History HollywoodLaw / LiveActionTV

* ''Series/WonderWoman2011Pilot'':
** Claiming someone engages in illegal activities without proof is called slander and could easily get someone sued. Wonder Woman calls a press conference to announce this, fully acknowledging her lack of proof, and yet suffers no consequences. She also admitted to the entire world that she has broken the law to stop a crime she can't even prove was committed.
** Doesn't even touch the detective's blatantly illegal (not to mention stupid) advice to WW that if she breaks into the villain's lair, the police will be able to investigate it because it's now a crime scene. Yes it will be, for a crime ''that Wonder Woman committed'', and ''the police let her do''. The only way this works is if Wonder Woman already has blanket immunity to prosecution, which opens a whole new can of worms that's even more terrifying, but would be sadly consistent with everything else we see. Also, if she's deemed to have been an agent of the police in doing this, any evidence they find will be suppressed.
** Worse, matters legal get ''significant'' attention in this series (it is Creator/DavidEKelley writing it, after all). It all serves to keep before us ''exactly'' how illegal every single thing Diana does is, even as the plot treats her like everything she does is right. She ''literally'' commits more crimes than her enemies.
** The show seems to think that because Wonder Woman is not officially connected to any law enforcement agency, she is above the law. That's actually the opposite from the truth, as law enforcement officers have quasi-immunity, while civilians have none.
** Her ex-boyfriend is assigned to investigate her for illegal activities, despite the fact that this is clearly a conflict of interest. At the end, he drops the investigation and declares her clear with a smile, thus showing ''why'' conflict of interest is a problem in the first place.
* In the fifth episode of ''Series/TheFlash2014'', "Plastique," the army, under [[ComicBook/CaptainAtom Gen. Wade Eiling]], shows up early on to take over the investigation from the Central City police. This is of course a blatant violation of the Posse Comitatus Act, which forbids the use of the US Army to enforce the laws of the states (unless authorized to do so for a specific situation by an Executive Order or act of Congress).
** Numerous criminal metahumans are imprisoned at Star Labs over the course of Season 1. However, they lack any authority to do that, therefore this is illegal imprisonment for which they could be prosecuted and sued. Even when it's revealed, there are no legal consequences. It helps that Iron Heights got modified for metahuman prisoners.
** In the real world, police officers involved in shootings are typically placed on administrative leave while the shooting is investigated. Nothing of the sort happens to Joe.

