Strict Scrutiny

• The Lower Courts Punch Up

  Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down how the lower courts are challenging the Trump administration and expressing their frustration with SCOTUS. Then, they check in with two members of the supermajority: Brett Kavanaugh, who’s touting a shiny new shadow docket rebrand, and Amy Coney Barrett as she commences her cursèd book tour. Finally, the hosts speak with Yale Law professor Justin Driver about his book, The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Higher Education.Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:Kate: Apologies: You Have Reached the End of Your Free-Trial Period of America! By Alexandra Petri (The Atlantic); Bonus 176: Law, Lawlessness, and Doomerism, Steve Vladeck (One First); How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart, Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole (NYT)Leah: The DC Circuit’s Realpolitik Orders in the Foreign Aid Funding Case, Chris Geidner; 174. Justice Gorsuch's Attack on Lower Courts & Bonus 174: Playing the Justices for Fools, Steve Vladeck (One First); The Supreme Court Is Backing Trump’s Power Grab, Kate Shaw & Ezra Klein (NYT).Melissa: RFK’s Senate Finance Committee hearing; Hijacking the Kennedys, Reeves Waldman (New York Magazine); Nancy Mace: Everything You Didn't Know About Her Sh*tty Past (Crooked’s Hysteria); These Summer Storms, Sarah MacLean; Gwyneth: The Biography, Amy OdellJustin: The Creative Act: A Way of Being, Rick Rubin; Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott, Randall Kennedy (Yale Law Journal) Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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• The Shadow Docket Just Won’t Quit

  The gang is back together as Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down this week’s mountain of legal news, including the Court’s greenlighting of Trump’s anti-DEI National Institutes of Health cuts, the president’s war on mail-in ballots, and a batshit missive from Solicitor General John Sauer. Then, Leah speaks with candidate for Michigan attorney general Eli Savit about the latest threat to marriage equality. Finally, Kate chats with Penn Law professor Serena Mayeri about her book, Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law.Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:Leah: One First, Steve Vladeck; The Pennyroyal Green Series, Julie Anne Long; Why the Supreme Court Is Not to Be Trusted, Laurie L. Levenson (LARB)Kate: Would You Trust This Man With Your Elections? By Richard Hasen (NYT); Kim Lane Scheppele’s Chautauqua lecture;Melissa: Atmosphere, Taylor Jenkins Reid; Commonwealth, Ann Patchett; The Gilded Age (HBO)Eli: Jealous Type, Doja Cat Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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• The Dubious Legality of Trump's DC Takeover

  Kate and Leah recap the week's legal news, including argument calendars for the next SCOTUS term and President Trump's attempted federal takeover of Washington, DC. Then, it's our third annual State of The Uterus episode. Melissa and Leah talk with Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen, founder of ClutchKit, about the current status of reproductive freedom three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Finally, Leah talks about the authors of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe, But Not Abortion.Favorite Things:Leah: Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancies in America, by Irin Carmon; track list and cover art for Taylor Swift's forthcoming The Life of a Showgirl; Ben Platt's cover of Diet Pepsi; Melissa's appearance on Nicole Wallace's podcast, The Best People; "Redistricting Texas Now is Illegal and the U.S. Department of Justice is the Reason Why," by Ellen Katz; and Laura Loomer's weird deposition in a case against Bill MaherKate: Vera, or Faith, by Gary Shteyngart; Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler; Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab; The Retrievals; "The Chadha Presidency," by Josh Chafetz; and "Trump, John Roberts and the Unsettling of American Politics," by David Dailey Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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• How the GOP is Trying to Steal the 2026 Midterms

  Melissa and guest co-host Imani Gandy of Rewire News Group break down the week’s legal happenings, including how Texas Democrats are attempting to thwart that state’s gerrymandering efforts, college admissions in the age of Trump, and more Epstein fallout. Then, Melissa chats with Duke Law Professor Brandon Garrett about his book, Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World. Finally, Leah speaks with University of Michigan Law Professor Richard Primus, author of the new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. Check out Imani’s podcast Boom! Lawyered.Hosts’ Favorite Things:Melissa: Tom Lake, Ann Patchett; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig; How the George Floyd Protests Changed America, for Better and Worse, Justin Driver (NYT)Imani: Palisade Peaches; Revenge; Death Stranding; Brit BoxGet tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comBuy Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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• Stacking the Bench with Creeps & Kooks

  Leah and guest co-host Mark Joseph Stern of Slate and the Amicus podcast run through what’s been happening in the courts this week, including disturbing attacks on judges, the confirmation of the extremely unsavory Emile Bove, and Amy Coney Barrett’s upcoming appearance with Bari Weiss. Then, Kate and Melissa speak with Jessica Calarco, sociologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, about her book, Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.Hosts’ favorite things:Mark: The Subway, Chappell Roan; Uncle Bobby’s Wedding, Sarah S. Brannen & Lucia SotoLeah: Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches, Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan; The Chrysalis Option, Eric Coulson; DOJ's (Ridiculous) Misconduct Complaint Against Chief Judge Boasberg, Steve Vladeck (One First); Dept. Q (Netflix); NY Times Pitchbot on SCOTUS Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 10/4 – ChicagoLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesGet tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.comFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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