In our second episode this season, we dive into the high-stakes world of online wagering. We trace the path of online sports betting from offshore sites like the World Sports Exchange to the landmark 2018 U.S. Supreme Court ruling in Murphy v. NCAA, which dismantled the Professional and Amateur Sports Protection Act ban on sports gambling and launched a billion-dollar industry.

What was once a legal grey area has moved into the mainstream, as betting doesn't stop with sports and has led to the rise of digital prediction markets like Polymarket and Kalshi, where stats nerds and political junkies trade futures contracts on real-world outcomes on everything from Billboard charts to the next occupant of the Oval Office. Are these digital markets the new YouGov poll, or just a gamified version of the public square?

These markets often beat traditional polling by aggregating real-time data and financial incentives, but are they free from their users' biases?

Special guests: 

• Seth Shankle, avid sports bettor
• Koleman Strumpf, professor of economics at Wake Forest University
• Tom Miller, faculty director of the data science program at Northwestern University and operator of The Virtual Tout

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome back! We're kicking off our sixth season of Sidebar by dissecting imaginary legal codes of fiction to uncover truths about our real-world search for fairness. From the ethical dilemmas of "How to Get Away with Murder" and "Better Call Saul" to the lawless world of Harry Potter, where a lack of attorneys often leaves characters in peril, we examine how pop culture shapes our understanding of justice. 

The surprising top dog in fantasy law? "Star Trek," with its prophetic examinations of AI and ownership. Should rights be reserved for biological life alone? Does the Prime Directive offer a universal model for human rights?

We also dive into the connection between fanfiction tinhatting and Supreme Court originalism, exploring why interpreting 18th-century intent is not so different from fans extrapolating the secret lives of Harry Styles and Louis Tomlinson.

Join us as we learn why 90% of Harry Potter's problems could have been solved with a lawyer.

[Editor's note: He-Who-Must-Not-Be-Named is indeed named, numerous times, within. Proceed with caution!]

Special guests:

• Lenora Ledwon, professor of law at St. Thomas University
• Stacey Lantagne, professor of law at Suffolk University
• Kiersten Marcil, attorney and author of The Enlightened saga
• Fabrice Defferrard, professor of law at the University of Reims

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Los Angeles is in crisis, facing a staggering $1 billion budget deficit thanks to dwindling tax revenues, rising workforce costs and legal settlements. Judgments against the city have skyrocketed, with payouts nearly quadrupling from $91 million to $320 million in just four years. 

While much of this financial burden stems from lawsuits involving the Los Angeles Police Department, housing discrimination and crumbling infrastructure, the city’s broken sidewalks account for a small but growing portion of the pot due to over 4,000 miles of sidewalks in various states of disrepair. Throw in some outdated policies and inadequate tree management as invasive roots of ficus trees contribute to woes, and you have an untenable situation.

Could spending and prioritizing public spaces stave off future liabilities? Find out in our seventh episode this season.

Special guests: 

• Attorney Mauro Fiore Jr.
• Attorney Chris Ardalan
• Jessica Meaney, executive director of Investing in Place
• Attorney Paula Pearlman

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The future is here.

Sixty years ago, the science fiction writer Philip K. Dick wondered whether androids dream and what about. As artificial intelligence moves from the realm of sci-fi into daily reality, helping companies and governments analyze data and make decisions, the questions of what mechanisms motivate AI and whether these programs can overcome human limitations remain unanswered.

Many tech leaders seem to believe we are on the cusp of having self-aware AI with intelligence that surpasses humans. Even if we don’t get there, we’re already facing places where current laws don’t really protect us.

Join us in our sixth episode this season for a tour through a not-so-post-apocalyptic landscape as companies and experts try to navigate how humans bring AI more and more to life. 

Special guests:

• Tyler Johnston, founder of the Midas Project
• Stephen Thaler, founder of Imagination Engines
• Ellie Pavlick, assistant professor of computer science and linguistics at Brown University
• Matthew Tokson, law professor at the University of Utah
• Scott Stevenson, CEO of Spellbook
• Ulysses Secrest, artist and owner of Aerarius Metalworks
• ChatGPT

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

In February, President Donald Trump started signing a series of executive orders and presidential memorandums against individual “Big Law” firms, accusing them of engaging in “conduct detrimental to critical American interests” and directing federal agency heads to review and scrutinize security clearances and any government contracts, as well as barring attorneys from government buildings.

These targeted executive orders — and the looming threat of more to come —  ultimately triggered several major American firms to quickly agree to provide tens of millions of dollars in pro bono legal work aligned with the administration’s priorities.

In our fifth episode this season, we look at what this means for Big Law, the $340 million of pledged pro bono legal work on Trump’s behalf and which firms are fighting back in the courts.

Special guests:

• Scott Cummings, law professor at UCLA School of Law
• Claire Finkelstein, law professor at the University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome to the age of the imperial presidency, dear listener.

After President Donald Trump returned to the Oval Office in January, he flexed a newfound authority unlike his predecessors as he spent the first few weeks legislating through executive orders.

Whether you think Trump is above the law in practice or theory, the U.S. Supreme Court’s decision last July in Trump v. United States feels particularly poignant as his administration faces over 100 lawsuits under 100 days into his second term.

How does the court’s finding impact how Trump legislates from the executive branch? Does he really have the power to fire federal employees and the heads of nonpartisan bureaus? With the help of our D.C. reporters Ryan Knappenberger and Benjamin S. Weiss, we break this down and more in our fourth episode this season.

Special guests:

• Ben Olinsky, senior vice president for structural reform at the Center for American Progress
• Michael Sozan, senior fellow at the Center for American Progress
• Jed Shugerman, law professor at Boston University School of Law
• Sharece Thrower, political science professor at Vanderbilt University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

It took decades for death row inmate Richard Glossip to convince Oklahomans and, later, the U.S. Supreme Court that he deserved a new trial. Glossip is just one of many inmates who say they faced convictions for crimes they did not commit. Read about enough of these cases, and you’ll be asking, “Is innocence enough?”

For the wrongfully convicted, tearful reunions and proclamations of justice from the courthouse steps only come after an arduous exoneration process paved with years of litigation.