* ''Series/{{Daredevil 2015}}'' has enough examples to get [[HollywoodLaw/Daredevil2015 its own page]].
* ''Series/JessicaJones2015'':
** When Jessica Jones is collecting people who've been mind-controlled by Kilgrave in order to have them testify in Hope's trial:
*** They put them all together in a support group (thereby weakening all their stories because they've had time to be influenced by each other), rather than interview each person separately.
*** They don't think about subpoenaing the restaurant staff from the first few episodes. You know, the staff that have very little reason to lie and can positively say "that woman right there walked in with a creepy British guy who made us do things we didn't want to do." Nope, just go out and get a bunch of random people who at best can only testify that someone exists who can force you to do stuff (no proof that Hope was under his influence) and are far less believable, because at this point they're all mentally unstable or have good reasons for wanting to excuse their actions by lying about someone else making them do it.
** Their plan is to kidnap Kilgrave, hold him prisoner, torture him into confessing, and then use that as proof. The only time that's going to be admitted as evidence is when they all get charged with kidnapping and torture. It'll be great for a trial... Hogarth's, Trish's, and Jessica's trials. Kilgrave's? Not so much (and that's assuming he wouldn't just command the guards to release him when arrested). It's such a bad idea that Jeri tells them it would never work, and instead, they use their crime to draw a police officer to the scene and make him watch. This is also a bad idea, since he would then be obliged to arrest them, and they ''still'' can't use this against Kilgrave legally.
** Towards the end of the first season, [[spoiler:Jeri Hogarth's secretary/mistress Pam kills Hogarth's wife Wendy to save Jeri, after Kilgrave commanded Wendy to kill her]]. Afterwards, Jeri attempts to serve as Pam's counsel during her questioning by the police; given her relationship to both people and also as another victim in the case, there's a conflict of interest present. On the other hand, Jeri may have just been doing "stand-in defense" for both herself and Pam (since they're both, at minimum, persons of interest, if not suspects/witnesses) and just handling things until she can get another attorney to come down and start taking full charge of the defense; in other words, Jeri just wanted to be there to make sure Pam didn't say anything incriminating before she could arrange real, ethical, legal representation for them both and start handling the case.
** It turns out in season 2 that Hogarth Chao & Benowitz requires their attorneys to sign a "medical disclosure" clause to inform the firm of medical conditions that have the potential to affect job performance. Once Jeri's partners learn she has ALS, they try to force her out of the law firm with a severance under the pretense it is their fiduciary duty to protect the law firm. [[http://thelegalgeeks.com/2018/03/17/did-the-hogarth-chao-benowitz-llp-employment-contract-violate-the-law/ One blog]] points out that there's a small problem with this "medical disclosure" clause designed to terminate lawyers: it is illegal.
*** New York law, specifically N.Y. Exec. Law § 296, states that it is an unlawful discriminatory practice for any employer to discharge anyone from their employment because of disability or predisposing genetic characteristics. Forcing employees as a condition of employment to disclose health information that can then be a pretext to fire anyone goes to the heart of protecting anyone with a "disability" from being discriminated against. There was no effort to make any reasonable accommodations for Hogarth, just remove her from the firm.
*** There was no evidence that Jeri Hogarth was no longer competent to practice law. She did not have any symptoms at the time her partners confronted her. Their plan was to dismiss her from the firm, which is discriminatory conduct based on someone's disability. As such, the contractual requirement to disclose medical conditions required the disclosure of health information that would otherwise be protected, and used as a license to discriminate against those with medical conditions. [[LampshadeHanging It's no wonder why in his one-scene cameo, Foggy called bullshit on the medical clause]], because this in his eyes would be no different from someone firing Matt from a law firm on the grounds that his blindness rendered him incompetent from practicing law.
*** Furthermore, they don't even ''need'' to do it this way, as there ''are'' valid reasons to terminate Jeri Hogarth: she has committed jury tampering, which is grounds for disbarment; asking Jessica to rough up Wendy as inducement to sign a divorce agreement was a crime; having an affair with her secretary Pam, while not a crime, was an HR nightmare waiting to happen, to say nothing of the later sexual harassment lawsuit from Pam; attempting to use Kilgrave to secure Wendy's signature on divorce papers resulted in Wendy's death; she made an illegal purchase of a handgun from Turk Barrett that would later be used in a homicide (making Jeri an accessory to said murder); ruining Kith's marriage and driving Peter to suicide in season 3 (another case where the action isn't ''illegal'' but would be more than enough justification for a firing); and it's up for debate whether her entertaining with HookersAndBlow was legal, let alone the ethics considerations. But instead of going after Jeri for any of her serious ethical breaches and even outright crimes as grounds for termination, Chao and Benowitz picked discrimination against someone with a disability as their beach to die on. Not the best legal strategy.
