Gavel Gavel
Gavel Gavel
Thomas Smith
Gavel Gavel is the podcast that takes you inside the courtroom! Comedian Thomas Smith asks questions and cracks jokes while real legal experts with actual trial experience provide unique analysis.
GG75: Alan Dershowitz Turned One Sentence Into A 6 Year Legal Battle
Mixed into the mostly horrific Supreme Court news this week was a rejection of Alan Dershowitz's petition for cert. But... what the hell was that even about? We, for two, couldn't even remember. So we decided to take a look and, if you don't remember, it's extremely dumb. So let's all have a nice thing and enjoy what a narcissistic POS Alan Dershowitz is! Patrons at patreon.com/gavelpod can listen to Part 2 right now!
Jul 2
50 min
GG74: The Broadview Grand Jury Transcripts, Part 2
Part 2! Thomas, Lydia, and Matt finish their live read of the Broadview Six grand jury transcripts, and things get significantly worse. Patrons at patreon.com/gavelpod get episodes early and ad-free!
Jul 1
46 min
GG73: We Have the Broadview Grand Jury Transcripts. They Are Incredible.
Part 1! The Broadview Six grand jury transcripts are finally unsealed, and Gavel Gavel is here to bring them to life. They are seriously amazing. Patrons at patreon.com/gavelpod can listen to Part 2 right now!
Jul 1
51 min
GG72: Luigi Ruling Shows NY Cares About Illegal Searches but Federal Courts Do Not.
It's a tale of two 4th amendments for the world's hottest alleged killer who didn't do it because he was at my house.
May 30
40 min
GG71: Why Alex Murdaugh Deserves a New Trial
The "trial of the century" in South Carolina is potentially going to happen for a second time this century. You may have seen some headlines about this but Liz Skeen is taking us even deeper.
May 28
44 min
GG70: A Consummating Professional
Part 3! In this  very special episode, Thomas and Lydia Smith celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary in the most normal and romantic way possible: subjecting themselves to an extended interrogation about their marriage by a federal agent. After setting the scene in a (very slightly) parallel universe in which Thomas was born in Canada and committed a series of Nickelback-related misdemeanors before overstaying his student visa, Matt draws from his twenty years of experience in sitting through hundreds of immigration interviews to play out an unscripted simulation of what his clients and their U.S. citizen spouses go through when they are applying for residency through marriage. We then reconvene to review how the Smiths did, and Matt takes us through some of the legal issues raised in this interview as well as some of the more interesting aspects of the residency process generally.  Finally, we discuss some of the weirder aspects of the law surrounding immigration through marriage beyond the facts of this interview, including (among many others): --Do you really have to prove to the satisfaction of an immigration officer that your marriage includes sex? --Why might the US government refuse to recognize a prior divorce from your home country?  --Will federal immigration authorities really recognize a Zoom wedding conducted from completely different continents? --Can you bring multiple partners if you are coming from a country where polygamy is legal? "Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (1/20/2025 edition) "Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity," Congressional Research Service (5/28/21) Matter of Peterson, 12 I&N Dec. 663 (BIA 1968) "Kicking the INA Out of Bed: Abolishing the Consummation Requirement for Proxy Marriages," 22 Hastings J. Gender & L. 55 (2011) "Second Wives Club: Mapping the Impact of Polygamy in U.S. Immigration Law," Claire A. Smearman, Berkeley Journal of Immigration Law (Dec. 2009)  
May 5
52 min
GG69: The Most Dangerous Newlywed Game
Part 2! In this  very special episode, Thomas and Lydia Smith celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary in the most normal and romantic way possible: subjecting themselves to an extended interrogation about their marriage by a federal agent. After setting the scene in a (very slightly) parallel universe in which Thomas was born in Canada and committed a series of Nickelback-related misdemeanors before overstaying his student visa, Matt draws from his twenty years of experience in sitting through hundreds of immigration interviews to play out an unscripted simulation of what his clients and their U.S. citizen spouses go through when they are applying for residency through marriage. We then reconvene to review how the Smiths did, and Matt takes us through some of the legal issues raised in this interview as well as some of the more interesting aspects of the residency process generally.  Finally, we discuss some of the weirder aspects of the law surrounding immigration through marriage beyond the facts of this interview, including (among many others): --Do you really have to prove to the satisfaction of an immigration officer that your marriage includes sex? --Why might the US government refuse to recognize a prior divorce from your home country?  --Will federal immigration authorities really recognize a Zoom wedding conducted from completely different continents? --Can you bring multiple partners if you are coming from a country where polygamy is legal? "Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (1/20/2025 edition) "Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity," Congressional Research Service (5/28/21) Matter of Peterson, 12 I&N Dec. 663 (BIA 1968) "Kicking the INA Out of Bed: Abolishing the Consummation Requirement for Proxy Marriages," 22 Hastings J. Gender & L. 55 (2011) "Second Wives Club: Mapping the Impact of Polygamy in U.S. Immigration Law," Claire A. Smearman, Berkeley Journal of Immigration Law (Dec. 2009)  
May 1
59 min
GG68: Extremely Married
In this  very special episode, Thomas and Lydia Smith celebrate their 11th wedding anniversary in the most normal and romantic way possible: subjecting themselves to an extended interrogation about their marriage by a federal agent. After setting the scene in a (very slightly) parallel universe in which Thomas was born in Canada and committed a series of Nickelback-related misdemeanors before overstaying his student visa, Matt draws from his twenty years of experience in sitting through hundreds of immigration interviews to play out an unscripted simulation of what his clients and their U.S. citizen spouses go through when they are applying for residency through marriage. We then reconvene to review how the Smiths did, and Matt takes us through some of the legal issues raised in this interview as well as some of the more interesting aspects of the residency process generally.  Finally, we discuss some of the weirder aspects of the law surrounding immigration through marriage beyond the facts of this interview, including (among many others): --Do you really have to prove to the satisfaction of an immigration officer that your marriage includes sex? --Why might the US government refuse to recognize a prior divorce from your home country?  --Will federal immigration authorities really recognize a Zoom wedding conducted from completely different continents? --Can you bring multiple partners if you are coming from a country where polygamy is legal? "Application to Register Permanent Residence or Adjust Status," U.S. Citizenship and Immigration Services (1/20/2025 edition) "Immigration Consequences of Criminal Activity," Congressional Research Service (5/28/21) Matter of Peterson, 12 I&N Dec. 663 (BIA 1968) "Kicking the INA Out of Bed: Abolishing the Consummation Requirement for Proxy Marriages," 22 Hastings J. Gender & L. 55 (2011) "Second Wives Club: Mapping the Impact of Polygamy in U.S. Immigration Law," Claire A. Smearman, Berkeley Journal of Immigration Law (Dec. 2009)
May 1
50 min
U.S. v. Dunn 8 - A Meaty Legal Issue
GG67 - U.S. v. Dunn 8 Detective Henry finishes her direct testimony but not before the lawyers duke it out over admissibility of the body-worn camera footage that allegedly captures our hero admitting to his crime. How will the judge rule? PLUS: Matt brings us a case out of Massachusetts in which security footage that ceased to still exist was admitted. How did this happen?!
Apr 14
56 min
U.S. v. Dunn 7 - Another Witness Is Called and the Plot Thinnens
GG66 - U.S. v. Dunn 7 We've got another witness! Detective Henry. And she's providing critical circles over stuff the jury totally already knew.
Apr 7
54 min
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