The average person wrongfully convicted loses a decade of their life behind bars, learning the legal system and advocating for their innocence. As the number of exonerations rise annually, there is still no way to track how many people have suffered unjust convictions.

In the third episode of our fifth season, we journey through the highs and lows of post-conviction purgatory for people claiming innocence, from one Oklahoma man’s hand-written petitions to a New York man who waited nearly two decades for evidence to emerge for a lawyer to take his case.

Special guests:

• Andrea Miller, legal director of the Oklahoma Innocence Project
• Maurice Possley, researcher at the National Registry of Exonerations
• Justin Brooks, co-founder of the California Innocence Project
• Laneshia Jordan, Texas attorney
• Jeffrey Deskovic, exoneree and attorney
• Michael Grant, exoneree and assistant director of The Liberation Foundation
• Retired U.S. Magistrate Judge Kristen Mix
• Carl Wyatt, Oklahoma inmate asserting innocence

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The Racketeer Influenced and Corrupt Organizations Act, otherwise known as RICO. It's famous as the law used to take down organized crime, with then-U.S. Attorney Rudy Giuliani bringing the Mafia Commission Trial in the 1980s after indicting nine high-level organized crime figures, including the heads of New York's "Five Families."

But that's not the only time it comes up in court. It's been used in criminal court to go after motorcycle clubs, wealthy investors, the Key West Police Department in Florida, R&B singer R. Kelly and even President Donald Trump, but also in civil cases, like against Big Tobacco and sex abuse claims against the Catholic Church. 

RICO is the subject of our second episode this season: What it is, what it isn't and why it's used so much in one particular state.

Special guests:

• George Anastasia, former Philadelphia Inquirer crime reporter
• Jeff Grell, an attorney and lecturer at the University of Minnesota Law School
• Eric Seidel, former deputy attorney general in charge of New York’s Organized Crime Task Force
• Joe Lancaster, an assistant editor at Reason

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome back, listeners, to our humble show’s fifth season.

As America welcomes a new president, a particular media company welcomes a new owner. Well, almost. 

That’s why we’re here to guide you through the uncertainty of a certain bankruptcy process, promising to determine who will own one of the nation’s most controversial media companies, one whose name sums it all up with a bow: Infowars.

Despite over a billion dollars in defamation judgments, Alex Jones remains vocal online as he continues to operate his media empire while a bankruptcy court determines its future owner.

Will satirical news outlet The Onion eventually wrest control away from Jones? And what sort of implications does the case have on disinformation and free speech? All we know is the battle for Infowars is far from over.

Special guests:

• Dan Friesen, co-host of the Knowledge Fight podcast
• Christopher Hampson, professor of law at the University of Florida
• Nolan Higdon, critical media literacy scholar and lecturer at the University of California Santa Cruz

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Hello, doughty listener! Season five of Sidebar is just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down our legal system and how it impacts the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Editor's note: This episode includes court testimony containing explicit language.

Dust off your tux and polish your dancing shoes: It’s time for Sidebar’s end-of-the-year extravaganza and season finale. 

We bring you three of the most interesting and unusual trials you missed this year while President-elect Donald Trump was soaking up the attention in courthouses nationwide.

And there’s no better way to kick this party off than Georgia’s longest-running criminal trial in state history: The prolonged RICO trial of Young Thug and alleged violent street gang Young Slime Life in Atlanta. To guide you through the ins and outs of a trial with more twists and defendants than an M. Night Shyamalan movie is our Atlanta reporter, Megan Butler.

Up next, with help from our intrepid New York reporter Erik Uebelacker, we turn our attention to the National Rifle Association’s legal troubles, detailing the two trials over former NRA President Wayne LaPierre’s misuse of the organization’s funds for personal luxury and how the NRA will govern itself going forward.

To round out an episode jampacked with acronyms, why did a judge throw out a $4.7 billion verdict against the NFL over antitrust violations connected to its Sunday Ticket package after fans claimed the price was artificially inflated? Edvard Pettersson has the answer.

See you in January with new episodes you won’t want to miss.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The art world isn’t limited to museums and galleries anymore, with pieces now embedded in courthouses across the country — from the majestic marble palace of the U.S. Supreme Court to landscapes urging conversations about climate change at the Byron White U.S. Courthouse in Denver.  

How did we move away from serious images of Lady Justice and authoritative judges clad in black robes to swaths of color and happy trees? How did art get into the judicial system to begin with?

In our penultimate episode this season, we bring you the artists who capture vivid portraits that honor state justices and attorneys not often memorialized in art and how courtroom sketches transcend photography to paint a picture of a defendant up close and personal or document moments of social change.

Special guests:

• Roger Laux Nelson, a landscape artist with works in the 10th Circuit Court of Appeals
• Ximena Velázquez-Arenas, an artist and attorney
• Ted Ellis, an artist and director of Florida State University’s Civil Rights Institute 
• Jennifer Gibson, director of the Center for Fine Arts at the General Services Administration
• Drew Alderson, manager of the Colorado Judicial Learning Center
• Joan Kee, director of the Institute of Fine Arts at New York University
• Vicki Behringer, a courtroom sketch artist

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The Sidebar crew is back for 2026 with a brand-new season of deep dives and analysis. From the world of online gambling and fictional laws of the land to a new round of life-altering decisions from the nation's highest court, join the Courthouse News team for another season of your favorite legal news podcast. 

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Sensational headlines, societal upheaval and a gruesome crime that shook Fall River, Massachusetts, to its core.

Turn off the lights and cozy up to the fireplace as we bring you the spookiest type of story we can — one straight from the history books. 

America's first trial of the century came from an unusual source: Lizzie Borden, a 32-year-old unmarried upper-class woman in 1892 New England. Borden's father and stepmother met their final moments in one of the most brutal of ways, at the hands of someone with an axe.

Did she do it? With the help of two writers, we bring you inside the courtroom for Borden's trial, a legal spectacle set against the backdrop of yellow journalism and a nation gripped by details of a crime among the affluent, complete with an all-star cast of attorneys. 