*** There's also the separate question that Jeri's practice includes criminal defense (cases like Jessica, her mother, Hope, etc, plus a lot of Foggy and Marci's cases), patent litigation, and estates (her work with Danny Rand), [[OmnidisciplinaryLawyer which are all highly specialized practice areas]]. This is like a doctor who is an orthodontist, vascular surgeon, and pediatrician. Sure, it is possible, just highly unlikely. Moreover, Jeri's malpractice insurance has to be expensive.
** Jessica Jones in season 3 appears to be susceptible to "Fruit of the Poisonous Tree." This doesn't extend to people who aren't in law enforcement or work for them, and definitely not "anonymous tips." The pictures and the claimed connection would be more than enough for a warrant to search Sallinger's apartment.
** Trish Walker's downfall at the end of season 3 sees her snap, kill three serial murderers (including Sallinger), and then get brought in by Jessica. She is then sent off to the Raft, established in ''Captain America: Civil War'' to be this submarine prison for enhanced individuals. There are several problems with this:
*** First off, Costa says the people on the Raft "pulled jurisdiction" on Trish. They never make clear what that means. Yet the Raft, at least as established in ''Captain America: Civil War'', seemed to be created ad hoc for the Sokovia Accords. International agreements like the Sokovia Accords do not override the U.S. Constitution, especially agreements that weren't even ratified by the United States, so there's no explanation as to how they could possibly get jurisdiction over Trish when all her crimes are state crimes in New York State.[[note]]On the other hand, it's possible that maybe it just means Trish falls under federal scrutiny, since ''Film/AntManAndTheWasp'' showed Scott and co. having an FBI agent who monitored them[[/note]]
*** More problematic is the implication is that Trish wouldn't even get a trial. Which is ''terrible''. Costa says that due process doesn't apply to supers, which is a blatant violation of the Fifth Amendment (the right to a trial and due process), as well as the Eighth Amendment (which holds that the punishment must be proportional to the crime). It's actually a double whammy there: first, it's hard to imagine how ''an underwater prison'' is a proportional punishment even to Trish's (numerous) crimes; second, it's explicitly stated that she's being treated differently because she's enhanced. This is a ''status crime'' (where you're punished just for being who you are) which, surprise surprise, is unconstitutional in the United States (and also violates international laws).
* ''Series/LukeCage2016'':
*** Every time a suspect asks for a lawyer, the interrogator continues asking questions, hoping to pressure the suspect into talking. Even Inspector Ridley, who is characterized by her belief in following the system, does so. In reality, the police ''must'' end an interrogation the moment a suspect asks for legal counsel, and can only resume once a lawyer has arrived. [[LoopholeAbuse While there ARE instances where cops try to skirt around this]], they usually try to do so by changing the subject or asserting that their past or present questions weren't part of any "official" interrogation, not by simply ''ignoring'' the request as seen in this show. If they do, and it's recorded, anything they get after this isn't usable in court.
*** Only once has this actually played realistically. In the second episode of season 2, Misty lets herself into the interrogation room to question Arturo Rey, after he's already lawyered up. After Donovan shows up to bail out Arturo Rey, Ridenhour calls Misty out on this.
** After the Candace interrogation in "Blowin' Up the Spot", Mariah leaves, telling Misty, "You know what, I'm not under arrest, and I change my mind: you wanna talk to me, you call my lawyer." The statement "contact me through my lawyer" does NOT apply to police officers, meaning the cops could still call Mariah back for questioning if they had any reason to without having to go through her lawyers. "Contact me through my lawyer" only applies to other lawyers, as they have ethical rules stating, for instance, that a lawyer may not contact an opponent who has retained their own counsel (to stop a lawyer browbeating the other side into confessing, or in a civil case, stop them from coercing concessions etc. from them).
