Advisory Opinions is a legal podcast by The Dispatch. Hosts David French and Sarah Isgur meet twice a week to talk about the law, the courts, their collision with politics, and why it all matters.
Latest episodes
-
1 h 18
Who’s the Loneliest Supreme Court Justice?
Sarah Isgur and David French go through a few orders from the Supreme Court (including one that’ll have our libertarian friends jumping from the second-story window), a CNN article…
-
1 h 05
A Constitutional Crisis Over a Golf Course
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the legal battle between the Trump administration and the East Potomac Golf Course, a certiorari grant on race-neutral admissions, and another…
-
1 h 00
The Secrecy in Courts Dilemma
Sarah Isgur and David French are joined by Vince Chhabria, a judge for the U.S. District Court for the Northern District of California, and Stanford professor Nora Engstrom to disc…
-
1 h 10
Is Spending Money Protected Speech?
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss what’s on the Supreme Court’s docket, debate whether anonymous speech is protected by the First Amendment, and undergo a grim historical review…
-
1 h 00
SUNCOR Gets Complicated
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the surprisingly complicated Suncor SCOTUS oral argument, Justice Samuel Alito and his AI usage, and circuit cases on child sex abuse material,…
-
1 h 24
What Is Originalism? | Interview: Sherif Girgis
The new Supreme Court term has officially started, Sarah Isgur has returned from Down Under, and Sherif Girgis is taking a job at Harvard Law School. The vibes on today’s podcast a…
-
1 h 05
Not a MAGA Court
Elie Honig, CNN’s chief legal analyst, joins David French fresh off jury duty to discuss his piece for New York Magazine on how worried we should be about election challenges ahead…
-
1 h 12
Is Press Access a Constitutional Right?
David French talks to CNN’s chief legal analyst, Elie Honig, at a time when CNN is in the news following President Donald Trump’s ban of the cable network from the White House. Hon…
-
1 h 13
Third Time’s the Charm?
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the Missouri redistricting case now that the 8th Circuit has weighed in. Let’s stipulate that everything is a mess. Then, the two go through a…
-
1 h 09
Are Marijuana Contracts Legal in Federal Court?
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the upcoming “long conference” that marks the unofficial start to the new Supreme Court term, a prosecutor being referred to the Department of…
-
1 h 04
Looking Ahead to the Supreme Court Term
From the SCOTUSblog Summit, Sarah Isgur, David French, and Amy Howe discuss the cases scheduled thus far for the Supreme Court’s upcoming term. The three discuss the most consequen…
-
1 h 10
Barely Averting a Constitutional Crisis
Sarah Isgur and David French debate David’s latest New York Times column on the Missouri Supreme Court blocking a congressional map. Then, the two review two law articles: Andy Sma…
-
1 h 11
Insular Cases | Interview: Chief Judge Jeff Sutton and Neil Weare
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss Supreme Court updates on two cases: preferred advertising rates for political committees and Missouri’s congressional districts. Then, Judge Je…
-
1 h 07
SCOTUS Majority Rules White House Ballroom Is A Go
Sarah Isgur and David French discuss the 5-4 ballroom interim docket decision with Chief Justice John Roberts leading the dissenters, the New York Times with a piece on releasing t…
-
1 h 13
Has the First Amendment Ever Been More Relevant?
Sarah Isgur and David French pick through a trail mix of topics for this week’s episode. The two discuss bracelet-wearing parents at a soccer game, student visas being revoked over…
-
1 h 07
How to Fix Congress | Interview: Rep. Jake Auchincloss
Sarah Isgur and David French invite real life Rep. Jake Auchincloss of Massachusetts to discuss how to reform Congress, explain multi-member districting, and wtalk about hether the…
-
1 h 16
Civility vs. Collegiality | Interview: Judges Tom Griffith and David Tatel
Sarah Isgur and David French invite former D.C. Circuit judges Tom Griffith and David Tatel to discuss relationships, judicial independence, and what it means to be a “former” judg…
-
1 h 07
Let’s Pretend We’re Justices | Interview: Chris Scalia
David French and Sarah Isgur steelman Justice John Paul Stevens and Justice Stephen Breyers’s dissents in the Heller case through a one-act play produced by ChatGPT. The two also i…
-
1 h 10
Trump’s Ballroom Blitz
Sarah Isgur and David French return, but with a little bit of a switcheroo as David takes the host’s chair. They discuss President Donald Trump’s appeal to the Supreme Court on the…
-
1 h 15
This Is Not A Vibes-Only Podcast
David Lat and Zachary Shemtob return as guest hosts and are joined by Adam Feldman, author of the blog Empirical SCOTUS and the Substack Legalytics, to discuss an update on birthri…