Special guests:

• Cara Robertson, author of The Trial of Lizzie Borden
• Mark Olshaker, co-author of The Cases That Haunt Us

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

It's October, so you know what that means ... spooky season is finally here! And with it, the Supreme Court is back in session, complete with ghosts of the gun variety.

In this year's SCOTUS preview, we bring you the cases you need to know. The court will weigh in on a Biden administration rule to redefine firearms to address the public safety risk of ghost guns in America. We delve into the complexities and legal arguments that ignited a heated debate with gun manufacturers and the NRA over what truly constitutes a firearm.

The court will also hear about the death penalty case of Richard Glossip, who has faced the specter of execution nine times for a crime he claims he didn't commit. From the dubious testimony of the actual murderer to the systemic failures that have kept Glossip on death row, the case has led even unlikely proponents to question the mechanics of our justice system.

And we tackle Tennessee's controversial SB1 law, which bans gender-affirming care for transgender minors. This controversial legislation pits the state's focus on the experimental nature of such treatments against the medical community's endorsement of their necessity. This legal battle doesn't just impact Tennessee; it could reshape the landscape for transgender rights nationwide.

Special guests:

• Don Knight, Richard Glossip’s attorney
• Robert Dunham, director at the Death Penalty Policy Project and special counsel at Phillips Black
• Oklahoma state Representative Justin Humphrey
• Sasha Buchert, director of the Non-Binary and Transgender Rights Project at Lambda Legal
• Eric Tirschwell, executive director of Everytown Law
• Cody Wilson, director of Defense Distributed
• Kevin Tobia, a professor of law and philosophy at Georgetown
• Erin Erhardt, litigation counsel at the National Rifle Association

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Zombie voters. Sham elections. Voter fraud.

In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, election lawsuits are flooding courts across the U.S., with the timing of some geared more toward grabbing headlines than achieving legal resolutions. Allegations aren’t considered true until a judge’s final order, but that doesn’t stop people from believing them.

In our 10th episode this season, we uncover the raw truths behind the politicized world of election integrity starting in Grand Junction, Colo., where a 2021 municipal election became a flashpoint for ideological battles and unfounded claims of voter fraud leading to the intricate legal quagmire surrounding Tina Peters, a former Colorado election official embroiled in controversy.

From there, we zero in on the world of pre-election litigation and voter registration errors in legal battles raging across states like Arizona, Ohio and Pennsylvania, touching on the delicate balance between security and transparency.

Special guests:

• Attorney Bruce L. Castor Jr.  
• Bobbie Gross, clerk and recorder for Mesa County, Colo.
• Abe Herman, mayor of Grand Junction, Colo.
• Marly Hornik, chief executive officer of United Sovereign Americans   
• Leah Tulin, senior counsel at the Brennan Center for Justice’s Democracy Program
• Witold "Vic" Walczak, legal director of the ACLU of Pennsylvania

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Known for his unwavering conservative stance, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton's career has been marked by significant legal battles, including a protracted securities fraud case and intense impeachment proceedings that left an indelible mark on his legacy.

And yet, his trajectory from state representative to Texas’ top cop continues upward, setting him up as a possible candidate for a potential second Donald Trump administration.

In our ninth episode this season, we unravel how a group of whistleblowers reported alleged misconduct by Paxton to the FBI, sparking a series of retaliatory actions and a legislative probe that set the stage for a dramatic showdown in a high-stakes impeachment trial that led to a not guilty verdict.

What broader implications for the state Republican Party's internal dynamics awaited post-acquittal? Dear listener, tune in so you don't miss out on this exploration of one of Texas' most polarizing and powerful political figures.

Special guests:

• Lara Hollingsworth, partner at Durham, Pittard & Spalding
• Cal Jillson, political science professor at Southern Methodist University
• Ann Johnson, representative of Texas House District 134
• Tom Nesbitt, attorney at DeShazo & Nesbitt
• Jonathan Saenz, president of Texas Values

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

All aboard, fair listeners, as we take you on a summer tour of the fascinating world of courthouse architecture and how it shapes our justice system.

Can courthouse design impact justice?

You’ve joined us right in the middle of America’s greatest era of civics construction. Over the last 30 years, the federal government spent more than $10 billion building or renovating more than 200 federal courts, not to mention all the new state ones. Due to growing caseloads, more judges get appointed, who, in turn, need more space for more staff.

In our eighth episode this season, we detail the history behind grand, historical courthouse and the innovation of more modern designs, like the “Cube” in Los Angeles. From the architects crafting light-filled, functional courthouse spaces to the sheriffs seeking to amplify light inside to prioritize mental health and security for inmates and staff alike, we bring you the thoughts behind the critical evolution in courthouse design.

A quick editor’s note: we are off for our summer break until August. See you then, same time, same place!

Special guests:

• Curtis Fentress, principal in charge of design at Fentress Architects
• Denver Sheriff Elias Diggins 
• Denver County Court Judge Frances Simonet
• Kate Merrill, wedding photographer

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

In the past few years, there’s been an explosion of nationwide injunctions coming from single-judge divisions in the federal court system. These judges were handpicked by the people filing these lawsuits.

You may have heard of one: U.S. District Judge Matthew Kacsmaryk. With Kacsmaryk’s rulings, Texas has been able to dictate federal discrimination guidance for transgender employees and commandeer the Biden administration’s immigration policies. He also tried to limit abortion access nationwide, issuing a ruling that would have removed the abortion drug mifepristone from shelves across the country.

In Sidebar’s seventh episode this season, we bring you the inside baseball of judge shopping. Federal rules govern how many judges are assigned to a court, and when a court has a division with only one judge at the helm, it becomes easier to know who will hear your case.

Special guests:

• Brook Gotberg, law professor at Brigham Young University
• Laura Coordes, law professor at Arizona State University
• Steve Vladeck, law professor at the University of Texas at Austin
• Jonas Anderson, law professor at the University of Utah

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Receipts. Proof. Timeline. Screenshots. 

What fuels the flames of drama in episodes of Bravo’s hugely successful “Real Housewives” franchise can also come into play off the screen when current and former reality stars duke it out in court against in each other and their former producers and employer. 

