December 20, 2018
Listen to the Episode
Guest
- Matt Donnelly (Thomas Takes the Bar Exam segment only)
From The Official Website:
Today’s Rapid Response episode takes a look at the just-released Law’d Awful Memo written by Attorney General nominee Bill Barr and sent to Deputy AG Rod Rosenstein concerning the Mueller investigation. Are the argument(s) raised in the memo any good? What does this mean for the future of the Mueller investigation? Listen and find out!
We begin, however, with a brief foray into everyone’s favorite show topic: BASEBALL LAW! Find out about the agreement reached between MLB and Cuba, and how (of course) Donald Trump can screw it up.
After that, it’s time for an Andrew Was Wrong (and Maybe Not Wrong) on David Pecker and AMI. Along the way, we’ll learn about the corruption case against Sun-Diamond Growers in connection with former Agriculture Secretary (and nearly-Senator) Mike Espy.
Then, we delve deeply into the Barr memo, taking apart the legal “arguments” and featuring a guest appearance from one Antonin Scalia!Then, it’s time to tackle the rather surprising decision by Judge Sullivan in the Michael Flynn sentencing phase. What happened? Did he go off the rails?
After all that, we end with an all new Thomas (and Matt!) Takes The Bar Exam #106 on how to best transport heroin from Kansas City to Chicago and what the judge can instruct the jury… it’s complicated, but you won’t want to miss it!
Show Notes & Links
- Check out Matt & Mattingly’s Ice Cream Social podcast!
- Baseball law: Here’s the press release from MLB.
- We discussed U.S. v. Sun-Diamond Growers of Calfornia , 138 F.3d 961 (D.C. Cir. 1998), aff’d, 526 U.S. 398 (1999).
- Don’t forget to read the Barr memo for yourself, and you can also check out the Wall Street Journal article that leaked it.
- …And here’s our good buddy Antonin Scalia smacking down the logic used therein.
- You can check out the government’s sentencing memorandum in Michael Flynn’s case as well as the memo filed by Covington & Burling on Flynn’s behalf.
- Here is the 18-3071 sealed case order.
Law Talkin' Stuff
Lawsplaining
- 18 US Code §1512 (c)(1)(2)
Law Court Thingies
- U.S. v. Sun-Diamond Growers of Calfornia 138 F.3d 961 (D.C. Cir. 1998), aff’d, 526 U.S. 398 (1999)
Organizations
People
- Antonin Scalia
- Bill Barr
- David Pecker
- Donald Trump
- Judge Emmet G. Sullivan
- Michael Flynn
- Mike Espy
- Rod Rosenstein
References
Topics
Content
- [00:00:00] Intro
- [00:04:05] Sportsball Cuban baseball news
- [00:07:55] Andrew Was Wrong: Pecker immunity
- [00:16:10] Sun-Diamond Growers case
- [00:25:30] Commercial
- [00:28:00] Main Segment: Barr Memo
- [00:35:05] Argument about obstruction
- [00:52:35] Testimony given to the Senate
- [00:59:45] Let's Get Political: Flynn Sentencing
- [01:13:00] Patron Hall of Fame
- [01:19:15] Thomas Takes The Bar Exam Jury instruction (question)
- [01:27:15] Outro
(The time stamps above are derived from the audio provided on the official website; they may vary from audio without ads that are provided through the patreon feed.)
Follow up
Episode 245: More analysis of the Barr Memo