The Tenth Justice

The Supreme Court wrapped up oral arguments for the term on Monday, so our hosts ...

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The Supreme Court wrapped up oral arguments for the term on Monday, so our hosts brought in an exciting guest to keep the legal nerdery barreling full steam ahead for our listeners. On Thursday’s episode, Sarah is joined by Jonathan Ellis, an assistant to the solicitor general of the United States. Tune in to hear Jonathan chat about what it’s like representing the U.S. government in front of the Supreme Court, how many cases he argues per term, how the solicitor general goes about assigning cases, briefs, and arguments to assistants, and more! Plus, Sarah shares a funny anecdote involving Supreme Court Justice Brett Kavanaugh, a trashcan, and Matt Damon.

Show Notes:

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  1. Avatar photo
    Brooke Sprenger

    I feel like we are missing a wacky Court fashion opportunity. The equivalent of morning dress etiquette for women is a dress, jacket, modest heels or flats, and a ginormous hat. Think Kentucky Derby. Let's goooooo, ladies!

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  2. DocHeartless

    Wait, what?! Sarah!! What did Kavanaugh say to your Damon question? My goodness you can't softball up a story like that and not give the response!

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  3. Ragnar

    Great piece Sarah. Jonathan Ellis seems like a great person, and a credit to the office he holds. I wish nothing but success and good things for him.

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  4. Erick

    Hi, your discussion of morning coats raised a question for me. Why did the U.S. legal establishment reject the court dress code of our British counterparts? If male and female trial attorneys wore the same ridiculous attire, would that reduce potential bias in the jury? That is, bias toward the "look" of trial counsel?

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  5. Avatar photo
    Michael Berkowitz

    Message to Caleb: There was a big volume-imbalance between Ms. Isgur and Mr. Ellis (I had to keep raising and lowering the volume as the conversation went back and forth).

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  6. Avatar photo
    Fluffdaddy

    I have a couple of topics I'd love for y'all to cover:
    - David's take on John MacArthur's sermons/rants on religious freedom being "meaningless" and "idolatry"
    - David & Sarah weighing in on the Mueller FOIA suit and Judge Amy Berman Jackson's feisty ruling

    In other news: Chick-Fil-A for the win in the wars, want to hear more about David & the Thunderdome hellscape of Middle TN (I live here, too!), and has Sarah found a new legacy game to enjoy? (Suggestion: Betrayal Legacy, also designed by Rob Daviau.)

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  7. Bob S.

    Wonderful as usual, but Jonathan was hard to hear - strained to hear his commments. His voice modulated a lot, which got me to wonder if lawyers use “special public address voices” when in front of judges. Jonathan would not likely win many cases if judges had to listen to his audio quality yesterday. Seriously, the importance of clarity of public address might be an interesting segment for a future podcast.

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  8. Avatar photo
    Pastorfbt

    Interesting - but his audio is pretty hard to hear at times.

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    1. Avatar photo
      Dave T

      Yeah, first time I've experienced that with this podcast.

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