In our sixth episode this season, we expose the dark side of reality TV chaos. From claims of an unsafe work environment and intentional infliction of emotional distress made by cast members against producers, to sexual assault by their costars, how much of what we see is actually ... well, real? 

What does the future of these shows look like in light of these burgeoning legal battles and amid a call to arms by former start Bethenny Frankel to unionize in a “reality TV reckoning”? Does any accountability fall at the gilded doorstep of Bravo and Andy Cohen for the behaviors of their Bravolebrities? 

Tune in to find out what happens when people stop being polite and start being real. Real litigious. 

Special guests:

• Attorney Mark Geragos, who represents former “Vanderpump Rules” stars Rachel Leviss and Faith Stowers
• Brian Moylan, author of “The Housewives: The Real Story Behind the Real Housewives”
• Attorneys Cesie Alvarez and Angela Angotti of “The Bravo Docket” podcast

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Would you believe us if we told you copyright law is the biggest regulation on free speech in the United States? 

When you exercise your First Amendment right to paint a picture or write the next great American novel, your speech belongs to you. No one can take it and pass it off as their own. 

But when all the power is vested solely in one person, the rights of others slowly begin to dwindle. 

If you think copyright is just a term for media executives and lawyers, come along as we unravel its constitutional underpinnings. 

In our fifth episode this season, we dissect this intricate balance that copyright law maintains between protecting creators and ensuring the public’s unfettered access to cultural treasurer, detailing the symbiotic relationship between artistic works and the fundamental right to speak freely. 

Copyright is all around us because speech is all around us. 

Special guests:

• Jennifer Jenkins, a Duke University professor of law and director of the university's Center for the Study of the Public Domain
• Mike Masnick, writer and founder of Techdirt
• Corynne McSherry, legal director at the Electronic Frontier Foundation
• Keith Kupferschmid, CEO of Copyright Alliance

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The landscape of abortion rights in America is unrecognizable in the wake of the Supreme Court’s decision in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Join us for our fourth episode this season as we navigate this tumultuous terrain, dissecting the seismic shifts and looming legal — and political — battles that promise to keep this issue at the forefront of national discourse. As states become battlegrounds with polarized stances on reproductive laws, how will the growing schism impact our collective moral compass and individual liberties?

Hold onto your seats as we examine the Supreme Court’s potential reshaping of federal authority over FDA-approved abortion medications like mifepristone and the state-level legislation redrawing the battleground of reproductive rights by either restricting or safeguarding abortion access, spotlighting Alabama’s legal contortions over fetal personhood and its deep entanglement with in vitro fertilization treatments that could eventually redefine reproductive autonomy. 

Special guests:

• Dale Cecka, director of the Family Violence Litigation Clinic at Albany Law School
• Chelsey Youman, national legislative advisor for Human Coalition Action 
• Grace Howard, associate professor of justice studies at San Jose State University
• Dana Sussman, deputy executive director at Pregnancy Justice
• Aziza Ahmed, law professor at Boston University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Editor’s note: This episode is not family friendly due to some colorful language.

A long-running feud between eviction lawyers Dennis Block and Danny Bramzon cumulated into a Twitter parody account and a libel lawsuit that made it all the way to a jury trial.

In the third episode this season, we take the temperature of defamation law in the 21st century when it comes to X, formerly known as Twitter.

Block isn’t the only one unsuccessful in the courtroom. A lawsuit that sought to take down Elon Musk over his infamous “pedo guy” tweet failed, as did efforts by “badass lawyer” Todd Levitt and former Congressman Devin Nunes over their Twitter impersonators.

Why is it so hard to win a defamation lawsuit when digital satire is at play? The courtroom becomes a crucible, with jurors and judges wrestling over the true nature of parody, leaving us pondering the potential repercussions of a legal system scrambling to catch up with the online world’s rapid evolution.

Special guests:

• Eric Anderson, an attorney for Bramzon’s firm, Basta
• Christopher Frost, an attorney for Block
• Eugene Volokh, UCLA law professor and blogger at The Volokh Conspiracy 
• Gordon Bloem, an attorney sued by Levitt
• Paul Alan Levy, an attorney at Public Citizen 
• Ryan Mac, tech reporter at The New York Times 

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

It's that time of the year again, dear listener: our season five finale, where three cases, three courtrooms and one very strange year collide. 

We kick things off with the trial that dominated headlines with its circus-like atmosphere: The United States of America v. Sean "Diddy" Combs. The rapper and producer was acquitted in Manhattan of racketeering conspiracy and two counts of sex trafficking by a jury, but convicted of transporting individuals for prostitution. The mixed verdict spared Combs a life sentence while raising questions about how far prosecutors can stretch RICO law as fans proclaimed, "Freako is not a RICO."

Next, with help from our France correspondent, Lily Radziemski, we head overseas to a trial fueled by internet rumor. French First Lady Brigitte Macron has gone on the offensive as conspiracy theorists spread false claims about her biological sex, testing the limits of free speech and whether courts can rein in online harassment.

And finally, back in Washington, D.C., reporter Ryan Knappenberger walks us through the sandwich heard 'round the District: Sean Dunn, a former Justice Department lawyer, was acquitted of assault after throwing a sandwich at federal agents during an immigration crackdown. The viral incident turned Dunn into a case study in protest, power and prosecutorial restraint.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Surprise, listeners! We’re coming to you, almost live, with a special breaking news mini episode on the Supreme Court’s unanimous decision to keep former President Donald Trump on Colorado’s ballot.

Our very own Amanda Pampuro and Kelsey Reichmann meticulously dissect the twists and turns of the legal journey that led to this point, from the initial lawsuit by concerned Colorado voters to the constitutional debates the ensued before SCOTUS.

How great is the magnitude of this ruling, not just for Trump’s potential return to the highest office in the land, but for its groundbreaking implications on the constitutional standards that determine who can lead the nation?

Special guest: 

·         Mark Graber, law professor at the University of Maryland

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Look around, dear listener. 

Everything is heart-shaped and pink. People are getting ready for a special night with their special someone. 

In our second episode this season, we take you through the dark alleyways of online dating, where $1.3 billion vanished into the pockets of scammers in just one year, and peel back the layers of marketing sleights of hand that extend far beyond the realm of matchmaking. 

