After months of public pressure, the Supreme Court has released its newly adopted code of ethics. But it leaves a lot to be desired! Melissa, Kate, and Leah analyze the code and find all the possible loopholes. We also talk to Molly Duane, one of the plaintiffs' lawyers in the Zurawski case out of Texas, where women suffered serious health and emotional consequences after being denied abortions. And then we welcome Ashley Coffield, CEO of Planned Parenthood of Tennessee and North Mississippi, to...
Nov 20, 2023•1 hr 19 min
Kate, Melissa, and Leah recap the arguments in United States v. Rahimi , the case about the constitutionality of gun regulations, featuring diss tracks by KBJ. Listen to " How SCOTUS gutted our gun laws ," our episode on the 2022 decision that started this madness Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn more: http://crooked.com/events Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Cou...
Nov 13, 2023•1 hr 12 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap cases the Supreme Court heard last week about whether government officials can block people on social media platforms. Do the justices actually understand how social media, or even the Internet, works? Unclear! Plus, a recap of the case over whether the phrase "Trump Too Small" can be trademarked. They also preview the upcoming second amendment case, United States v. Rahimi , which challenges a federal law prohibiting people subject to domestic violence restraining ...
Nov 06, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Leah, Melissa, and Kate get up to date on the various cases against former President Trump and analyze the arguments being brought in his defense. Plus, they preview the First Amendment cases the Supreme Court will hear this week-- including one about the legality of trademarking the phrase "Trump Too Small." Read about the guilty pleas from Kenneth Chesebro , Sidney Powell , and Jenna Ellis Read the NYT on Amy Coney Barrett's remarks at the University of Minnesota and Clarence Thomas's RV loan ...
Oct 30, 2023•1 hr 7 min
ProPublica's Andrea Bernstein joins Kate and Leah to talk about the new investigative podcast, " We Don't Talk About Leonard ." Then, Melissa, Kate, and Leah are live from the University of Texas to talk about all the special things the state brings to the federal judiciary. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn more: http://crooked.com/events Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the ...
Oct 23, 2023•1 hr 13 min
Melissa, Kate, and Leah recap the oral arguments the Supreme Court heard last week, including a big one about voting rights and redistricting (Alexander v. South Carolina State Conference of the NAACP). Plus, an update on the shenanigans around the Wisconsin Supreme Court and the tomfoolery in the Fifth Circuit. Read ProPublica's reporting on how U.S. Representative James Clyburn was involved in the South Carolina redistricting plan that's now before the Supreme Court Please consider donating th...
Oct 16, 2023•1 hr 8 min
Kate, Melissa, and Leah recap oral arguments in the cases the Supreme Court heard last week, including Acheson Hotels v. Laufer (a case about civil rights enforcement) and CFPB v. Community Financial Services Association (a case about the constitutionality of funding structures for financial agencies). Plus, more Voting Rights Act shenanigans. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE –...
Oct 09, 2023•1 hr 21 min
It's the start of a new Supreme Court term... and the start of Strict Scrutiny's fifth season! While the cases ahead may seem technical and boring, they're actually quite significant. Melissa, Kate, and Leah preview the first oral arguments the Court will hear in October Term 2023. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 –...
Oct 02, 2023•57 min
Do you feel that chill in the air? It’s almost the first Monday of October and that means a new SCOTUS term! You may still be recovering from the last one (don’t worry, we are too) but Melissa, Kate and Leah talk about some themes that we can expect this term like the crazy cases coming out of the Fifth Circuit and whether government (as we know it) is constitutional. They also go through the justices’ latest questionable, and in some cases egregious (Justice Thomas, we’re looking at you ) ethic...
Sep 25, 2023•53 min
On September 22, Showtime and Paramount+ will release the first episode of Deadlocked: How America Shaped the Supreme Court . And if you tune in, you might recognize a few faces and voices. Documentarian Dawn Porter joins Kate, Melissa, and Leah to talk about how the series came to be, and what she learned about the Supreme Court's evolution in the process. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for STRICT S...
Sep 18, 2023•56 min
Being a Supreme Court podcast means we spend much of the year in dystopia. So just this once, let's look at the silver lining that is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Amir Ali , executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center , joins Melissa, Kate, and Leah to look back on Justice Jackson's first year on the Supreme Court. Listen back to our episodes on Justice Jackson's historic nomination and hellacious confirmation hearings Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original cont...
Sep 11, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Juvaria Khan, founder of The Appellate Project , joins Melissa, Kate, and Leah to catch up on the fallout of the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision in June. Then, Melissa talks with Justice Goodwin Liu of Supreme Court of California and Mary Hoopes of Pepperdine's Caruso School of Law about their research on how judges consider diversity when hiring clerks. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for...
Sep 04, 2023•46 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate invite two guests to zoom out and analyze how the current Supreme Court got to be the way that it is... and what progressives are doing to push back. Michael Waldman, author of The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America , provides historical context for other times the Supreme Court has challenged the country. And Brian Fallon, co-founder of Demand Justice , reflects on his tenure as Executive Director as the group challenged Democrats to get on board with j...
Aug 28, 2023•1 hr 14 min
Easha Anand of Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic joins Kate, Melissa, and Leah to lay out what SCOTUS has been up to in the world of criminal law. But first, Kate and Leah analyze the Fifth Circuit's opinion in the mifepristone case, and what it means for people seeking abortions across the country. Listen to " What's next in a post-Roe world ," our episode with Diana Greene Foster, author of The Turnaway Study Get more background on the mifepristone case in our episodes from earlier th...
Aug 21, 2023•1 hr 29 min
It's been 10 years since the Supreme Court started to dismantle the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder . Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America , joins Leah and Kate to track the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the challenges against it over the decades, and the fallout from Shelby County and other voting rights cases. Order Give Us the Ballot from Bookshop.org. Code STRICT10 gets you 10% off! Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and T...
