Versus Trump

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Easha go through a few updates to cases involving Title X, which provides money for family planning; the Administration's policy to have many asylum applicants removed to Mexico; and the controversial border wall. Trump lost one, won one—for now, and hasn't yet gotten a decision in the third.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe order stopping the new rules on Title X is here.The House's preliminary injunction motion in the border wall case is here.The Ninth Circuit's opinion in the "contiguous removal" case is here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha discuss a new lawsuit by the President seeking to prevent two banks from responding to Congressional subpoenas that seek information about his business dealings. The trio discuss the unusual procedure of the lawsuit and the two arguments Trump has made for blocking the subpoenas. They end the episode with a shout out the listeners who have listened to all 100 episodes. Fun times!NotesTrump's Complaint is here. The Preliminary Injunction Motion is here.Helpful legal commentary on the case is here, at Wonkette. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Jason discusses some fascinating research about how the Trump Administration has fared in the courts with Bethany Davis Noll, the Litigation Director at the Institute for Policy Integrity. They discuss challenges to Trump's regulatory agenda, why the Administration is losing at a historic rate, what is slipping through the cracks, and what come next. Enjoy! As usual, you can listen online below, and subscribe via this page with any podcast player or here in iTunes. You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesYou can find Bethany's project here. She welcomes any comments or new cases! Her email is at the bottom of that page. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Charlie, and Easha discuss the long-awaited Mueller Report. They break down the report step-by-step, discuss the legal issues it raises, and have an all-around good time while they're at it. Enjoy! You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe searchable, annotated Mueller Report is here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Jason, Charlie, and Easha discuss the brewing dispute over Trump's tax returns. They address whether the Democrats can force Trump to turn them over and what might happen if he refuses.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesAt Take Care, Brianne Gorod discusses the issue here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie talk with special guest Greer Donley, a law professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Law, to talk about the latest developments in litigation related to Obamacare, including the stunning DOJ reversal in Texas, and recent decisions prohibiting states from adding work requirements to Medicaid. You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesKaiser Health News discusses the Medicaid work requirements here.An article at ABC News about the DOJ reversal is here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

This week on Versus Trump, Jason and Easha discuss a recent decision reversing President Trump's attempt to de-protect Arctic Ocean waters and permit drilling in the Great White North. They begin by discussing the legal regime governing leases and protection of waters in the Outer Continental Shelf. They then talk about how and why President Obama protected a large swath of land at the end of his Administration, and then they delve into whether President Trump may undo that. The leads into a deep discussion about whether the power to "from time to time withdraw" certain lands from leasing also includes the power to reverse a withdrawal. They end with a Trump nugget highlighting a stunning fact about the Trump Administration's recent success rate in court.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesEarthjustice's excellent—and beautiful—fe

The Mueller Report is kinda, sorta here, so, on this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason analyze the Barr summary and then dive into the legal troubles of famous Trump antagonist Michael Avenatti. They begin—where else?—with the Attorney General's summary of the Mueller report. That leads them to discuss what the summary and does and does not say, and it leads them to wonder what is taking so long for the full report to be ready for release. Charlie then cannot resist discussing the ongoing troubles of Michael Avenatti, and this leads to a discussion on the puzzle of blackmail.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe Barr summary of the Mueller report is here.CNN's case page on the Avenatti is here. That contains links to the complaint. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this week's 100th episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Easha, and Jason offer a few quick hits and then have a discussion about the effect of litigation against the President personally and against the Administration.Charlie begins with a quick hit on the Devin Nunes defamation lawsuit (which Charlie says "reads like it's written by a crazy person"), and Easha mentions a new case by a Russian oligarch who claims he shouldn't be sanctioned by the U.S. Jason then highlights recent developments in the case of Summer Zervos, who was allegedly sexually harassed by the President before he took office, and a case about the Emoluments Clauses. This leads to a big picture discussion of where've been and where we're going.Thanks to Take Care for hosting us for 100 episodes, to We Edit Podcasts for editing most of the 100, and, most of all, to our listeners for tuning each week. We look forward to many more—but not too, too many, to be honest. This is a podcast that we hope does not go on foreve

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Easha, and Jason discuss a new lawsuit by Huawei against various Trump Administration officials, plus they delve into international extradition law and look at the case of the company's detained CFO. The trio first discuss the new Huawei case, which claims that a federal law that prohibits federal agencies from using Huawei equipment, or even from giving federal contracts to any entity that buys from Huawei, is an unconstitutional Bill of Attainder. This leads them to explain what a Bill of Attainder is, discuss whether this could be one, and wonder whether Bills of Attainder could apply to corporations in the first place. They then turn to the geopolitically related case of the extradition of Ms. Meng, the company's CFO, and then briefly discuss the Manafort sentencing.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-co

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie and Jason discuss a new lawsuit from California challenging new regulations regarding Title X, an important federal family planning program.Jason and Charlie first discuss the history and background of Title X, which goes back to the Nixon Administration. They then discuss the new changes the Trump Administration has just adopted, which include strict separation requirements between funding recipients and organizations that provide abortions, and new rules that come very close to prohibiting providers from even mentioning the existence of abortion providers. Jason and Charlie speculate about California's prospect for success before turning to some Trump nuggets, including a return of Uncle Charlie's Sanctions Corner—or is it???You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe Complaint in California v.