From mimosas without champagne to candy heart boxes with more filler than chocolate, we dissect the conflict between what's advertised and what lands in consumers' hands — a legal battlefield constantly redefining the line between enticing and misleading. 

Special guests:

• “Al,” pro se plaintiff who sued Bumble  
• Kevin Lewis, sociology professor at UC San Diego
• Attorney Spencer Sheehan
• Attorney Robert Freund
• Jennifer Pomeranz, public health attorney and NYU professor
• Bonnie Patten, executive director of Truth in Advertising

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome to season four of Sidebar! We're kicking off our first episode of 2024 by traversing the digital terrain of internet sleuths, those armchair detectives whose keyboards are the new magnifying glasses.

Everyone has a hobby. Something to keep them busy, pass the time or unwind after work. Maybe listening to your favorite podcast is that thing. One such hobby that has grown with the help of the internet and social media is internet sleuthing. On websites like TikTok, Reddit and Websleuths, people post the latest theories about mysteries big and small.

Since the high-profile murder of Gabby Petito, it feels like hobby investigators have gained more prominence, from the initial mystery of the University of Idaho student murders to the Rainey Street Ripper, the Austin, Texas, serial killer that wasn't.

What's behind the psychological forces that drive this online phenomenon?

Special guests:

• David Schmid, professor of English at the University of Buffalo
• Rachel Monroe, author of “Savage Appetites: Four True Stories of Women, Crime, and Obsession”
• Chance Townsend, assistant editor at Mashable

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Season four of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome to our end-of-the-year gala episode of Sidebar.

It's hard to divvy out awards for the most important or interesting cases of 2023 when former President Donald Trump has dominated so many of them. This was the year Trump took over Courthouse News, appearing in court as a defendant many times.

From charges in New York that Trump schemed to make illegal hush-money payments to adult film actress Stormy Daniels and an indictment over Trump mishandling classified documents found at his Mar-a-Lago resort to another indictment in Georgia over conspiracy to change the results of the 2020 presidential election, 2023 saw Trump dominating headlines. This trend is unlikely to die down next year as the cases ramp up and he forges ahead as the Republican Party's No. 1 guy to run against President Joe Biden.

But it wasn't all about Trump. No courtroom drama is off-limits as we also spotlight the fraud trial of cryptocurrency mogul Sam Bankman-Fried and the murder trial of South Carolina lawyer Alex Murdaugh. Sit back, pop some bubbly and join us as we sift through the year's most riveting legal tales.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

No institution in American life has a far-reaching and outsized role in communities quite like the public school system.

Take a seat, Sidebar listeners, as we dive into the heart of public education and its role in our democracy for our penultimate episode this season. We take you beyond the classroom, looking at landmark rulings like Brown v. Board of Education and highlighting the dual role of public schools: to educate and to unite individuals of various backgrounds in a shared vision.

Gear up to navigate the treacherous waters of the school choice movement with us, from religious schools to church-state separation and the impact on the future of public education.

Special guests:

• Derek Black, law professor at the University of South Carolina
• Steve Suitts, adjunct lecturer at Emory University
• Rachel Laser, president and CEO of Americans United for Separation of Church and State
• John Bursch, senior counsel for Alliance Defending Freedom
• Daniel Mach, director of the ACLU Program on Freedom of Religion and Belief

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Happy Halloween, all you goblins and ghouls. Prepare yourselves for a real spooky season treat as we traverse the gloomy annals of witch trials. Join us for our 12th episode this season as we dispel myths and shine a light on how and why these judicial proceedings played out across Europe and the United States. We're talking grand juries, indictments, spectral evidence and even acquittals in what were considered by the standards of the time to be fair trials.

There are no tricks here as we examine the chilling circumstances behind the notorious Salem witch trials and the ensuing paranoia that led to widespread accusations and tragic executions. How has Salem maintained its hold on the American psyche for more than 300 years?

Hold on to your broomstick as we ride through this spine-chilling side of the past.

Special guests:

• Stacy Schiff, Pulitzer Prize-winning biographer and author of “The Witches: Salem, 1692”
• Marion Gibson, Renaissance and magical literatures professor at the University of Exeter and author of “Witchcraft: A History in Thirteen Trials”

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Another year, another five-alarm fire burning before the U.S. Supreme Court.

Kelsey Reichmann, Courthouse News’ Supreme Court reporter and the newest addition to the Sidebar team, joined just in time for this year's preview of the court's upcoming term.

The top court in all the land is back at it again following landmark decisions that it has delivered for the conservative legal movement in ending the constitutional right to an abortion, rewriting Second Amendment jurisprudence and allowing churches to have more influence in public institutions. All the political and legal shake-ups have brought us to where we are today, with the justices set to consider if more people should be allowed to own a firearm, if you can trash talk your mayor and if the government can function as it always has.

Trust us, you’ll want to stick around for that last one to hear if it will fuel a fire impacting every facet of United States government as we know it.

Special guests:

• Sarah Bennett, principal and managing attorney at Sodoma Law North
• Kevin Lindke, plaintiff in Lindke v. Freed before the Supreme Court
• Robert Corn-Revere, chief counsel at FIRE
• Dan Walters, professor at Texas A&M University School of Law
• Jasmine Harris, professor at University of Pennsylvania Carey Law School

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

The love story between Hollywood megastars Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie was destined for public fascination from the start as they merged family, philanthropy and a rather unexpected shared passion — wine. So, when they split in 2016, no one saw it coming. What followed was one of the most bitterly contested celebrity divorces in recent history. 

But what came after was in some ways even uglier — a lawsuit over Miraval, an estate in the south of France and home of its namesake rosé. This lawsuit opened a window into Brangelina's private lives and revealed why their marriage ultimately fell apart. 

In our 10th episode this season, we dissect the court documents to understand the broader implications of this battle. The couple bought Château Miraval to create a haven away from Hollywood, but the vineyard dispute ultimately revealed how their rosé relationship soured into vinegar. The denouement will be anything but neat as the court parses out who owns what. 

