In this week’s three-part episode, we take a look at state supreme courts and why this year’s elections are so important. First, Kate and Emily Passini of the ACLU walk us through some of the most crucial races. Then, Kate and Leah speak with state supreme court candidates Professor Kimberly Thomas of Michigan and Justice Allison Riggs of North Carolina. Finally, we have a conversation with Professor Miriam Seifter and Justice Anita Earls of the North Carolina Supreme Court about the weaponizati...
Sep 02, 2024•1 hr 14 min
To wrap up our series on Project 2025, Kate, Leah and Melissa are joined by NYU's Ruth Ben-Ghiat, author of Strongmen: Mussolini To The Present to share her perspective as a historian on the Heritage Foundation's terrifying plans for the country. 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 Conserv...
Aug 26, 2024•54 min
Ben Rhodes of Crooked's Pod Save the World joins Leah and Kate to break down Project 2025's truly frightening foreign policy goals. Then, Leah and Melissa are joined by The Real Housewives of Salt Lake City's Meredith Marks. In addition to braving the "rumors and nastiness" of reality television, Meredith is also a graduate of Northwestern Law School. So who better to help analyze the intersection between reality TV and the law? Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!...
Aug 19, 2024•1 hr 2 min
In what has become a depressing tradition, it's time for our annual look at the hell that SCOTUS unleashed with Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. To look at the landscape for reproductive rights and justice, the team is joined by Julia Kaye, senior staff attorney at the ACLU and Fatima Goss Graves, president and CEO of the National Women’s Law Center Action Fund. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago L...
Aug 12, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Jon Lovett joins Melissa and Leah to climb inside the mind of one of Project 2025’s biggest boosters: J.D. Vance. It’s nasty in there! Then, Leah and Melissa discuss the proposed SCOTUS reforms. Finally, Leah chats with Olivia Warren and Deeva Shah about misconduct in the federal judiciary–specifically, the investigation into certified creep Judge Joshua Kindred. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn more: h...
Aug 05, 2024•1 hr 28 min
Leah and Melissa introduce a new series on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s deranged instruction manual for taking away all of our rights and making everyone’s lives worse. Then, the whole crew is together for a conversation with Dylan C. Penningroth about his book Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights . 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-...
Jul 29, 2024•1 hr 19 min
Kate and Leah attempt to wrap their heads around Aileen Cannon’s bonkers decision on the Trump classified documents case. Then, Leah talks with Josie Duffy Rice, Kathrina Szymborski Wolfkot, and Kyle Barry about the promises and challenges of relying on state courts and state constitutional law to address the criminal legal system. Check out Kyle’s piece on the subject here . Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago ...
Jul 22, 2024•1 hr 14 min
Josh Hawley's book/polemic on the trials and tribulations of American men also gives us a window into the dark worldview that informs his politics-- so unfortunately, we needed to see what all he's saying. We decided to do an informal book club to discuss the horrors within, and we invited the only person whose opining on masculinity we actually want: Jonathan Van Ness. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Learn ...
Jul 15, 2024•1 hr 3 min
Kate, Melissa, and Leah steel themselves to look back on a truly terrible term for the ages. From SCOTUS’s determined effort to hollow out the administrative state to its cynical dodges on abortion to granting immunity to certain corrupt former presidents, it was a rough ride. Drink, anyone? In case you want to hear our predictions for yourself, go back and listen to our term preview from September 2023 Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington D...
Jul 08, 2024•1 hr 16 min
It’s the last decision day of the year, and SCOTUS goes out with a bang. Kate, Leah, and Melissa unpack the frankly terrifying decision granting Trump immunity for “official acts” taken as president. As if that’s not enough, the court takes further steps to hobble the administrative state, which will have serious consequences for the functioning of the federal government. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicago Lear...
Jul 01, 2024•46 min
Leah, Melissa and Kate try to wrap their heads around SCOTUS throwing away 40 years of precedent that allowed federal agencies (and the experts who work for them) to interpret ambiguous laws, not the judiciary. The court also made it easier to criminalize homelessness and harder to charge hundreds of January 6th insurrectionists. A tough day on 1 First Street, to say the least. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 – NYC 10/4 – Chicag...
