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In the inaugural episode of Boom! Lawyered, Jessica Mason Pieklo and Imani Gandy discuss the opening of the U.S. Supreme Court term and the big decisions on the horizon. With newly-added Justice Neil Gorsuch, the Court may be lurching back to the right on cases that address immigrant detention, President Donald Trump’s Muslim ban, Ohio voter roll purges, and whether or not evangelicals can refuse service to same-sex couples. What does that mean for anyone who might be affected? Listen to Boom! Lawyered and find out.

An edited excerpt:

Imani: So let me just say, again, [Alliance Defending Freedom is] arguing in one case that baking a cake is speech, but arguing in another case when it relates to abortion rights—which, of course, ADF hates—that forcing doctors to tell patients that abortion causes breast cancer or suicide ideation, that’s not compelled speech.

Jess: Get out. You mean the religious right is being hypocritical here?

Imani: Here’s the thing. As lawyers, you’re supposed to make the best argument for your client, even if that argument contradicts another argument that you made for another client. But they’re not really a firm, they’re just an organization of lawyers that go around defending or prosecuting cases for ultra-right, ultra-Christian, ultra-regressive people who want to pass laws that are ultra-right and ultra-regressive.

Jess: Exactly. They are a legal advocacy organization; they don’t function like a law firm. They do this frequently, talking out of both sides of their mouth. We should call them out on it.

Imani: Yes, we should.

Resources:

Boom! Lawyered: Immigration Bond Edition

Transcript (PDF)