Aug 14, 2023•1 hr 6 min
It's been over a year since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization . The majority opinion, concurrences, and joint dissent all made a lot of predictions about life without Roe -- but how accurate were they? Leah, Kate, and Melissa assemble a star-studded cast to do dramatic readings of the opinions and reflect on how they've panned out. Featuring Jon Lovett as Sam Alito, Elie Mystal as Clarence Thomas, Jon Favreau as B...
Aug 07, 2023•1 hr 39 min
Former President Donald Trump has been indicted for a third time-- this time in a Washington, DC, case about attempts to overturn the 2020 election. Kate, Melissa, and Leah huddle to break down the charges, the people involved, and what happens next. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn more: http://crooked.com/events Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Con...
Aug 02, 2023•37 min
First things first, Melissa and Leah break down Sam Alito's latest airing of grievances in the Wall Street Journal. Then, Kate joins them for a lesson in actual history from an actual historian. Kate Masur, author of Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction, joins the trio for a conversation about her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community...
Jul 31, 2023•1 hr 16 min
Leah, Kate, and Melissa join MSNBC's Chris Hayes (aka Mr. Kate Shaw) to fully process the drama of the last Supreme Court term. It's our second annual crossover with Why Is This Happening? ! Another year, another pretty consequential Supreme Court term. SCOTUS recently ended its term with a number of big decisions including striking down affirmative action and issuing opinions in the 303 Creative case, in which the majority created a “constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protecte...
Jul 26, 2023•1 hr 6 min
Leah, Kate, and Melissa talk to Steve Vladeck about his new book, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic . From abortion bans to immigration restrictions, COVID orders and death penalty cases, the Supreme Court has taken to changing the law in quiet. Order The Shadow Docket from Bookshop.org. Code STRICT10 gets you 10% off! Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community e...
Jul 24, 2023•57 min
Joel Anderson , host of Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas , joins Melissa and Kate to analyze the justice's trajectory from his childhood in Georgia to his contentious confirmation hearings. Plus, Joel spills behind-the-scenes tea about reporting the series-- including how he found himself in the living room of Justice Thomas's mother. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Ba...
Jul 17, 2023•59 min
We're kicking off the Strict Scrutiny Summer Reading List with a wild ride through the history of the Federalist Society. Amanda Hollis-Brusky , author of Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution and Separate But Faithful: The Christian Right's Radical Struggle to Transform Law & Legal Culture , joins Melissa and Leah to guide the journey. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community even...
Jul 10, 2023•47 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap the last Supreme Court term, as the justices speed off on their summer vacations (in a luxury yacht? on a private jet? in an RV in Walmart parking lot? Who's to say!). They highlight recurring themes throughout the justices' opinions, relive some of the best moments in oral arguments, recap the Court's scandals, and preview the cases that scare them next term.US term. Watch/listen to this episode of The Problem with Jon Stewart where the Strict Scrutiny Hosts breakd...
Jul 03, 2023•1 hr 2 min
The Supreme Court ended its term today with a double whammy, issuing opinions in the 303 Creative case and the student debt relief cases. In the former, the majority creates "a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class." And in the latter, the majority invalidate's the Biden administration's student debt relief program because, well, they had feelings about it. Listen to our episode recapping the 303 Creative arguments: " How the 303 Creative case threatens to roll bac...
Jun 30, 2023•50 min
Today the Supreme Court delivered its opinion in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College , declaring admissions programs that consider race to be in violation of the 14th Amendment. Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down the Chief Justice's opinion, Justice Thomas's galling concurrence, and the brilliant dissents by Justice Jackson and Justice Sotomayor. Listen to our recap of the hours and hours of oral arguments in these cases: " Affirmative Action Reaction "...
Jun 29, 2023•1 hr 3 min
The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Moore v. Harper today, saying that state legislatures can’t actually make up whatever rules they want around federal elections, without oversight from anyone. But is this a victory for our democracy, or should we still be freaked out? Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down the opinion and the questions it leaves open. We'll be around all week pushing out emergency episodes as the Supreme Court continues to do... whatever it does. Be sure to subscribe in ...
Jun 27, 2023•54 min
Leah and Kate delve in to the latest chapter of Supreme Court justices going on secret fancy vacations with billionaires, this time starring Samuel Alito . And then it's opinion-palooza, recapping the opinions we got last week while we wait with bated breath for the horrors the last week of the term will bring. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!&nbs...
Jun 26, 2023•1 hr 9 min
Last week the Supreme Court made an historic ruling upholding the Indian Child Welfare Act. Rebecca Nagle, host of Crooked Media’s This Land podcast, takes us inside the courtroom in this special bonus episode to break down the decision, how we got here, and what it all means. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn more: http://crooked.com/events Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How th...
Jun 24, 2023•44 min
The Supreme Court released its opinion in Haaland vs. Brackeen , a case that challenged the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. In a surprising 7-2 vote, the Court upheld ICWA. Rebecca Nagle , host of This Land , joins Leah, Kate, and Melissa to unpack the opinion and what it means for indigenous families. Listen to two previous episodes with Rebecca Nagle: " Go Down Clutching the Constitution " from March 2022 when the case was granted, and " The Uncertain Future of the Indian Ch...
Jun 19, 2023•1 hr 17 min
Former President Trump pleaded not guilty to 37 counts in the case against him for allegedly mishandling classified documents. He was arraigned on Tuesday at the federal courthouse in Miami, and then he spoke to supporters from his golf club in New Jersey. In this bonus episode, Leah and Kate talk about what to expect for the timeline of the case, reenact part of the indictment by the Department of Justice and more. Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host ta...
Jun 14, 2023•34 min
