Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, are joined by special guest host Will Chamberlain. They take a deep dive into the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case and study it as a microcosm of immigration law and the immigration bar. What is the difference between asylum and withholding of removal? Can Kilmar be deported to a third country? Why can't the government detain him? Are district judges playing interference and engaging in lawfare against the Trump Administration? Do immigration lawyers coach their clients to lie? What are the Supreme Court's leading precedents about "due process" and detention? They also discuss a crazy case out of the Third Circuit where the lower courts held not only that the Biden Administration couldn't detain illegal aliens pending deportation even if they had committed serious crimes, but also that the U.S. taxpayers had to pay their attorney's fees. Finally, our hosts talk about Trump's crusade against big law -- and why they think big law does need to be brought to heel.

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED!

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!

Follow us on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok!

Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, take a deep dive into the legal questions surrounding the military strikes in Iran and the earlier capture of Maduro. What is international law? Is it really "law"? What is "law" anyway? Hear our hosts talk about the surprising connection to basketball. But even if it's law, should we care about it? What does that have to do with the President's constitutional authority? Our hosts investigate the Office of Legal Counsel's modern framework for engaging in military strikes without congressional authorization, which was used to justify strikes in Libya in 2011. If those strikes can be used to eliminate Libya's leader, why not Venezuela's or Iran's? But, is that modern legal framework consistent with the original meaning of the Constitution? Our hosts explore all that and more - including the political implications of the strikes.

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED!

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!

Follow us on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok!

Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson, take a deep dive into the Supreme Court's recent decision invalidating many of the Trump Tariffs enacted under IEEPA, the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Are tariffs taxes? Or can they be used for regulatory purposes? Our hosts cover the question from the perspective of the American Revolution through the twentieth century. Putting the statutory question aside, what should we do now that the statute used to have a legislative veto, but such vetoes have been held to be unconstitutional? What about the nondelegation doctrine? The "Major Questions Doctrine"? Our hosts break it down. And are the three Democrat-appointed Justices hypocrites for ruling in favor of sweeping delegations to President Biden, but reading IEEPA narrowly? What's Gorsuch's beef with everyone? Finally, our hosts take a look at the origins of "originalism" and Jeffrey Toobin's NYT article about the American Constitution Society's radical plan to remake the Supreme Court. (Spoiler alert: there is no plan.)

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED: @RationallyBasedPodcast

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!

Follow us on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook, and TikTok

Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with major news out of the EPA: it has rescinded the Obama-era "endangerment" finding the supported the regulation of C02. Find out how EPA came to regulate this greenhouse gas in the first place, whether it's really a "pollutant" within the meaning of the Clean Air Act, and whether Massachusetts ever had standing to bring a lawsuit in the first place over claims that it might lose some coastline. Our hosts revisit the Fifth Circuit decision and some fallout, and address whether it violates due process or the Eighth Amendment. (It almost certainly doesn't.) Finally, our hosts continue their discussion of birthright citizenship, connecting the concept of "protection" to "jurisdiction."

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED: @RationallyBasedPodcast

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!

Follow us on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook, or TikTok

Our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, start this episode with a lightning round of legal news. Learn why it's totally fine for the Supreme Court to be "secretive" (whatever that means). Our hosts discuss a DEI victory for the Trump Administration and a judge's concurring opinion to his own opinion, and why it seems so hard from some liberal judges to keep their politics out of their rulings. Hear about the constitutional distribution of power over elections. And our hosts break down a tentative Trump victory over whether California can require federal officers to wear face masks. The episode then takes a deep dive into the controversial Fifth Circuit ruling that held immigrants illegally in the country must be detained prior to deportation, the flood of habeas corpus petitions that the ruling my stanch, and why the Fifth Circuit is probably right but it's a hard question of statutory interpretation (even if it's not hard as a matter of common sense). Finally, as promised, our hosts begin their discussion of birthright citizenship.

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED: @RationallyBasedPodcast

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!


Follow us on social media on Instagram, X, Facebook, or TikTok!

On this episode of rationally BASED, our hosts, law professor Ilan Wurman and Kathryn Johnson and Grace Keating, discuss Don Lemon and the freedom of the press and what that also teaches us about Citizens United. They recall the famous State of the Union where Justice Alito made a face at President Obama, and discuss whether judges like Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson should be allowed to be political and attend the Grammys. They trace the origins of the New Deal state and the expansion of the commerce clause and offer to defend Don Lemon if he’s willing to sacrifice the New Deal. They then turn to the Census and whether illegal aliens must count for apportionment. They throw in a dash of Norman Conquest to top it all off.

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE to rationally BASED: @RationallyBasedPodcast

New Podcast Episodes every Thursday morning, find us on Spotify, Apple Podcasts, or on YouTube!

Follow us on social media at: Instagram, X, Facebook, or TikTok!

In the first episode of rationally BASED, our edgy hosts cover Minnesota’s lawsuit against the federal government’s ICE surge, which they deem dead on arrival. They explore the historical underpinnings of state-federal cooperation. The Insurrection Act explained. They even cover the attempted assassination of a U.S. Supreme Court Justice by a former California Supreme Court Justice in the 1800s and what that tells us about executive power. Find out why everybody is wrong about administrative warrants. And why Don Lemon should read up on the First Amendment.

Be sure to LIKE, SHARE, COMMENT, and SUBSCRIBE and follow us on socials:
Instagram

Facebook

Youtube

TikTok

Who's excited for the very first episode of the Rationally Based Podcast feat. Ilan Wurman, Kathryn Johnson, and Grace Keating, presented by the American Experiment! Dropping tomorrow at 6am, here is a sneak peak at what we are covering: