Strict Scrutiny - Strict Scrutiny

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It's Officially Bad Decision Season Jun 02, 2025

Show notes

Live from Capital Turnaround in Washington, D.C., Leah, Kate, and Melissa wade right into the swamp, breaking down the (very weird, very disturbing) sexual harassment claims against Texas’s ex-solicitor general, Judd Stone and holding their noses to read Coach Brett Kavanaugh’s opinion on the National Environmental Policy Act. Then, the hosts welcome special guests Ambassador Norm Eisen and Emily Amick, author of the Substack, Emily in Your Phone, to talk about the avalanche of litigation against the Trump administration and reproductive rights (and wrongs), respectively.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Leah: Taylor Swift's letter about buying back her art; Why Is This Supreme Court Handing Trump More and More Power?, Kate Shaw (NYT); Living by the Ipse Dixit, Steve Vladeck (One First); The New Dark Age, Adam Serwer (The Atlantic); Elon Musk’s Legacy Is Disease, Starvation and Death, Michelle Goldberg (NYT)

Kate: Beware: We Are Entering a New Phase of the Trump Era, M. Gessen (NYT), How YOU Helped Knock Musk Out of DC–& of Politics, Norm Eisen (Substack); On the Campaign Trail, Elon Musk Juggled Drugs and Family Drama, Kirsten Grind and Meghan Twohey (NYT); Cowboy Carter

Melissa: Her incredible shoes from the show; seeing Cowboy Carter; the newest season of Just Like That; Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson

Emily: Nine Perfect Strangers (Hulu); Everyone Is Lying to You by Jo Piazza

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

A Blockbuster Non-Opinion and a Fascism Grab Bag May 26, 2025

Show notes

Melissa, Leah, and Kate kick the show off with a look at the Court’s 4-4 deadlock on Oklahoma’s religious charter school case. Then, it’s a romp through the shadow docket, Judge Jim Ho’s sweaty pleas for attention, Kristi Noem’s humiliating Senate hearing, and selections from Trump’s fascism grab bag. Leah also speaks with Professor Noah Rosenblum of NYU School of Law about the 6-3 decision from the Court allowing the president to fire federal commissioners without cause.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Kate: Read Your Way Through New York City (NYT); Girl on Girl How: Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, Sophie Gilbert; Cahokia Jazz, Francis Spufford
Leah: Matt Kacsmaryk Shouldn't Be a Judge, Chris Geidner (Law Dork); Let Them Stare, Julie Murphy and Jonathan Van Ness; Kissing Girls on Shabbat, Sara Glass; The Duke of Shadows, Meredith Duran
Melissa: The Four Seasons (Netflix); Matriarch, Tina Knowles

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

Will the Courts Let Trump End Birthright Citizenship? May 19, 2025

Show notes

May is supposed to be the calm before June’s opinion storm in SCOTUS-land, but not in Trump’s America. Melissa, Kate, and Leah kick off the show with the latest news, including Stephen Miller’s habeas suspension fantasies and the president’s blatant disregard of the emoluments clause when it comes to free jumbo jets. Then, the hosts are joined by professor Elora Mukherjee of Columbia Law School to break down last week’s oral arguments in the Court’s blockbuster birthright citizenship case.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Kate: Second Life: Having a Child in the Digital Age, Amanda Hess; Harvard Paid $27 for a Copy of Magna Carta. Surprise! It’s an Original, Stephen Castle (NYT)
Leah: My Friends, Fredrik Backman; Senator Sheldon Whitehouse on All Rise News;
Melissa: Weight Watchers Got One Thing Very Right, Jennifer Rubin (NYT); This Is Big: How the Founder of Weight Watchers Changed the World -- And Me, Marisa Meltzer; Forever (Netflix)

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

The Supreme Court’s ‘Lawless’ Era May 12, 2025

Show notes

Drop everything and read! This week, the hosts celebrate the release of Leah’s book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. Just how did the vibes get so rancid? What is Sam Alito’s…whole deal? And where does Taylor Swift factor in? The answers to these questions (and more!) are in the book. Then, after a rundown of the latest news out of the courts and White House, Leah chats with Amanda Litman, author of the latest book from Crooked Reads, When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership.

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

Will SCOTUS Sign Off on Religious Charter Schools? May 05, 2025

Show notes

Is this the term when the Court says “see ya” to the Establishment Clause? Leah, Melissa and Kate consider that question in their recap of this week’s religious charter school case, Oklahoma Charter School Board v. Drummond. Also covered: Advocate Lisa Blatt’s run-in with Neil Gorsuch during oral arguments for a disability rights case, opinions concerning SSI benefits and the Department of Transportation, and the Trump administration’s absurd investigation into the Harvard Law Review.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Kate: Sinners; Is It Happening Here? by Andrew Marantz (New Yorker)
Leah: Girl on Girl How: Pop Culture Turned a Generation of Women Against Themselves, Sophie Gilbert; The Tide is Turning, Dahlia Lithwick (Slate); Trump & Bukele’s Concentration Camp, Andrea Pitzer (NY Mag); Just Security Litigation Tracker
Melissa: The Secret History of Home Economics: How Trailblazing Women Harnessed the Power of Home and Changed the Way We Live, Danielle Dreilinger; The Pauli Murray Center for History and Social Justice

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

Can Religious Parents Veto Books in Public Schools? Apr 28, 2025

Show notes

Kate and Leah recap oral arguments in two big cases the Supreme Court heard this week. The first is about LGBTQ+ inclusive reading materials in public schools, and the second is about the Affordable Care Act's mechanism for ensuring preventative care. There are also developments in the Alien Enemies Act litigation, and a devastating, if predictable, executive order targeting the Civil Rights Act. Plus, Emily Amick, of Emily In Your Phone, joins to discuss the rise of the creepy conservative push to get women to have more babies.

Hosts' Favorite Things:
Leah:

SCOTUS conservatives seem eager to increase parents' religious rights in public schools by Chris Geidner
How Sam Alito Inadvertently Revealed His Own Homophobia From the Bench by Mark Joseph Stern
Deportation to CECOT: The Constitutional Prohibition on Punishment Without Charge or Trial by Ahilan Arulanantham
REVEALED: Elon and Trump's Plans to Mint More Mothers by Emily Amick
These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean

Kate:

The Trump Victim I Can’t Stop Thinking About by Michelle Goldberg
We Visited Rumeysa Ozturk in Detention. What We Saw Was a Warning to Us All by Sen. Edward J. Markey, Rep. Jim McGovern, and Rep. Ayanna Pressley

Emily:

Now comes the ‘womanosphere’: the anti-feminist media telling women to be thin, fertile and Republican by Anna Silman
Everyone is Lying to You by Jo Piazza
The Testaments by Margaret Atwood
The Witch Elm by Tana French

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

Are Trump Administration Officials in Criminal Contempt? Apr 21, 2025

Show notes

Leah, Melissa and Kate join forces to dig through the Trump administration’s latest affronts to the law and the possibility that its officials could be held in criminal contempt. They also react in real time to the Court’s decision to take up the question of birthright citizenship and cheer Harvard’s stand against the administration. Finally, they take a look at what’s in front of SCOTUS this week, including a new opportunity for the conservative majority to use the EPA as a punching bag and its latest foray into the culture wars.