Jun 29, 2024•1 hr 6 min
After accidentally uploading the decision in the EMTALA case, the Supreme Court released it for real today. Leah is joined by Fatima Goss-Graves, Chris Geidner, and Amanda Hollis-Brusky to analyze the Court’s “refusal to declare what the law requires,” as KBJ put it in her dissent. Plus, Leah, Chris, and Amanda break down today’s opinions in cases about the administrative state, breathing clean air, and big pharma. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – ...
Jun 28, 2024•1 hr 2 min
Leah, Melissa, and Kate weigh the implications of Bloomberg’s scoop on EMTALA (apparently someone at the court got a little trigger-happy with the upload button). Then they take a look at today’s two official opinions–is a $13,000 bribe equivalent to buying someone Chipotle? Coach Kavanaugh has thoughts. And did the government strong-arm social media companies into censoring content? There’s a word for that: jawboning. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/3...
Jun 26, 2024•40 min
As we wait for SCOTUS opinions in cases about presidential immunity, emergency abortions, the future of the administrative state, and more, we did a rowdy live show at the Howard Theatre in Washington, DC! It was one for the books-- The Second Gentleman, Doug Emhoff, joined us to reflect on the second anniversary of Dobbs. Friend of the pod Commander Steve Vladeck filled in as guest host. And former Attorney General Eric Holder joined us to talk about the Court's decision in a case about domesti...
Jun 24, 2024•2 hr 40 min
The gang is back together! Ahead of the Strict Scrutiny live show on Saturday in DC, Kate, Melissa and Leah comb through four decisions from the Court. Are these the cases everyone’s waiting for? Not quite, but they do involve repatriation taxes, malicious prosecution, federal rules of evidence, and retaliatory arrests. Read Leah's NYT OpEd: " Something’s Rotten About the Justices Taking So Long on Trump’s Immunity Case " Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! ...
Jun 20, 2024•33 min
Live from New York, it's Strict Scrutiny! Elie Mystal guest hosts with Kate and Melissa in front of a sold-out crowd at the Tribeca Festival to break down opinions, perform dramatic readings of the secret Alito recordings, and imagine some end-of-year yearbook pages for the justices. Plus, New York Magazine's Irin Carmon joins to talk about the practical effects of the Supreme Court's ruling in the mifepristone case. To watch the full episode, complete with Martha-ritas and yearbook superlatives...
Jun 17, 2024•1 hr 17 min
In an emergency episode, Leah and Melissa break down the Court's 6-3 decision to strike down a ban on bump stocks, attachments that allow semi-automatic weapons to fire at machine gun-like rates. It's bad, people. 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 Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories,...
Jun 14, 2024•43 min
Melissa and Kate talk to Molly Duane, lawyer from the Center for Reproductive Rights, about the disheartening outcome in the Zurawski case in Texas. Plus, they recap recent opinions in cases about bankruptcy, tax law, and health care on Native American reservations. To hear more about the Zurawski case, including the stories of the women who testified, listen to our episode " A Code of Misconduct " from November 2023 Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 ...
Jun 10, 2024•1 hr 10 min
Melissa and Kate recap the Supreme Court's latest opinions and catch up on the latest drama from the Alitos' flag-flying fiasco. We’re giving one lucky listener the chance to win a pair of tickets to our SOLD OUT show in DC on June 22nd.Here’s how to enter: Subscribe to Strict Scrutiny’s Youtube channel Leave a COMMENT on our most recent video episode with YOUR favorite Strict Scrutiny moment. [LINK MONDAY’S YT VIDEO HERE] The giveaway starts TODAY and ends June 7th at 11:59pm PT. We’ll be picki...
Jun 03, 2024•1 hr 12 min
A jury of Donald Trump's peers finds him guilty on all 34 counts in the Manhattan election interference trial. Melissa joins Pod Save America to talk about next steps for sentencing and possible appeal. Plus, CNN Legal Analyst Norm Eisen shares what it was like in the courtroom when the verdict came down, and Jon and Dan talk about the political fallout and which voters the conviction might sway. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/12 ...
