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Serious Trouble

Serious Trouble

By: Josh Barro and Ken White
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An irreverent podcast about the law from Josh Barro and Ken White.

www.serioustrouble.showVery Serious Media
Politics & Government
Episodes
  • Hell No Bill
    Feb 13 2026
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    This week Ken and Josh discuss a D.C. grand jury declining to indict Democrats in Congress, Don Lemon's new high-profile lawyer, and Trump's lawsuit against the IRS.

    That’s for all subscribers this week. Paying subscribers get more conversation:

    * A look at a highly consequential ruling from the Fifth Circuit, upholding the Trump Administration’s novel and very aggressive views on what aliens it may detain pending deportation. Most other courts have rejected these theories — including a majority of Trump’s own trial court appointees who have heard relevant cases — and there’s some skepticism that the Supreme Court will go along.

    * The DOJ seized 2020 election ballots from Fulton County, with a fairly batshit search warrant that Ken is surprised got approval from a magistrate judge. Fulton wants its ballots back; we discuss whether they’ll get them and what might happen if Trump tries to get a warrant for ballots in an election where a count is ongoing rather than complete.

    * We look at an alleged jewel thief who had the option of going to prison or Ecuador and unsurprisingly chose Ecuador — reflecting a serious failure of coordination between prosecutors and immigration authorities.

    * And finally, is murder a crime of violence? The answer might surprise you.

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    20 mins
  • Court Therapy
    Feb 7 2026
    This is a free preview of a paid episode. To hear more, visit www.serioustrouble.show

    This week, Ken and Josh discuss Julie Le, the DOJ lawyer who vented in court that it "sucks" to represent this government. They cover what you should do if you’re a lawyer whose client is frustratingly non-compliant and taking actions that bother you; venting to the judge is the wrong course of action, but there are other options available.

    That’s for all subscribers. Paying subscribers will also get our takes on other topics, including:

    * Judge Kate Menendez’s ruling that denied Minnesota the preliminary injunction it sought against Operation Metro Surge. As we expected, the state’s novel theory that federal government’s actions are a 10th Amendment violation was a bridge too far, even for a judge who seemed to be looking for some avenue to rein in the operation.

    * Judge Ana Reyes’s grant of a temporary restraining order on the grounds that the Trump Administration may have violated the Administrative Procedure Act by revoking Temporary Protected Status for hundreds of thousands of Haitians, and the limits of using the APA to litigate substantive questions about immigration policy.

    * Bill and Hillary Clinton’s emerging deal to testify before the House Oversight Committee and avoid the otherwise-likely prospect of contempt of congress prosecutions.

    * Former Minnesota Vikings offensive tackle Matt Kalil’s lawsuit against his ex-wife Haley, over her disclosure on a podcast that his incredibly large penis made their sex life impractical and was a major driver of their divorce. He says this was an invasion of privacy; she argues in a motion to dismiss that the story is about her sex life too and she’s free to tell whoever she wants. Is this the first case of a reverse Streisand Effect, where you litigate because you want to draw more attention to an allegation that’s been made about you? What even are the damages at issue here? Would Matt Kalil like to visit Fire Island this summer? Ken and I discuss.

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    24 mins
  • Lemon Law
    Jan 31 2026

    This week Ken and Josh discuss how the Feds got an arrest warrant for Don Lemon after all. Before prosecutors got the grand jury indictment, they tried through some really irregular channels to get Lemon arrested more quickly. When a magistrate judge rejected an arrest warrant application for Lemon last week, rather than applying again or proceeding to the grand jury, prosecutors asked Judge Patrick Schiltz to overrule the magistrate, then asked an appellate panel to force Schiltz to rule on their motion right away, fearing that if Lemon wasn’t arrested immediately, there would be an epidemic of illegal church invasions. Schiltz took exception to this, and the appeals panel backed him up, though one of the appellate judges remarked that he thought all the arrest warrants were sufficiently supported but the government just didn’t need the weird emergency relief it was seeking.

    Also this week: we look at federal judges (including Schiltz) who are incensed that ICE isn’t promptly complying with their habeas corpus orders, and how this mess is downstream of rules that prohibit nationwide injunctions and are clogging some courts with individual lawsuits seeking relief from immigration detentions. We have an update on Minnesota’s 10th Amendment case — Judge Kate Menendez appears skeptical that she is in a position to provide the sweeping relief the state wants, though she does want more briefing on the threat letter from Attorney General Pam Bondi to the state. And in another case, an order from Menendez restricting ICE tactics has been stayed.

    In non-ICE news, it appears likely that Jeffrey Toobin will have to testify at Tom Goldstein’s criminal trial, though he has a good argument for limiting his testimony to fairly boring topics. Candace Owens says Turning Point USA has sent her a letter threatening to enforce a non-disparagement agreement they say she has violated by spreading conspiracy theories about Charlie Kirk’s death. And a defendant in Northern California called up a local news station during her trial to protest that she only threw parties where she gave alcohol to minors because of COVID.

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    This is a public episode. If you'd like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit www.serioustrouble.show/subscribe
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    44 mins
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