** [[BailEqualsFreedom Shades making bail]] is treated as if he skated on all criminal charges he was facing. Posting bail is not the same thing as "cleared of all charges." Bail is a guarantee of a later appearance in court. If you don't appear, it means you'll be tracked down and arrested, then put in jail until your trial, plus faced with a bail-jumping charge too. Furthermore, people on bail tend to be subject to various other restrictions on what activities they can engage in, meaning Misty would've had grounds to rearrest Shades when she, Luke and Claire caught him and Mariah at Pops' barbershop.
** During Shades' interrogation, Inspector Ridley says that as a participant in Diamondback's hostage situation, Shades is facing multiple kidnapping with a weapon charges. In real life, as one hostage was killed during the course of the hostage situation, he (and every other participant) would also be charged with FelonyMurder for the murder of Damon Boone. In fact, it's amazing Shades even was granted bail in the first place, as there are multiple witnesses who would have seen him holding the hostages and he came at a police officer and a civilian while armed with a gun, which is two counts of assault with a deadly weapon. (It's implied that a judge may have been paid off, seeing as Shades and Mariah pay off another judge in order to get Arturo Rey bailed out)
** In real life, Misty would probably be forced to recuse herself from the case once Luke became a suspect/person of interest in the Cottonmouth crimes. Her one-night stand with him generates a conflict of interest.
** Luke's backstory plays fast and loose with human research ethics (which have been codified into law since WWII). FDA regulations explicitly forbid the use of prisoners in research providing no direct benefit, except in very specific cases (most of which require that the research have no or minimal risk). They also forbid using reduced sentencing as an incentive toward consent--that's textbook coercion. That said, it is established that Seagate is a very corrupt prison, so they may be fully aware that they are breaking the law.
** The NYPD doesn't have a 29th Precinct. The 29th Precinct is a fictional establishment created because the NYPD requires films and TV shows to use fictional precinct numbers to tell film cars apart from in-service patrol cars. The 29th happens to fall within the numbers of the actual police precincts for Harlem: the 23rd, 25th, 28th, 30th, and 32nd.
** Misty mocks Shades for dismissing his lawyer [[spoiler:halfway through his confession, causing him to be unaware of the terms of his deal. But his lawyer would have had to make the terms of the deal clear to him ''before'' he decided to take it and make his confession, not after]]. Unlike real property or the hearsay rule, legal ethics is fairly straightforward.
* ''Series/IronFist2017'':
** A minor case, but when the DEA SWAT team raids Colleen's dojo on the "tip" from Harold's frameup, they kick in the door without first shouting "Police! Open the door!" Part of the reason the police do that is... pretty much to avoid this ''exact'' situation; there ''is'' a significant percentage of civilians with combat training, many of which live in high-crime neighborhoods ''just like Colleen's'' where having their homes invaded by violent criminals is a ''very real possibility.'' Sure, Colleen and Danny only gave them two seconds, but that's more than enough time to then shout the two words law enforcement are legally ''required'' to the ''instant'' a raid begins and ''before'' shots are fired so as to avoid entrapment -- so that suspects know that the invaders are ''not'' criminals and they'll be in trouble if they fight back. [[spoiler:This probably helps with Danny's WrongfulAccusationInsurance at the end of the episode -- though, too, the "[[ScrewTheRulesIHaveMoney generous contribution to the DEA Widows and Children's Fund]]" was probably a lot more effective]]. The only legal exception is if they have reason to believe the suspects will destroy evidence upon hearing the police are at the door, and they need a special "no-knock" warrant to not announce their presence.
** The board of directors cannot simply "oust" Danny, Ward, and Joy from the company, as they're the majority shareholders. For them to even ''be'' directors requires Danny's approval.
** The chemical plant lawsuit that affects Rand Enterprises midway through season 1, wherein Rand is being sued by some Staten Island residents who claim to have come down with cancer as a result of chemicals being manufactured at the plant. The plaintiffs' case doesn't have a leg to stand on. There's no proof that the chemical plant causes cancer. As Joy points out, Rand Enterprises have met all legal and environmental requirements, so they're not really in the wrong. The issue would be with the lawmakers. Even if there is a correlation between the chemical plant and the cancer cases, it doesn't necessarily prove causation. But then the plaintiffs' lawyer rather stupidly decides to have one of his clients try to coerce an admission of guilt from Danny, while he films it for blackmail purposes. The Meachums and the board are worried about it, when in reality it would be a slam-dunk for Rand Enterprises. The video wouldn't stand up in court and this lawyer would be very lucky if he only got disbarred (because blackmail is illegal).

* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'':
** While some prisoners have spent a long time awaiting execution in the US, ''fifty years'' (as [[spoiler:Joe Chill]] does) is pretty unlikely without either being executed or having his sentence commuted. Here, it's ascribed to the Court of Owls' influence, keeping him alive for their purposes until he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness deemed useless at last]].
** If any real child was born in a mental institution like Duela, there's no way she'd also be raised there to adulthood. She's be put in the custody of relatives outside or foster care assuming that she had none.

* ''HollywoodLaw/Daredevil2015''

*** {{Justified}} in a sense. At that point, still halfway through the episode, the judge remains one of the possible hitman contractors, so the writers don't want to clinch the real culprit right away.

** In the season 21 premiere, Nick is arrested for the murder of a man who had exploited his family as a child. What actually happened was that he went to the man's house intending to kill him, but couldn't bring himself to do it after beating him up, so he went to a bar and got drunk. He then went along with the FBI's accusations because he believed that his sister had killed the man after he left and he wanted to protect her. After the team gets a confession from the person who really killed the man, Nick is released from prison and returned to duty. In real life, clearing Nick of murder would not change the fact that he had broken into a man's house, committed an act of premeditated assault and attempted to murder him, so the fact that he was unsuccessful in committing the actual murder would have gotten him a reduced sentence at best rather than being released. And an ex-cop with a record like that would likely never be allowed to carry a badge again.

** "Hubris": A warrant is issued to search the suspect's apartment but the courier hasn't brought it yet. Knowing the suspect will get there before the warrant, Det. Green sticks a toothpick in his lock to keep him from entering. The courier arrives a few seconds later and the police bust in and seize a videotape of the murders. The judge tosses the tape since the police secured the area before they had the warrant (even though they had reason to believe he'd destroy the evidence and were well aware the warrant had been issued) -- but in reality, it is ''totally'' legal to secure a scene if there's a concrete possibility that the evidence will be removed, destroyed, or otherwise endangered before the search warrant arrives; what the police ''can't'' do is actually start the search process before the warrant arrives.[[note]]As an example, if the police had strong reason to suspect that a criminal had evidence on his computer, they could secure the location and prevent the suspect from touching it; they just couldn't actually fire it up and look at the contents until the warrant arrived.[[/note]]

* HollywoodLaw/BlueBloods
* HollywoodLaw/Daredevil2015

* ''Series/AmericanGods'': The detective in "Lemon Scented You" keeps asking Shadow questions even after he repeatedly asks for a lawyer, which means anything which he tells her can't be used as evidence. However, she does make it clear that she's more interested in finding out who tipped her off than prosecuting two small-time swindlers.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2002'': "How Much Do You Love Your Kid?" revolves around an ImmoralRealityShow that kidnaps ''children'' and forces their loved ones to solve puzzles to recover them (and earn the prize money) or else ''they will never be seen again'', and something ''this'' insane can be allowed by a single parent without any knowledge (let alone consent) from the other. Even the closest approximation to the Trope in RealLife still requires the consent of both parents if children are involved and cannot put them in the kind of danger an adult can consent to (read: potentially lethal).

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone2019'': In [[Recap/TheTwilightZone2019S1E5TheWunderkind "The Wunderkind"]]. Numerous liberties are taken with regards to American law.
** Raff convinces Oliver to run for president even though he is only eleven years old. They get around the presidential age requirement by having Oliver's mother serve as his proxy -- but then that would make ''her'' the President of the United States and render Oliver's presidential demands impotent.
** Oliver's first act after being sworn in as President is to give free video games to everyone, and he plans to get the VideoGameCompanies to comply by threatening a surcharge tax of one million dollars per console "and put them out of business in a day." Unfortunately, the annual budget isn't created until October of the next fiscal year...
** President Oliver tells his staff to pass a law: "no old doctors." This comes to pass somehow, even though legislation begins with Congress, not the White House.

* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1985'': In "Special Service", after John Selig discovers that [[TrumanShowPlot he has been secretly filmed for five years and is the subject of a hit cable TV show]], he demands that it be taken off the air as he has rights. The JSTV executive Arthur Spence gives John a copy of the US Constitution and Bill of Rights and sarcastically asks him to point out where it says that they can't put his life on TV. John counters that this is a technicality. John's right though -- he has rights, and they can't film him secretly nor make use of his name/image without permission; ''most'' laws, in fact, aren't enshrined in the Constitution/Bill of Rights, but that doesn't make it okay to disregard them. He could get an injunction forcing them to stop. (They do ultimately stop after he insists, and give him a million dollars for the profit they'd made off him.)
* ''Series/TheTwilightZone1959'': In "[[Recap/TheTwilightZoneS5E146IAmTheNightColorMeBlack I Am The Night Color Me Black]]" Jagger is publicly executed on May 25, 1964. The last person to be publicly executed in the United States was Rainey Bethea in Owensboro, Kentucky on August 14, 1936. Note, however, that May 25, 1964 was actually two months in the future when this episode originally aired, thereby placing the customary ''Twilight Zone'' change in societal norms not in the usual alternate reality but a ''very'' near future US.