Fitting, in a way, since perfect endings are rare outside of Tinseltown.

Special guests:

• Constance Grady, culture writer for Vox
• Tamlyn Currin, wine writer and editor for Jancis Robinson
• Nancy Chemtob, founder and partner at Chemtob Moss Forman & Beyda
• Steven Mandel, founder at The Mandel Law Firm

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome back, listeners, from what we hope was a calm, relaxing break. 

If it was anything like ours, just when you cozied up with a summer read, you were likely jarred back to reality by a pesky robocall asking about your auto warranty. 

Receiving unwanted robocalls remains a universal experience 32 years after Congress passed the Telephone Consumer Protection Act to empower Americans to fight off unwanted calls. In our ninth episode this season, we explain why the law did little to stop overseas scammers and instead created financial incentives for plaintiffs and their attorneys, ultimately leading to the Supreme Court's determination of what constituted an "autodialer." 

Now, an Anti-Robocall Multistate Litigation Taskforce of 49 attorneys general are taking on Avid Telecom, a Voice over Internet Protocol provider accused of sending or trying to send more than 24.5 billion calls. 

Will the outcome inspire Americans to start answering their phones? Press one for yes or two for no. 

Special guests:

• Noah Duguid, who sued Facebook over unwanted texts 
• Roger Anderson, founder of the Jolly Roger Telephone Company
• Eric Troutman, defense attorney and “czar” of the TCPA 
• Chris Laccinole, a frequent TCPA litigator 
• Isaac Shloss, chair of the Government Affairs Committee for the Professional Associations for Customer Engagement 
• Attorney Jay Edelson

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

We're a year out from the midterm elections next November. Control of Congress hangs in the balance. Democrats are itching to rein in President Trump, while Republicans are pulling out every stop to keep power.

But behind the headlines, the real game is being played by billionaires. If the 2024 bromance between Trump and Elon Musk taught us anything, it’s that the richest Americans can pull the strings of democracy. 

In our penultimate episode of this season, we break down how the ultra-wealthy have doubled down on their political giving over the last decade, using their money to support candidates who align with their worldview. Year over year, their giving grows, stoking fears that our elected leaders are more beholden to these donors. 

Campaign finance reform and landmark Supreme Court decisions, like Buckley v. Valeo and Citizens United v. FEC, have transformed money into a form of speech. With super PACs and massive political spending dominating the conversation, are wealthy donors compromising the integrity of our democratic process?

Special guests:

• Rick Hasen, political science professor and director of the Safeguarding Democracy Project at UCLA
• Saurav Ghosh, director of federal campaign finance reform at Campaign Legal Center
• Josh Blank, research director of the Texas Politics Project at the University of Texas at Austin
• Anthony Gutierrez, executive director of Common Cause Texas

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Ed Sheeran and reggaeton might have more in common than you know: the artist and the genre have been the subject of battles over whether you can copyright a groove or a rhythm. 

In our last episode before summer break, we unravel the recent Ed Sheeran copyright trial with our New York City reporter, Josh Russell, including Sheeran's snarky cross-examination, his courtroom concert and Van Morrison's unexpected blessing. 

We also explore reggaeton's history and the legal dispute between Jamaican reggae production duo Steely & Clevie and several reggaeton musicians and producers over whether or not you can copyright dembow, heard in songs popularized by Bad Bunny and Daddy Yankee.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Should state borders change to create political havens? Come along as we take a road trip through the world of secession as we look at the urban-rural divide and how it shapes these movements.

Our first stop in our seventh episode this season? The Greater Idaho movement, a grassroots organization that aims to shift the Idaho state border to encompass eastern Oregon and escape the liberal politics of the Beaver State.

The trip wouldn’t be complete without the State of Jefferson in rural Northern California and southern Oregon, a movement driven by discontent and boosted in popularity by a San Francisco Chronicle reporter during World War II.

Buckle up, and let's hit the road!

Special guests:

• Matt McCaw, spokesman for the Greater Idaho movement
• Peter Laufer, journalist and journalism professor at the University of Oregon
• Bryan Clark, opinion writer at the Idaho Statesman
• Norman Williams, law professor at Willamette University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Imagine stashing your hard-earned savings in a safety deposit box, only to find out the FBI has raided the place and your money is gone thanks to the controversial practice of civil forfeiture, which allows law enforcement to seize people's assets with little explanation. That's what happened to a number of Californians who stored their cash at U.S. Private Vaults in Beverly Hills.

Join us for this season's sixth episode as we tell their story and explore how their money got caught up in a vault at the center of a federal investigation.

The story doesn't stop there. We also hear from trucker Jerry Johnson, who also experienced civil forfeiture firsthand when his $39,500 in cash was seized by the Phoenix Police Department after he flew into the city to buy a big rig. It took years and help from the Institute for Justice to get his money back.

Special guests:

• Linda Martin
• Benjamin Gluck, an attorney with Bird Marella
• Steve Welk, a former assistant U.S. attorney
• Jeni Pearsons
• Dan Alban, a senior attorney at the Institute for Justice
• Jerry Johnson
• Bob Belden, an attorney at the Institute for Justice

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

A note: this episode contains language that might make you or your nana blush. 

Pull up a chair as we bring you into the comedy club and beyond. Laughter may be the best medicine, but how does it hold up in court? Over the decades, courts carved out clear First Amendment protections for comics facing criminal obscenity and parodists taken a little too seriously. While the past informs the present, the rare joker can still find himself at the wrong end of the law over a Facebook post.

In our fifth episode this season, we break down how certain words are OK under the eyes of the law, courtesy of the infamous Lenny Bruce obscenity trials. We also delve into cases like Jerry Falwell's defamation lawsuit against Hustler magazine and the challenges of navigating social media and free speech. Spoiler alert: the First Amendment is not always so cut and dry, causing some parodists to find out the hard way that it does not protect all speech, funny or not.

Join us as we navigate the often amusing and sometimes controversial world of jokes and their legal consequences.

