Strict Scrutiny

Episoade

• Ballrooms, ‘Bama and (Very) Bad Behavior 01.06.2026 1h 37min

  Leah, Kate, and Melissa recap another busy week in legal news, covering the continued fallout from the Voting Rights Act case, Louisiana v. Callais, the ongoing saga of the DOJ’s insurrectionist slush fund, wild twists with the Broadview Six, more ballroom drama, the curious case of the Georgia judge who had loud sex in her chambers and then lied about it, and more. They also cover SCOTUS opinions involving compassionate release for prisoners and compelled arbitration before Leah speaks with University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade about her book, The Fix: Saving America from the Corruption of a Mob-Style Government.Favorite things: Kate: Trump's Illegal $250 Bill: A Micro-History of Autocracy, Ruth Ben-Ghiat (Lucid); How Callais broke the Voting Rights Act and weaponized the equal protection clause, Issa Kohler-Hausmann & Kevin Z. Yang (SCOTUSblog); Beg For Me (JADE Remix), Lilly Allen; Harmeet Dhillon Is Not Wasting Any Time, Quinta Jurecic (The Atlantic); Brown’s Advancing Impact on Maternal and Reproductive Health Lab Leah: Ronny Chieng’s Harvard speech; Hit the Wall, Gracie Abrams; Midnight Sun, Zara Larsson Melissa: Strangers, Belle Burden; her event at Politics and Prose at The Wharf on 6/3/26; Liar's Kingdom: How to Stop Trump's Deceit and Save America, Andrew Weissmann Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsBuy Melissa’s bestselling book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• Trump's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Grift 25.05.2026 1h 34min

  Kate, Melissa, and Leah try to wrap their heads around Trump’s nearly $2 billion DOJ slush fund, which they agree may be—despite extremely stiff competition—the biggest act of trolling and self-dealing of his second term. The professors count the ways this is so, so illegal, and speculate on how it can be challenged (looking at you, Congress). They also cover other legal news and some SCOTUS opinions before speaking with Dorothy Roberts about her book, The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Family. Enter Leah’s merch giveaway for the paperback edition of Lawless here!Favorite things: Kate: Nikolas Bowie’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee Leah: It’s Not That Deep, Demi Lovato Melissa: Kin, Tayari Jones Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsBuy Melissa’s bestselling book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• How SCOTUS is Waging Electoral Warfare 18.05.2026 1h 44min

  Kate and Leah break down the Supreme Court’s extension of a stay allowing for continued mail-order access to mifepristone, from the Court’s unconscionable failure to meet its own arbitrary deadline to the unhinged dissents from Justices Thomas and Alito. They also cover last week’s other legal news before speaking with Ari Berman, national voting rights correspondent for Mother Jones, about the devastating fallout from the Court’s ruling in the Voting Rights Act case, Louisiana v. Callais. Finally, Melissa speaks with Kenji Yoshino and David Glasgow about their book, How Equality Wins: A New Vision for an Inclusive America.Favorite things: Kate: Kavanaugh Hegseth Patel Bar Cold Open (SNL); The Shadow Docket (Last Week Tonight with John Oliver); This Is Getting Dangerous, Jamelle Bouie (NYT); Lawyering Without Law (The Knight First Amendment Institute); Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, Ari Berman Leah: Rock Music (Charli xcx); Sam Alito’s typos Ari: Blame John Roberts for Destroying the Voting Rights Act (Mother Jones); Race and Reunion: The Civil War in American Memory and Frederick Douglass: Prophet of Freedom, David Blight; Reconstruction: America's Unfinished Revolution, 1863-1877, Eric Foner Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsBuy Melissa’s bestselling book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• The Constitution (Melissa's Version) 11.05.2026 1h 42min

  Kate & Leah talk to Melissa about her new book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader, or, as we like to call it at Strict HQ, The Constitution (Melissa’s Version). Then all three unravel what happened with the Virginia Supreme Court invalidating voter-approved redistricting maps, along with other voting-related shenanigans in the wake of Callais. Finally, they talk with Nancy Northup, president and CEO of the Center for Reproductive Rights, about why and how anti-abortion forces are once again targeting mifepristone.Favorite things: Kate: Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke; NYC Mayor Mamdani skipping the Met Gala to hang out with fashion industry workers; Chris Hayes’ interview with Molly Crabapple on Why Is This Happening?; the Artemis II crew answering kids’ questions on The Daily Leah: Middle of Nowhere, Kacey Musgraves; Dancing on the Wall, MUNA; “Who Will Stand Up to the Supreme Court Justices?” By Niko Bowie and Daphna Renan; “John Roberts Believes in an America That Doesn’t Exist,” by Jamelle Bouie Melissa: Amy Sherald’s Met Gala look Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsBuy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• Supreme Court Declares Racism Over 04.05.2026 1h 31min