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha discuss a decision from a federal court in Los Angeles ordering the Government to grant citizenship to both children of a same-sex couple born abroad to one U.S. parent. The trio dig into the little-known world of how children born abroad to U.S. parents are granted citizenship to understand whether the State Department has been discriminating against same-sex couples. Federal law says that children born abroad are citizens at birth if they are "born of parents," one of whom is a U.S. citizen. In the Dvash-Banks case, the parents are a married same-sex couple, one of whom is a U.S. citizen, but only one of two twins is genetically related to the U.S. citizen father. Under an obscure policy, the State Department granted citizenship to the genetically-related twin but denied it to the other twin—even though the U.S. citizen parent is the "parent" of both children. A federal judge in L.A. recently said this was incorrect and ordered

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha discuss the early lawsuits that seek to stop the new sections of border wall that President Trump authorized through executive action. The trio dig into the first three complaints filed: one by Public Citizens, one by animal rights groups, and one by California and 15 other states. They talk about whether any or all of the plaintiffs would have standing and whether the cases are premature. They then get to the merits: does what the President wishes to do violate the separation of powers?You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe three lawsuits discussed are Public Citizen's Alvarez v. Trump; animal rights groups' Center for Biological Diversity v. Trump; and the multi-state California v. Trump.Jason read from this blog post by Ilya Shapiro, at Cato.For a Trum

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie sits down for a fun, casual conversation with Anne Tindall and Cameron Kistler of Protect Democracy about, well, protecting our democracy.Charlie, Anne, and Cameron cover a wide range of topics, from the role of the 17th Amendment in scheduling special elections in the U.S. Senate—we know, dear listeners, that you come for the dorky legal topics and stay for the witty banter, not the other way around—to the proper scope of disagreement in a democratic society. They also discuss some differences between this Administration and the ones that came before it. Also, Cameron is the first non-leftist we've ever had on the show. So, you know, that's fun. You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesProtect Democracy's website is here. See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason and Charlie discuss last month's federal court decision holding that Maryland could not proceed in its lawsuit that sought a declaration that the Affordable Care Act is constitutional and must be enforced. Easha and Jason start by explaining the unusual lawsuit, which is the inverse of the more widely-reported case Texas v. United States. In Texas, red states are seeking to strike down the ACA; in Maryland, that state is trying to uphold it. But, as they explain, a district court a few weeks held that Maryland could not proceed because, despite the Administration's hostility to the ACA, it does continue to be enforced (at least in meaningful part), so the court held there was no live case or controversy. After breaking this finding down, Easha and Jason turn to some listener feedback about shifting positions of the government.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@g

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason, Easha, and Charlie discuss recent developments in Juliana v. U.S., a long-running case where young people claim that the federal government's inaction on climate change violates their right to live in a habitable world in the future. They start by stating the unusual claims and then discuss the threshold issue of whether a court could actually give them the relief they seek: a declaration that they government has violated their rights and, possibly, an order requiring some kind of action on climate change. They then get philosophical and discuss whether there is a constitutional right to a future habitable world and whether the government has violated that right by taking minimal action to curb carbon emissions. They end with a few more technical thoughts about the case.You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Jason asks Charlie to take us through the mammothly long, massively important opinion from the Southern District of New York invalidating the proposed citizenship question on the 2020 Census.  Jason starts by asking Charlie to lay out the background of the case and then take us through the highlights of the 277-page opinion in New York v. Dep't of Commerce. He talks about the factual findings about how damaging the question would be for response rates, and then gets into several reasons the court found the addition of the question was either contrary to law or arbitrary. They then discuss why the court did not accept the plaintiffs' constitutional claims—but why that may be a good thing. They end, as usual, with listener feedback. (Note: we apologize for the poor audio quality on this episode; everyone is on the road this week!)You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha hit three topics: the mysterious case of the subpoena to a foreign corporation that may be related to the Mueller investigation; the nomination of William Barr as Attorney General; and the temporal nature of an emergency, as prompted by live listener feedback.  The trio start by quickly discussing the mysterious subpoena case, and Easha gives us inside baseball on the usual process for securing a stay at the Supreme Court. The trio then comment quickly on Barr's nomination and his bizarre, unsolicited memo that reveals some of his thoughts about the Muller investigation. Finally, listener Ross Harrow (Jason's brother) comes into the Versus Trump studio and asks whether it's plausible that emergencies can really take a very long time to solve. You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo&nbs

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha bring you a shutdown special, where they talk about the President's emergency powers as well as a lawsuit contending the government is violating federal labor law by not paying workers on time. The episode starts with a discussion of the President's claim that he can use emergency powers to build the wall without Congress's appropriation. They discuss the law of emergencies and the specific laws that might authorize a wall and decide that it's a surprisingly close question. Next, they delve into a lawsuit filed in the Court of Federal Claims contending that the Fair Labor Standards Act requires on-time payments for work done by most government employees, and they explain the consequences of the government's violation of this law. They end with listener feedback. NotesAs noted at Lawfare, there are currently at least 28 national emergencies. See here. Lawfare has an excellent Q and A on emergency powers&nb

On this week's episode of Versus Trump, Charlie, Jason, and Easha comment on several cases addressing whether the Trump Administration may legally expand the number of employers who do not need to provide insurance that includes coverage for contraception. The trio start by doing a quick run-through of the many ups-and-downs of this controversial policy. They then turn to decisions from the Ninth Circuit and a court in Pennsylvania that stopped the Administration from implementing their proposed change that would expand the exemption from coverage. They note, however, that new rules are set to go into effect on January 14, so they opine on whether those rules may eventually become effective. They end with some promised listener feedback. Keep your emails coming!You can find us at @VersusTrumpPod on twitter, or send us an email at versustrumppodcast@gmail.com. You can buy t-shirts and other goods with our super-cool logo here. NotesThe Ninth Circuit's decision in&nb