Special guests:

• Waylon Bailey, heavyweight boxer from Forest Hill, Louisiana.
• Douglas Linder, professor of law at the University of Missouri-Kansas City
• James Flynn, managing director at Epstein Becker Green
• Caroline Grace Brothers, an attorney with the Institute for Justice
• Anthony Novak, parodist from Parma, Ohio  
• Mike Gillis, lead writer for The Onion

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Blue laws. They are quirky and annoying outdated restrictions on activities to ensure Sunday is a day of rest and worship. Some go beyond dictating when you can or cannot get a drink, and sometimes they leave you scratching your head wondering, why in the world are they still on the books?

In this season's fourth episode, we dive into the history and impact of the laws. We explore the story of a Brooklyn nightclub suing New York for refusing to issue a special event permit for extended hours on New Year's Eve and the ongoing debate surrounding blue laws and their place in modern society. And we also look at the upside: how these laws give some workers the reprieve they need from a long work week.

Prepare for a joyride through a legal antique shop, just hope the lawman doesn't catch us!

Special guests:

• Polina Buckley, owner of nightclub Eris Evolution
• Jonathan Corbett, a civil rights attorney
• Patricia Campos-Medina, executive director of the Worker Institute at the School of Industrial and Labor Relations at Cornell University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, around 60 million American households have pets. That is a ton of good boys and girls out there. But have you ever stopped and wondered about the laws that define pet ownership? Are there specific pets that you can't own where you live? How regulated is the pet trade? And what about exotic animals, where the sale and trade of such creatures is a state-by-state issue?

In this episode, we break down the wild and wooly world of pet law  —  from the protections granted (or not so much) in the Animal Welfare Act to the effect that Netflix's breakout pandemic hit "Tiger King" may have had on getting the Big Cat Public Safety Act passed and what's next for regulating primate ownership in the U.S.

And it's not just big mammals that need to be regulated to stop wreaking havoc on communities, but also pythons and feral cats. In Florida, the Burmese python population has exploded so much that the state has declared open season on them allowing them to be hunted year-round without a license or permit. And nationwide, the songbird population has declined by drastic numbers due to the skilled hunting of cats.

Special guests:

• Kate Dylewsky, assistant director of government affairs at the Animal Welfare Institute
• John Goodwin, senior director of the Stop Puppy Mills campaign at the Humane Society of the United States
• Tim Pylate, executive director at Armand Bayou Nature Center
• Zandra Anderson, animal law attorney

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Heads up for listeners: this episode contains explicit language. 

When legal battles come down to damages, most consider the final judgment to show who won the game and by how much. But in a highly specialized area of law, that judgment is just the beginning when the losing team refuses to pay. 

In our second episode this season, we introduce you to a few judgment enforcement attorneys, a small specialized group that only numbers in the dozens. Judgment enforcers are lawyers expected to file writs, subpoenas and anything of the like with the courts. But they are also private detectives, investigating where debtors hide their money. 

On the other side, Alki David. Born into a shipping family that owned Coca-Cola bottling plants, David has had a series of businesses himself, including a modeling agency, a video streaming website, and a marijuana company with boxer Mike Tyson called Swissx. He lives in a $20 million Malibu beach house, but not for long due to a court order to seize that house to pay for a sexual harassment judgment against him. 

Special guests:

• Joseph Chora
• Jay Adkisson
• Ron Slates

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Welcome to season three of Sidebar! You'll want to strap in while we bring you closer to the stars as new technology and more investors bring us deeper into space. Science fiction is rapidly becoming science fact. One thing rarely discussed in your favorite sci-fi movies is the laws that govern outer space.

If billions of dollars, dozens of political manifesto and decades of Trekkie dreams come to fruition, there is nothing protecting man's interstellar impression. Even Neil Armstrong's footprint on the moon could go unprotected.

And what about all that space junk? Thousands of active satellites, inactive satellites, pieces of rockets, debris and uncategorized things are out there, floating around our planet. All are governed by little more than the Outer Space Treaty of 1967. 

Special guests:

• Michelle Hanlon, co-director of the Center for Air and Space Law at the University of Mississippi
• Kojiro Fujii, attorney at Nishimura + Asahi in Japan and executive committee member at Nishimura Institute of Advanced Legal Studies
• Skip Smith, space law attorney at Sherman & Howard
• Michael Dodge, associate professor of space studies at the University of North Dakota
• Kelli Kedis Ogborn, vice president of space commerce and entrepreneurship at Space Foundation
• Avishai Melamed, graduate student in Cornell University's Department of Government

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Season three of Sidebar, a podcast from Courthouse News, kicks off just around the corner. Join our hosts and reporters as they take you around the nation to break down lawsuits, the law and how they impact you and the life you live. Follow us on Twitter @SidebarCNS and www.courthousenews.com for more.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

While some aspects of 2022 felt like a return to easier, simpler days, the news coming out of courthouses across the country did not stop.

In this episode, we look at the year's most memorable trials: the ones that made us laugh, the ones that made us cry and the ones that made us stop and question how we got here.

We take you back to the Alex Jones defamation trials in Texas and Connecticut, which garnered enormous damages for the family members of Sandy Hook victims and swamped our social media feeds. Jones wasn't the only right-winger to see his day in court: members of the Oath Keepers were held accountable for seditious conspiracy for their parts in the Jan. 6 insurrection, and in Michigan, a plot to kidnap Governor Gretchen Whitmer, a Democrat, went bust.

It was also a big year for celebrity trials. R&B singer R. Kelly's child abuse conviction in a Chicago courtroom, film producer Harvey Weinstein's second sexual assault trial, a jury deadlocking on rape charges against "That '70s Show" actor Danny Masterson, and a certain defamation trial involving movie stars Johnny Depp and Amber Heard. The headlines didn't stop as trial after trial captured the attention of readers and reporters. 

Come on in, settle down and let us bring you back through the year as we take you through these cases and more until we are back in 2023.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Gather around the firepit, fair listener, as we bring you the tale of a prisoner whose criminal history was as illustrious as his love of birds.

Robert Stroud was convicted of manslaughter and murder, but may be better known for the birds he raised and sold while an inmate at Leavenworth penitentiary. Stroud wrote two books about birds during his incarceration and gained respect among bird-lovers. That incongruity — a violent prisoner caring for these fragile animals — brought Hollywood to his prison door.