Hosts’ favorite things:

Melissa: White Potus (SNL); Good Dirt, Charmaine Wilkerson; Hacks (Max); Confessions of a Female Founder (with Reshma Saujani)
Kate: So You Want to be a Dissident Julia Angwin & Ami Fields-Meyer (New Yorker); Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, Michael Lewis; Just Security (Substack); Judge Wilkinson’s opinion for the 4th circuit on the Abrego Garcia case; Catalina, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
Leah: Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance, Ari Richter; The Vibe Shifts Against The Right, Michelle Goldberg (NYT); Harvard’s new website
Also mentioned this episode: The Supreme Court threatens to bring “Don’t Say Gay” to every classroom in America, Ian Millhiser (Vox); Five Questions About Domestic Use of the Military, Steve Vladek (One First)

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

SCOTUS Lets Trump Play Word Games Apr 14, 2025

Show notes

This week, the Court weighed in on two cases arising out of the Trump administration’s use of the 1798 Alien Enemies Act to deport people to El Salvador. Kate, Melissa, and Leah break down both rulings, looking at how SCOTUS is giving leeway to the administration. For the second part of the show, Deborah Archer, professor of law at NYU and president of the ACLU, joins to talk about her new book, Dividing Lines: How Transportation Infrastructure Reinforces Racial Inequality.

Hosts’ favorite things this week:

Leah: Dividing Lines, Deborah Archer; Why Universities Must Start Litigating—and How (The Nation), David Pozen, Ryan Doerfler, and Samuel Bagenstos; The Case for Suing, Adam Unikowsky
Kate: Princeton President Chris Eisgruber on The Daily; Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, Michael Lewis
Melissa: Up Home: One Girl's Journey, Ruth J. Simmons; The White Lotus (Max)

Vote for Less Radical in the Webby Awards here and here!

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

What’s the Future of Planned Parenthood? Apr 07, 2025

Show notes

Leah and Kate recap recent opinions and arguments from the Supreme Court, including cases about tax exemptions for religious organizations and the future of Planned Parenthood. Along the way they celebrate Susan Crawford’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech on the Senate floor, touch on potential legal challenges to Trump’s ruinous tariffs, and discuss the latest in the ongoing right-wing effort to challenge Allison Riggs’ election to the Supreme Court of North Carolina.

Hosts’ favorite things this week:

Kate: Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived, M. Gessen; Setting the Record Straight on the Anti-Trump Injunctions, Steve Vladek; The Battle for the Bros, Andrew Marantz; Museum of Now, This American Life; The Senate and the Edward Martin Nomination, Jack Goldsmith; Isola, Allegra Goodman; How the Trump Administration Learned to Obscure the Truth in Court, Leah Litman
Leah: Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead, Ariana Grande; Hate Won't Win: Find Your Power and Leave This Place Better Than You Found It, Mallory McMorrow; Why Trans People Must Prove a History of Discrimination Before the Supreme Court, Chase Strangio; Remarkable Things in the Government’s Alien Enemies Act Briefs to the Supreme Court, Marty Lederman

Vote for Less Radical in the Webby Awards here and here!

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

3/6/26 – San Francisco
3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes

Can Elon Musk Buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race? (With Jon Lovett) Mar 31, 2025

Show notes

Jon Lovett joins Leah and Melissa to talk about what’s at stake in this week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election and what it was like campaigning for Susan Crawford in Madison and Milwaukee. Then, the ladies run through a busy week of argument recaps, opinions, and legal news, covering the relitigation of the Voting Rights Act, the sunsetting of the administrative state, and that text chain.

Hosts’ favorite things this week:

Leah: After Dobbs, David Cohen & Carol Jaffe; Mayhem, Lady Gaga; Black Bag, Steven Soderbergh; Wrexford & Sloane mystery series by Andrea Penrose; Lawsuits by Wilmer & Jenner challenging wildly unconstitutional executive orders; Judge Howell’s order rejecting the request for her to recuse in the challenge to the EO targeting the Perkins Coie order
Melissa: Last week’s episode of Strict Scrutiny; A Season of Light, Julie Iromuanya; The Note, Alafair Burke; Yacht Rock: The Dockumentary (Max); Gwyneth and Meghan on Instagram; New Phone; Houthis? (Christian Schneider on X); Text STOP to opt out of war plans (Leta McCullough Seletsky on Bluesky)