Speakeasy Ideas

Speakeasy Ideas


Latest Episodes

The Law episode 83: Presser v. Illinois
October 18, 2020

In a U.S. Supreme Court opinion written between the passage of the 14th Amendment and when the Court started incorporating the Bill of Rights against the states, the Court upheld the conviction and

The Law episode 82: Jacobson v. Massachusetts
August 14, 2020

What is the extent of government authority to protect the common good during a public health crisis? Earlier this year, the United States Supreme Court denied a California churchs request to stop t

The Law episode 81: Bostock v. Clayton County
August 07, 2020

Earlier this year, the Supreme Court of the United States in a 6-3 decision in the case of Bostock v. Clayton County held that homosexual and transgender people are protected from employment discr

The Law episode 80: Chiafalo v. Washington
July 30, 2020

In the conclusion to the rogue elector saga we have been following, the Supreme Court applied what I refer to as the Erosion Doctrine to unanimously hold that states can turn their presidential elec

The Law episode 79: Ramos v. Louisiana
July 24, 2020

Earlier this year, SCOTUS overturned precedent by a 6-3 margin and held that states cannot convict someone of a criminal offense unless the jury verdict is unanimous. Evangelisto Ramos had been convicted by a 10-2 verdict and sentenced to life in priso...

The Law episode 78: RNC v. DNC
April 19, 2020

Earlier this month, the U.S. Supreme Court, in a controversial 5-4 decision, overruled a lower court order expanding Wisconsin statutory deadlines for submitting mail-in ballots due to the state government’s response to the Coronavirus.

The Law episode 77: South Dakota v. Dole
April 11, 2020

I could drink, legally, during my freshman year of college, but not my sophomore year. Then I was legal again my junior year. Why? Because of the National Minimum Drinking Age Act of 1984. What authority does Congress have to set the drinking age for t...

The Law episode 76: Allen v. Cooper
April 04, 2020

Pirates! Blackbeard! Queen Annes Revenge! Sovereign immunity! Enumerated powers! And, sexiest of all, copyright law! Stare decisis and legislative history, and separation of powers, too. The U.S. Sup

The Law episode 75: Ex parte Milligan
March 27, 2020

During the Civil War, Lambdin Milligan, a citizen of Indiana, was arrested, tried, convicted, and sentenced by a military tribunal to hang for alleged anti-Union activities. He argued his conviction was illegal and sought a writ of Habeas Corpus for hi...

The Law episode 74: Bad Elk v. US
March 19, 2020

In 1899, in a story that could have been an episode of Gunsmoke or Bonanza, tribal police officer John Bad Elk shot and killed another tribal officer who was attempting to arrest him. Bad Elk was convicted and sentenced to be hanged. The U.S.