  The 5th Circuit gave us a doozy late on Friday night by tightening access to the abortion drug mifepristone—Leah and Melissa break it down. Then, the full crew dives deeper into the Court’s catastrophic Voting Rights Act decision in Louisiana v. Callais (for their initial reaction, check out last week’s emergency episode). Next, they recap the troubling oral arguments in Mullin v. Doe, the case about Temporary Protected Status, in which Trump’s Solicitor General tried to argue that the President’s extremely racist statements about migrants from certain countries weren’t, in fact, racist at all. Also covered: Trump’s ballroom, arguments in an important Fourth Amendment case, and how some savvy federal judges are turning the administration’s favorite legal concept—the unitary executive theory—against it. Favorite things: Kate: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai; Transcription, Ben Lerner Leah: Ariana Grande’s new album announcement; Noah Kahan on tour; SCOTUS Drops The Other Shoe on the Voting Rights Act, Sherrilyn Ifill (Sherrilyn’s Newsletter); The Slaying of the Voting Rights Act by the Coward Samuel Alito, Rick Hasen (Slate); The Supreme Court is Corrupt. This is What We Can Do About It, Jamelle Bouie  Melissa: Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke; Voters Can Be Disenfranchised Now, Adam Serwer (The Atlantic); Legal Defense Fund Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• BREAKING: SCOTUS Deals Another Blow to Multiracial Democracy 29.04.2026 40min

  Kate and Leah are joined by Democracy Docket’s Marc Elias to break down the Supreme Court’s shameful assault on multiracial democracy in its ruling on the Voting Rights Act case, Louisiana v. Callais.Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsPreorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• How Low Can the DOJ Go? 27.04.2026 1h 36min

  From the DOJ’s targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-KKK work to Kash Patel’s outrageous lawsuit against The Atlantic for its reporting on his unfitness for office to the Fifth Circuit’s legal contortions allowing Texas to mandate the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, it’s been a wild week in the law. Kate and Leah unpack it all before recapping the week’s oral arguments, which featured the welcome return of former Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to One First Street’s hallowed halls. For the second part of the show, Kate and Leah speak with University of Pennsylvania law professor Shaun Ossei-Owusu about his new book, Law on Trial: An Unlikely Insider Reckons with Our Legal System.Favorite things: Kate: Sexistential, Robyn; USAID Whistleblower Says It Was Even Worse Than People Knew, Vittoria Elliott (Wired); Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID, Nicholas Enrich; Enrich’s interview on Pod Save the World; Melissa on the Work Friends podcast Leah: The Great Divide, Noah Kahan; Kahan’s Tiny Desk Concert; It Is Time for Ruthless Aggression, Jonathan V. Last (The Bulwark); The Gerrymandering Fight Should Be A Dress Rehearsal For Court Packing, Brian Beutler (Off Message); Sanewashing the Emergency Docket, Steve Vladeck (One First); The SPLC indictment, the Klan history behind it, and the ignominy of Todd Blanche, Chris Geidner (Law Dork); LEGO Kash Patel videos Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsPreorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• SCOTUS Squabbles Go Public 20.04.2026 1h 37min

  Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down an absolute boatload of beefs: Trump vs. Pope Leo, Sonia Sotomayor vs. Coach Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas vs. progressives, and Ketanji Brown Jackson vs. the shadow docket, before covering some of the week’s other legal news, including the Harvard Crimson’s reporting on conservative judges’ ideological litmus tests for clerkships. Then, they break down the Court’s opinion in Chevron v. Plaquemines Parish, Louisiana, before previewing some upcoming oral arguments at One First Street, including the “crimmigration” case, Blanche v. Lau.Favorite things: Leah: RFK Jr. and the raccoon penis; Her talk with Steve Vladeck in DC on her upcoming paper, The Passive Vices, on Monday, April 20 at 12:45pm - RSVP here. Melissa: Lady Tremaine, Rachel Hochhauser; Lily Allen’s West End Girl tour; Rumours, Fleetwood Mac  Kate: What I Want, MUNA; Playground, Richard Powers; Labor Dept. Investigates Texts Among Secretary’s Family and Staff, Rebecca Davis O’Brien (NYT)  Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026! 6/20/26 – New York City Learn more: http://crooked.com/eventsPreorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• War Crimes, Christian Nationalism, and the 25th Amendment 13.04.2026 1h 18min

  Even though the Supreme Court took a break from hearing oral arguments, there was still plenty of legal news breaking every day. Katie Phang joins Leah to recap that news, including Trump's threats against Iran, the overt Christian nationalist rhetoric coming from the Secretary of Defense, and a disturbing case that SCOTUS decided not to hear. Then, Emily Amick, joins Leah to talk all things 25th Amendment-- where it came from, why we probably won't see it invoked here and now, and why we should keep talking about it anyways.
• Birthright Citizenship + Bye-Bye, Pamela Jo Bondi 06.04.2026 1h 25min