* ''Series/AllRise'': "Fire and Rain" sees stolen property excluded as evidence because it was obtained through a search warrant with an error (the wrong witness' name). However, this is covered by the "good faith exception" to the exclusionary rule, as the police didn't know there was a problem with the search warrant, so they didn't commit intentional misconduct. Further, Lola also meets ''ex parte'' with the defense attorney, a huge no-no since both sides must be privy to any discussions during the case. Admittedly it was about personal matters, though given how involved emotionally they still are this brings up another issue, that Lola might not be impartial toward his client and should recuse herself (this applies to other cases too-for instance her close friend Mark is a prosecutor who frequently appears before her, including in the case here, which wouldn't be allowed in reality to avoid accusatons of bias toward him).

** In "Crush", the DA forces Detective Benson to arrest a teenage girl on child porn charges (for "sexting" pictures of herself) in an effort to coerce her into testifying against an attacker. When she does so, the DA attempts to drop the charges, but the judge overrules her and sentences the girl to several years in prison. While the end of the episode reveals that the judge was corrupt, this has two problems. First, the arrest was an obvious case of Malicious Prosecution, which is a felony, and was one of the few cases (it's a notoriously difficult charge to prove in most jurisdictions) in which it would be an open and shut case. Second, even in juvenile court, the judge has no power to do any of that.

** One episode had Jack [=McCoy=] team up with a judge to get a drunk driver convicted of multiple counts of first-degree murder as part of the judge's crusade. Jack goes so far as to blackmail one witness into being out of the country during the trial and suppresses all evidence that the guy was drunk off his rocker when he committed the crime, with the judge {{DeusExMachina}}ing on Jack's behalf all the way. Fortunately, during the trial, [[WhatHaveIDone Jack comes to his senses]], and starts to show the evidence that the guy was drunk (and so was guilty of Manslaughter, but not murder). The only reason the judge didn't report Jack's abuses in the trial was because he was in as deep. In that one, at least, they acknowledge that what [=McCoy=] and the judge were doing was wrong, and it's brought up several times later on as an example of [=McCoy's=] willingness to engage in misconduct if he thinks he can get away with it. In recent years, though, lots of drunk drivers ''have'' started to face murder charges, so they could do this legally if the episode were written more recently.

* Happens all the time in ''Series/{{Arrow}}''.
** One obvious example from the first season is the VillainOfTheWeek arranging for a lawsuit against him to be judged by a man whose reelection campaign he funded. Everyone acts like this guarantees his victory rather than guaranteeing the verdict be instantly overturned on appeal due to the judge having a conflict of interest, and said villain also getting additional sanctions and criminal charges against him.
** In season 2, Laurel Lance is the prosecuting attorney for Moira Queen's trial. The conflict of interest would guarantee the conviction get overturned on appeal, considering not just that she is the ex-girlfriend of the defendant's son (who publicly cheated on Laurel with her sister, leading to said sister's death) but also the fact that her boyfriend was one of the victims. In fact, even the fact that the trial was in Starling City is suspicious, and would probably require a change of venue, because it would be impossible for Moira to get an unbiased jury in the city she tried to destroy.
** In the opening of the seventh season, [[spoiler:Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow is]] sentenced to prison. Even though they handed themselves over to a federal agent in the previous season, it doesn't stretch disbelief to see them in the same prison as some of the Arrow's previous collars, since their crimes were (almost) all committed in Star City. However, it ''does'' stretch disbelief to see them housed with the general population (genpop) instead of in a more secure portion of the prison given the enormous number of people who absolutely will try to kill them every second of the day.

