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Arrowverse

Hollywood Law in this series.
  • Happens all the time in Arrow.
    • Quentin is introduced interrogating Oliver and Tommy following their kidnapping, but given his well-known history with both men and their relationship to his daughter, he shouldn't be allowed anywhere near a case involving them.
    • One obvious example from the first season is the Villain of the Week arranging for a lawsuit against him to be judged by a man whose reelection campaign he funded. Everyone acts like this ensure his victory rather than guaranteeing the verdict will 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.
    • Moira's trial in season 2 features many issues with legality and logistics. A lot of them are justified after the fact because Malcolm was manipulating things from behind the scenes to get her a "not guilty" verdict, but that can't explain everything.
      • At one point, Jean, Moira's lawyer, seeks out Thea and tells her that dating Roy, a convicted felon, hurts Moira's case and they should break up. Put simply, who Thea dates has less than nothing to do with Moira's case, to say nothing of the fact that Jean apparently makes this decision without informing Moira.
      • Not only does the trial take place in Starling City, the city she tried to destroy, but the jury members are citizens of said city. There's pretty much no way that any kind of impartial jury could be formed from Starling City citizens, nor would it have been held in the city to begin with, so the trial should be happening somewhere else where they can guarantee an impartial jury and Moira's safety.
      • As the case is beginning, Adam Donner tells Laurel that he has a "trump card" for his prosecution of Moira. That is the exact opposite of how evidence gathering works in a trial — both sides have to present all of their evidence to each other, ensuring that there's no kind of "trial by ambush" happening and that the defense is given the opportunity to prepare for it. Of course, the way that Laurel later goes about it (by just confronting Moira personally and telling her about it) is also not how that process is supposed to work.
      • When ADA Donner falls ill from a Vertigo addiction, Laurel is set to take over the case immediately. While this is indeed how the transfer would work because Laurel was the other prosecutor on the case, there would almost certainly be a mistrial first (as there's simply no way that an ADA falling ill from a drug addiction that is currently gripping the city wouldn't taint the jury) and Laurel would be given time to gather Adam's notes and prepare her own strategy before being launched back into the trial.
      • On the other hand, Laurel shouldn't have ever been anywhere near the case to begin with. Laurel has a well and publicly documented history with the entire Queen family, in particular the fact that Oliver cheated on her with her sister and caused her death, making her prosecution of Moira an unbelievable conflict of interest. Oliver and Laurel even discuss this In-Universe and agree that Donner made the choice to further mess with Moira's defense, but there's no way he'd be able to get away with that and Kate Spencer, as self-serving as she is, would not be able to go along with it.
    • Agent Watson's actions throughout season six bear absolutely no similarities to how such an investigation would go in real life; if anything, her actions would get her arrested long before Oliver.
      • Throughout her investigation, she openly commits several crimes, to the point that she would've been taken off the case - it starts with mundane "trespassing" when she enters Oliver's office and openly insults him when he asks her to leave, then it escalates to harassment once she gets William involved, and then it becomes outright blackmail when she threatens to ensure Rene never sees his daughter again.
      • The entire basis for her investigation is a photograph that Team Arrow are able to figure out is doctored within a day. The idea that she'd be able to begin an investigation based on that is downright laughable in how flimsy it is, and Oliver would rather easily be able to claim she's prejudiced against him with such little evidence.
      • The deal she makes with him is also complete nonsense; she agrees to stop Diaz if Oliver admits to being the Green Arrow, but such a deal implies that she'd be willing to let a dangerous criminal go free if she doesn't get what she wants - and by this point, Oliver has officially been acquitted of being the Green Arrow, so she's turning down an assistance request from a city mayor just out of a personal grudge. Even if the deal somehow went through, Oliver would easily be able to claim he made the confession under emotional duress (which wouldn't exactly be a lie), and the odds that Watson would be able to avoid a firing at that point are basically nonexistent.
    • In the opening of the seventh season, Oliver Queen AKA Green Arrow is sentenced to prison. Since he handed himself over to a federal agent in the previous season, it doesn't stretch disbelief to see him 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 him housed with the general population instead of in a more secure portion of the prison given the enormous number of people who absolutely will try to kill him every second of the day.
  • The Flash (2014):
    • In "Plastique", the army, under 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 in arguably inhumane conditions 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.
  • Supergirl (2015):
    • In "Blood Bonds", 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 "Welcome To Earth" Played for Laughs. Kara thinks that almost letting the President get killed is "misdemeanor treason".
    • In "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, Lena threatening him with immediate death by Lillian's drone unless he admits responsibility. Based on his reactions, Edge knows he won't stay in jail for long.
    • "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.
    • "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.
    • "American Dreamer". As a Cabinet Secretary, Lockwood's house should have a security detail to prevent his family being attacked.
    • "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.
    • "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 "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.
    • "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).
  • Batwoman (2019): As goes with the territory of Arkham being the quintessential Bedlam House, the experiments Alice describes being conducted on the inmates at Arkham would be very illegal in reality in this century. Also, it's illegal to commit someone to a mental institution against their will without a court order, which Jacob and Kate can't have gotten because they're keeping the fact Alice is related to them secret and she had no trial.

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