“Birdman of Alcatraz,” starring Burt Lancaster, brought Stroud a nickname and more notoriety, even though he wasn’t allowed to raise birds while an inmate at the island prison.

In our 12th (and spookiest) episode this season, author Jolene Babyak helps us peel back Stroud’s upbringing, psyche and journey through the prison system as we look into how Stroud became the complicated criminal he’s now known to be.

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Bounty hunters. Figures from folk tales, fantasy and reality TV; free agents that work as an extension of the law. Whatever comes to mind, this latest chapter in vigilante justice is shaking things up even more at a polarized time in the country.

The enaction of Texas's Senate Bill 8 allows private citizens to file civil lawsuits against anyone who provides or helps someone attain an abortion, with a possible award of at least $10,000 per lawsuit. Since then, California has passed a law modeled on Texas, allowing private citizens to sue gun law violators. 

How likely are they to catch on in the future?

These sorts of citizen enforcement laws aren't totally new, but the way SB 8 has played out is a lot different than a hired hand chasing after a bank robber who skipped town on bail.

What does it mean to put this kind of power into the hands of ordinary people who end up selecting themselves to take up the cause of policing or surveilling others' decisions?

We talked to experts in our penultimate episode to explore the implications of SB 8 and what it could mean for other constitutionally protected rights. And, to really understand what can happen with these laws, we go back in time to some of the darkest chapters in U.S. history: the enforcement of slavery and Jim Crow laws.

Special guests:

• David Noll, law professor at Rutgers Law School
• John Seago, president of Texas Right to Life
• Louise Melling, deputy legal director at the ACLU and director of its Ruth Bader Ginsburg Center for Liberty

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

Pour yourself a hot drink, settle in beside the fire and get ready for a hauntingly good time as we bring you four chilling tales just in time for Halloween.

In our first chapter: McKamey Manor, arguably the scariest haunted house in operation, with an even scarier 40-page liability waiver. Among the things that you agree to possibly experience? Medieval torture devices. Nails removed from their nail beds. You may be subjected to extreme temperatures or have your head enclosed in a box with bees and wasps. These experiences aren't enough to stop over 20,000 fright seekers from joining the waitlist.

Next up on the demon docket: Stambovsky v. Ackley, also known as the Ghostbusters ruling. A man bought a house in Nyack, New York, that turned out to be so haunted that not only did he get out of his purchase, but the appellate division of the New York Supreme Court found that, "as a matter of law, the house is haunted."

A copyright case to turn your blood cold: the battle to keep "Dracula" out of the public domain and the classic silent film "Nosferatu" out of homes. Eventually, the fight landed before a German judge who ordered all remaining copies of “Nosferatu” to be burned, but it was too late — the movie and the infamous vampire live on.

We finish our tour of scary stories with one steeped in the occult: Mark Twain's return from the grave. Or, alleged return. Two mediums, Emily Grant Hutchings and Lola V. Hayes, claimed to speak with the spirit of Mark Twain. The famous storyteller supposedly tasked them with recording his next novel, "Jap Herron: A Novel Written From the Ouija Board.”

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

While this U.S. Supreme Court term shouldn't result in as many sweeping decisions as the last, which upended nationwide abortion rights and gun control precedents, it'll be far from a lightweight season. The court's cases are varied: from redistricting to artist integrity to the legality of the Indian Child Welfare Act, which gives tribal governments jurisdiction over the adoption and foster care of Native American children.

In this episode, we break down some of the heavyweight appeals the court will hear with the help of our very own Kelsey Reichmann.

First, we delve into two cases that could affect elections for decades to come, deciding whether states should take race into account during redistricting and if legislatures should be the ones to draw those lines or if the courts have any say in the process.

The Supreme Court will also weigh in on a copyright dispute between the Warhol Foundation and Lynn Goldsmith over a photo she took of the artist Prince that Andy Warhol used as a reference in several prints. Another case rooted in the visual arts comes to the court from Colorado. A website designer is challenging the state's Anti-Discrimination Act, saying it violates her First Amendment rights by forcing her to serve LGBT couples.

Last, we lay out the Indian Child Welfare Act, what is at stake over its continued legality, and what the law means to tribal governments, courts and their people.

Special guests:

• Sophia Lin Lakin, interim co-director of the American Civil Liberties Union’s Voter Rights Project
• Mitchell Brown, counsel for voting rights at the Southern Coalition for Social Justice
• Amelia Brankov, attorney and chair of the Art Law Committee of the New York Bar Association
• Kathryn Fort, director of clinics at the Michigan State University College of Law
• Angelique EagleWoman, law professor and director of the Native American Law and Sovereignty Institute at the Mitchell Hamline School of Law

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.

It's a First Amendment fight for the modern ages: the right to free speech versus the pursuit of justice, and the stakes are often someone's freedom. In courtrooms across the country, prosecutors are going after rappers using the artists' lyrics against them.

While not a recent development in the law, the issue has entered the spotlight with the arrests of rappers Young Thug and Gunna in Georgia on charges of violating the state's RICO Act. Prosecutors allege the high-profile artists directly engaged in criminal activity ranging from drug-related to murder as members of the gang Young Slime Life, and cite some of their rap lyrics as evidence to support the claims.

Where do protections for the right to freedom of speech end under the First Amendment? Why do rap music and Black artists seem to be the target of these prosecutions when artists in other genres tell similar tales of crime and violence? We dive into this and more in our 10th episode in this season of Sidebar.

Special guests:

• Roqy Tyraid, hip-hop artist and member of the ACLU of Arizona’s Board of Directors
• Clay Calvert, law professor at the University of Florida
• Margaret Russell, law professor at Santa Clara University School of Law
• Walter Olson, senior fellow at the Cato Institute
• Charis Kubrin, professor of criminology, law and society at the University of California, Irvine
• Adam Dunbar, professor at the University of Nevada, Reno
• J. Christopher Hamilton, assistant professor at the Newhouse School for Public Communications at Syracuse University

This episode was produced by Kirk McDaniel. Intro music by The Dead Pens. 

Editorial staff is Ryan Abbott, Sean Duffy and Jamie Ross.