  Last week saw oral arguments in the birthright citizenship case, Trump v. Barbara, and listeners, it finally happened: a legal argument so outlandish from the Trump administration that even this Court will have to rule against him. Leah and Melissa break down the back-and-forth and explain why this case will give SCOTUS credibility it doesn’t deserve. They also cover the President’s firing of the blonde with the binders, Pamela Jo Bondi–pouring one out for her chaotic, destructive reign at the Department of Justice.Favorite things: Leah: The Birthright Con, Jamelle Bouie (NYT); WNBA Players Had an Ace Up Their Sleeve in Pay Negotiations: A Nobel Laureate, Rachel Bachman & Justin Lahart (WSJ) Melissa: Parents as Regulators by Caitlin Millat, forthcoming in UCLA L. Rev.; Harlem Rhapsody, Victoria Christopher Murray; My Boo Buddies; Artemis II Vote for us in the Webbys! Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderPreorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• SCOTUS Not Cool With Colorado Ban on Conversion Therapy 31.03.2026 32min

  Today the Supreme Court issued its opinion in Chiles v. Salazer, the case involving a Colorado ban on conversion therapy. Leah is joined by Shannon Minter, Legal Director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, to break it down.Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderBuy Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• Will SCOTUS Join the GOP War on Mail-in Ballots? 30.03.2026 1h 54min

  Kate and guest co-host Ian Bassin of Protect Democracy kick off the show by covering the latest legal news, including developments at the Pentagon and Department of Justice, as well as Trump’s ominous threat to judges. Then, they recap the week’s opinions and oral arguments, focusing on Watson v. RNC, a case that could totally upend mail-in voting. Finally, Elora Mukherjee, director of the Immigrants’ Rights Clinic at Columbia Law School, returns to the show to discuss the asylum case argued before the Court last week, the birthright citizenship case now on deck, and her work with detainees at the Dilley Immigration Processing Center in Texas.Favorite things: Kate: This Is Why Flying Is So Awful, Ganesh Sitaraman (NYT); Why Flying Is Miserable and How to Fix It, Ganesh Sitaraman; The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Family, Dorothy Roberts; Law on Trial: An Unlikely Insider Reckons with Our Legal System, Shaun Ossei-Owusu Ian: The World of Yesterday, Stefan Zweig; The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution, Jesse Wegman; the band Idles, and their song Danny Nedelko Elora: Habeas Corpus for Immigrant Detainees: A Practical Guide to Filing Habeas Petitions (Vecina) Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern ReaderBuy Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
• Absentee Ballots, Asylum, and Too Many A**holes to Count 23.03.2026 1h 18min

  Leah, Kate, and Melissa preview this week’s arguments at the Court, including Watson v. Republican National Committee, a challenge over when election offices must receive absentee ballots in order for them to be counted.
• Make America Grift Again 16.03.2026 1h 32min

  Leah, Melissa and Kate catch up on all the sketchy things happening in the judicial and executive branches.
• A Court of Drugs and Guns 09.03.2026 1h 26min

  Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down the oral arguments in United States v. Hemani, and speak with California Attorney General Rob Bonta about standing up to the Trump administration on issues like tariffs, federal law enforcement overreach, and antitrust.
• The Conservative Push to Weaken Our Democracy 02.03.2026 2h

  Leah catches up on legal news with Bec Ingber, Chris Geidner, and Marc Elias.
• SCOTUS Again Takes on the 2nd Amendment—What Could Go Wrong? 23.02.2026 1h 28min

  Kate is joined by Friend of the Pod Steve Vladeck (One First) to break down last week’s legal news, including developments around noncompliance in the lower courts and SCOTUS ethics. Then, Leah and Melissa join to preview upcoming arguments before the Court where the Justices will consider important asylum and Second Amendment cases, among others. Finally, Kate speaks with Elliot Williams about his new book.
• BREAKING: SCOTUS Nixes Trump’s Tariffs 20.02.2026 43min

  In today’s much-anticipated ruling, the Supreme Court struck down Trump's tariffs. But how the opinion, dissent, and concurrences break down paints a much more complicated—and concerning—picture. What happens next?
• Is Sam Alito On His Way Out? 16.02.2026 1h 26min

  The legal news just kept coming this week, and Melissa, Leah, and Kate break it all down. Could Friend of the Pod Sam Alito be retiring? Possibly! Can Pete Hegseth retaliate against Senator and veteran Mark Kelly for free speech? No! Just how wild was Pamela Jo Bondi’s Epstein files testimony in Congress? Pretty flippin’ wild!
• Are You There, God? It’s Me, the Constitution. 09.02.2026 1h 17min

  SCOTUS may be between argument sessions, but the legal news isn’t slowing down.