May 31, 2024•51 min
There are more red flags flying from House Alito! Plus, that same guy authored an opinion in a major voting discrimination case, and somehow it's worse than expected. Plus, Melissa and Kate talk with Shefali Luthra about her important new book, Undue Burden: Life and Death Decisions in Post-Roe America . New merch alert!! Our new t-shirts and mugs are just thing for the hellscape to come in the final weeks of the SCOTUS term. Order Undue Burden at Bookshop.org and get 10% off Get tickets for STR...
May 27, 2024•1 hr 22 min
Leah and Melissa catch up on the Alitos' upside-down flag situation, an opinion preserving the funding structure of the CFPB, and a racial gerrymandering case out of Texas. Read Jodi Kantor's reporting on the Alitos' flag Revisit our episode recapping the oral arguments in the case challenging the CFPB We’re giving one lucky listener the chance to win a pair of tickets! Here’s how to enter: Subscribe to Strict Scrutiny’s Youtube channel Leave a comment on our most recent video episode with your ...
May 20, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Victoria Wenger of NAACP-LDF joins Kate and Leah for an update on the four years of litigation trying to get fair voting maps for Louisiana residents. Then, a major update on a group of federal officials who plan to penalize a private institution for failing to censor certain speech-- you'll never guess who! If you would like to make a donation in honor of Brendan Jackson , Leah's student who recently passed away, you can do so at www.ruckercollierfoundation.com Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY L...
May 13, 2024•1 hr 8 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap oral arguments in cases about unhoused people, immigration, and Starbucks unions. Then, it's our second annual listener mailbag episode! What's the best way to fight against usage of the Comstock Act? Should liberals be using law suits to troll conservatives? Why don't the Democrat-appointed justices speak out about their colleagues' poor behavior? You asked, we answered! Strict Scrutiny will be live at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 13th! Tickets are on sale now...
May 06, 2024•1 hr 11 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap the oral arguments in the Idaho case about the legality of abortions in emergency situations, and the case about whether former President Trump is immune from prosecution in the federal election interference case arising out of January 6. It's all very bleak! In better news, Strict Scrutiny will be live at the Tribeca Film Festival on June 13th! Tickets go on sale Tuesday, April 30th, at 11am ET. Learn more and get tickets at tribecafilm.com/strict Get tickets for S...
Apr 29, 2024•1 hr 24 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap oral arguments in cases about January 6, political corruption, malicious prosecution claims, and the right to counsel. They also break down a batch of decisions, and look ahead to how SCOTUS may address state bans on gender-affirming care. Read Professor Caitlin Millat's op ed in the Los Angeles Times: " As a pregnant law professor in Arizona, I fear the abortion ban " Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 5/31 – Washington DC 6/1...
Apr 22, 2024•1 hr 19 min
In the next two weeks, SCOTUS will hear arguments in cases on political corruption, criminalizing houselessness, whether a state abortion ban can override a federal policy permitting abortion in emergency medical care, the statute under which most January 6th defendants were convicted-- and if that weren’t enough, Donald Trump’s request for immunity in the January 6th case against him. After previewing all these cases, Kate, Leah, and Melissa also provide updates on the total abortion ban and ba...
Apr 15, 2024•1 hr 7 min
Kate and Leah break down the latest court news with Errin Haines , Editor-at-Large for The 19th and host of The Amendment , including developments in abortion access in Florida and the discourse around whether Justice Sotomayor should retire. Then, Jill Habig of the Public Rights Project and Tyler Yarbro from the Tennessee Freedom Circle join Melissa, Kate, and Leah to talk about the latest conservative effort to control the courts: judicial gerrymandering. Listen to Melissa's interview with Err...
Apr 08, 2024•1 hr 4 min
Melissa, Kate, and Leah recap the oral arguments in the case challenging the FDA's approval of mifepristone, one of the drugs used in medication abortion. They also recap arguments in cases about the Armed Career Criminal Act and Indian Health Services, and give some updates on cases they're watching in the lower courts, ranging from immigration, to guns, to Title IX. Get your tickets to Strict Scrutiny Live HERE , or head to crooked.com/events for more info. ICYMI, we did a quick reaction episo...
Apr 01, 2024•1 hr 16 min
Leah, Melissa, and Kate give a quick take on the bottom line from the oral arguments in the medication abortion case that is currently unraveling in the Supreme Court. 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 Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th) Follow us on Ins...
Mar 26, 2024•17 min