* ''Series/TheGoodPlace'': The police officer who arrests Pillboy downplays his role in the robbery, saying that he might get probation as Jason was the "brains" of the operation. In Florida, Pillboy is more likely to get up to 15 years for committing a robbery (that resulted in the death of his co-conspirator), or life (if he had a weapon).

* ''Series/GothamKnights2023'': While some prisoners have spent a long time awaiting execution in the US, ''fifty years'' (as [[spoiler:Joe Chill]] does) is pretty unlikely without either being executed or having his sentence commuted. Here, it's ascribed to the Court of Owls' influence, keeping him alive for their purposes until he's [[YouHaveOutlivedYourUsefulness deemed useless at last]].

*** The arresting officer states "within reason". Random strangers stopping any crime, much less a mugging, is not reasonable, especially'' when a police officer is at the scene the entire time.

* ''Series/Supergirl2015'':
** In "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S1E9BloodBonds Blood Bonds]]" apparently, Maxwell Lord can just kick federal agents out of an active crime scene, because he says it's his building. Even Alex seems skeptical of this, though it is somewhat justified—Lord was the victim of the crime, and can choose not to cooperate, and the DEO's secretive nature means they can't counter his claim that it was industrial espionage without revealing itself.
** In "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S2E3WelcomeToEarth Welcome To Earth]]" PlayedForLaughs. Kara thinks that almost letting the President get killed is "misdemeanor treason."
** In "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S3E12ForGood For Good]]" Edge is arrested shortly after confessing on tape. Thing is, there's no other evidence against him, so his lawyer will be able to easily get him off by claiming that the confession was forced. Based on his reactions, Edge knows he won't stay in jail for long.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S4E13WhatsSoFunnyAboutTruthJusticeAndTheAmericanWay What's So Funny About Truth, Justice And The American Way?]]". The previous episode made it clear that the President's staff had found a loophole, that Lockwood couldn't be charged because the Patriot Act doesn't apply to aliens. This episode refers to it multiple times as a pardon instead. If you can't be charged, you don't need a pardon.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S4E18CrimeAndPunishment Crime And Punishment]]":
*** Even under martial law, the military just can't go in and kill an entire prison of civilians hunting down ''one'' enemy -- it'd be a war crime of the highest order. But then again President Baker has never cared about such niceties.
*** Blatantly discriminatory means in enforcing martial law Baker announces are unconstitutional as well, but again he likely isn't concerned.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S4E19AmericanDreamer American Dreamer]]". As a Cabinet Secretary, Lockwood's house should have a security detail to prevent his family being attacked.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S5E01EventHorizon Event Horizon]]":
*** The non-compete agreement that's so important to the dramatic conflict from this episode is actually ''specifically'' unenforceable in the state of California. This fact is frequently cited as being one of the major "secrets" behind the success of Silicon Valley, making tech employees able to switch jobs and share ideas with ease. In real life Andrea also wouldn't be able to give all the reporters 3-year contracts with non-compete clauses without their knowledge or agreement. They would need to knowingly sign them, and something inserted later wouldn't be binding.
** There's mention of a special election for US Senate. While the US House of Representatives, aka the "People's House," would have special elections to fill vacancies, Senate vacancies are filled by the governors of the several states appointing a replacement, who normally serves until the next regular election time.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S5E8TheWrathOfRamaKhan The Wrath Of Rama Khan]]". Or rather, law enforcement. Even if the FBI believes that Lena was acting under duress, you'd think they would at least want to bring her in for questioning. Instead, they let her go without further issue.
** In "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S5E15RealityBytes Reality Bytes]]" Nia and Kara act like it's a sure thing Greg will serve time for assaulting Yvette. However, without more evidence (which the police might uncover, like video tape from security cameras nearby) it would still be just her word. Sadly, transphobia exists in the courts too and just the testimony of the victim is not guaranteed for a conviction.
** "[[Recap/Supergirl2015S6E9DreamWeaver Dream Weaver]]" has one. In the United States, judges do not have the power to pardon a convicted criminal. This may have been a flub by the character though (e.g. the judge overturned his conviction or ordered an early release)..