Oral Argument

The second part of our conversation about the nature of law. Is it murder if, after your group of trapped spelunkers decides, unanimously, to draw lots and eat the loser, it does so?

Why take the time to write show notes if whether I write them is already determined? We’re joined by Adam Kolber to talk about free will, moral responsibility, determinism, and criminal law.

The real first episode of Oral Argument doesn’t hold back. Prof. Sonja West joins us to talk about the the press, the First Amendment, and other cool things. We discuss Supreme Court justices’ getting to talk about whatever they want, the Press Clause, the religion clauses (and even the quartering clause), Judith Miller and the Iraq War, peyote, bathrobed bloggers, the Twitter, who the press might be, Sonja’s press test, press access to prisons, why Joe should got to prison, religious and secular orthodoxy, bong hits for Jesus, student newspapers and local versions of the controversies over the Washington football team, and Christian’s “profoundly stupid” proposal.

This is not the first episode, but it is the launch of Oral Argument, a weeklyish show on which Joe and I talk to people about legal practice, theory, and education and also about random things that interest us. No guests in this test episode we recorded. But we do chat about nonsense, Duck Dynasty, and bad questions abour heroism. We recorded an additional segment on law school exams, but that will have to await the director's cut version of episode 0, due out never.