets/2/6/1/9/261949e1b6a8cd5ae55e3c100dce7605/OA_Podcast_2024_FINAL-20240722-03wker1cxp.jpg","author":"Opening Arguments Media LLC","episode_count":1260,"summary":"Opening Arguments is a law show that helps you make sense of the news! Comedian Thomas Smith brings on legal analysts to help you understand not only current events, but also deeper legal concepts and areas! The typical schedule will be M-W-F with Monday being a deep-dive, Wednesday being Thomas Takes the Bar Exam and patron shoutouts, and Friday being a rapid response to legal issues in the news!","last_synced_at":"2026-07-15T20:19:28.616997+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/opening-arguments-1055646"},"episode":{"title":"When Alito’s Jurisprudence Is Kavanaughs All the Way Down","slug":"when-alito-s-jurisprudence-is-kavanaughs-all-the-way-down","published_at":"2026-05-18T09:52:00+00:00","page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/opening-arguments-1055646/when-alito-s-jurisprudence-is-kavanaughs-all-the-way-down","show_page_url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/opening-arguments-1055646","url":"https://sites.libsyn.com/86258/when-alitos-jurisprudence-is-kavanaughs-all-the-way-down","audio_url":"https://dts.podtrac.com/redirect.mp3/pdst.fm/e/pscrb.fm/rss/p/mgln.ai/e/35/clrtpod.com/m/traffic.libsyn.com/secure/openargs/262_OA1262.mp3?dest-id=455562","summary":"OA1262 - How are a car accident in California, a tax fraud case in Nevada, and two bus accidents in New York and Pennsylvania all connected to the Dobbs abortion case? Find out on this week’s accidental too-deep dive into state sovereignty. Jenessa read a bunch of extra cases just to be thorough, and accidentally uncovered Kavanaugh planting the seeds that would grow into the “egregiously wrong” “rule” for ignoring stare decisis. But also mostly we’ll talk about the weird world of state sovereignty, Clarence Thomas being obnoxious and ahistorical while accusing everyone else of being ahistorical, and Sotomayor getting some peace for a change to write a pleasant little 9-0 decision about some non-partisan procedural legal nerdery that benefits injured plaintiffs. Nevada v. Hall , 440 U.S. 410 (1979) Franchise Tax Board of California v. Hyatt , 587 U.S. 230 (2019) Listen to oral arguments on Oyez: https://www.oyez.org/cases/2018/17-1299; Timestamp for Kavanaugh dropping the “egregiously wrong” bomb: 50:47 Ramos v. Louisiana , 590 U.S. 83 (2020), Kavanaugh concurrence Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization , 597 U.S. 215 (2022) Galette v. New Jersey Transit Corp. , 607 U.S. ___ (2026) The “major questions doctrine” Kavanaugh inception timeline : U.S. Telecom Association v. F.C.C., 855 F.3d 381, 422-423 (D.C. Cir 2017), Kavanaugh dissent Repeal of the Clean Power Plan , 84 Fed. Reg. 32520, 32529 (proposed Jul. 8, 2019) (to be codified at 40 C.F.R. pt. 60). West Virginia v. Environmental Protection Agency , 597 U.S. 697 (2022) Additional sources : Episodes 1229 & 1230 for an in-depth explanation of immunities, including state and federal sovereign immunity: “The complicated web of immunities that makes accountability so difficult” Chisholm v. Georgia , 2 U.S. 419 (179…","meta_description":"OA1262 - How are a car accident in California, a tax fraud case in Nevada, and two bus accidents in New York and Pennsylvania all connected to the Dobbs a…","key_points":[],"chapters":[],"topics":[],"duration_seconds":3528,"processing_state":"not_requested","actions":[{"name":"request_transcript","method":"POST","url":"https://stenobird.com/v1/public/podcasts/opening-arguments-1055646/episodes/when-alito-s-jurisprudence-is-kavanaughs-all-the-way-down/transcription-requests","description":"Idempotently request low-priority transcript generation for this episode."},{"name":"read_markdown","method":"GET","url":"https://stenobird.com/podcast/opening-arguments-1055646/when-alito-s-jurisprudence-is-kavanaughs-all-the-way-down.md","description":"Read the agent-friendly Markdown representation of this episode resource."}]}}