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Strict Scrutiny

Strict Scrutiny is a podcast about the United States Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it.

Hosted by three badass constitutional law professors-- Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray-- Strict Scrutiny provides in-depth, accessible, and irreverent analysis of the Supreme Court and its cases, culture, and personalities. Each week, Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down the latest headlines and biggest legal questions facing our country, emphasizing what it all means for our daily lives.

Whether you’re a lawyer or law student, or you’re just here for the messy legal drama, Strict Scrutiny has you covered. New episodes out every Monday… plus bonuses whenever SCOTUS takes away another one of our rights.

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S7 · E56
Yesterday · 32 min
BREAKING: SCOTUS Blocks Trump's Mail-In Ballot BS
Kate, Leah and Melissa hop on to break down the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration’s Postal Service regulation announcing it would not deliver mail-in ballots unless states adopted a bunch of last-minute, unnecessary, burdensome, and impossible policies governing mail in ballots. They cover Trump’s tantrum over the decision, Brett Kavanaugh’s endlessly pathetic pick-me energy, and Sam Alito’s God tier false equivalencies. Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book,The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E55
Monday · 1 hr 34 min
How Trump is Using the IRS to Resegregate America
Melissa is joined by guest co-host Rashad Robinson, political strategist, media advocate, and former president of Color Of Change, to run through last week’s legal news, which involves SCOTUS’s latest shadow docket shenanigans, campaign finance fights, and Missouri Republican efforts to push a mid-cycle congressional redistricting plan that could eliminate a Democratic seat. Also: a Strict Scrutiny history lesson on the “segregation academies” created across the South in resistance to school integration, and how new proposed regulations from the Trump administration have the potential to utterly remake education and turn the dial back to a time when American education was racially divided. Then Melissa, Leah and Kate sit down with Niko Bowie & Daphna Renan to talk about their new book, Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People. Enter the giveaway for Supremacy here! Public comments on racial nondiscrimination in private schools here. Favorite Things: Melissa:Rashad Robinson’s From Presence to Power: How to Take On the Fights That Matter--and Win; Where the Girls Were by Kate Schatz; A Marriage at Sea: A True Story of Love, Obsession, and Shipwreck by Sophie Elmhirst Rashad: U.S. Open specifically Coco Gauff, Frances Tiafoe, and Ben Shelton; ADULTS, The Scrub Episode (FX); The Disappearers by Marlon James Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
Friday · 22 min
Still Counting: Trump vs. The BLUE WAVE: A Midterm Extravaganza
Nate Silver, Clare Malone, and Galen Druke discuss the most competitive Senate races heading into the midterms in this excerpt from their new podcast, Still Counting. To hear the rest, head over to Still Counting and subscribe! New episodes drop every Wednesday evening. You can request a transcript by emailing transcripts@crooked.com. Include the podcast name, episode title, and air date. Please allow 48 hours for delivery.
Thursday · 36 min
We Need to Talk About Term Limits
In part two of our Hot Supreme Court Reform September series, Kate and the Brennan Center’s Alicia Bannon make the case for term limits for the Court. The idea has bipartisan support, but what would they look like in practice? And, crucially, does Congress have the power to impose them? Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
September 3 · 44 min
We Need To Talk About Court Expansion
How do you solve a problem like SCOTUS? Kate kicks off our Hot Supreme Court Reform September series with the New York Times’ Jamelle Bouie. They dig into the ins and outs of expanding the Court: what the process could look like, the argument for making the entire federal judiciary bigger, and how to avoid an FDR-style fail. Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
September 1 · 34 min
SCOTUS Greenlights Trump's Ballroom
In this bonus episode, Leah and Melissa break down the Supreme Court’s decision to let Trump move forward with plans for a White House ballroom, despite lower courts finding that the project cannot proceed without congressional authorization and appropriated funds. They also discuss a whistleblower’s allegations that the federal government is defying court orders on voting by mail, and new reporting from Jodi Kantor on the Supreme Court’s secretive policies governing when the justices’ papers and internal records will be made public. Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E54
August 31 · 1 hr 29 min
Is SCOTUS Letting Trump Meddle in the Midterms?
Kate and Leah break down last week's atrocious shadow docket order on the President's wildly illegal executive order concerning elections and absentee ballots, which furthers the administration's effort to, as Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson warns, "foment chaos ahead of the November elections." Then, after touching on other legal news from the week, Leah speaks with former Governor of North Carolina—and current Senate candidate—Roy Cooper about the Court’s gutting of election law and what he’ll do about it when he’s elected. Finally, we kick off Hot SCOTUS Reform September with a conversation about docket reform featuring One First’s Steve Vladeck. Look out for our bonus series on Supreme Court reform every Thursday in September! Favorite things: Leah: Pumpkin spice latte season; Taylor Swift’s Icon Session; Operation Metro Surge resistance takes center stage in State Fair art (MPR News); KBJ’s dissent in Trump v. California Kate: Paradiso 17, Hannah Lillith Assadi; Ordinary People, Extraordinary Times, Skye Perryman; The Political Supreme Court, Rachel A. Shelden; End Times Fascism, Naomi Klein and Astra Taylor; meeting Mikey Friedman and learning about Page Break; Dolly Parton tributes Take the Strict Scrutiny survey. New Strict merch available here. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E53
August 27 · 37 min
Know Your Rights: Do You Have to Talk to Cops?
In the second episode of our Know Your Rights series, Leah and Melissa sit down with NYU Law’s Daniel Harawa to break down what you do—and don't—have to say when law enforcement stops you. They cover the difference between being seized and a consensual encounter, and the crucial distinction between knowing your rights on paper and using your judgment to stay safe in the moment. You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E52
August 24 · 1 hr 52 min
What Does Peak Fascism Look Like?
Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Leah is joined by guest co-host Somil Trivedi, advocacy director & senior counsel at Court Accountability, to run through last week’s legal news, which involves a whole lot of straight up fascism, the corruption that enables it, and the rising tide of Christian nationalism. They also ask the important questions: Who’s the richest SCOTUS justice? And…what exactly is Trump babysitter Natalie Harp’s whole deal? Then Melissa sits down with Jesse Wegman for a conversation about his book, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution. Favorite Things: Leah: The Natalie Harp saga; The Five-Star Weekend (Peacock); Lost Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers; He Was Deported to a Country He’d Never Heard Of. He May Never Go Free, Nicholas Casey (NYT); Kate’s conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer about their book, On Courage; The Wrong Kind of American, Julia Curlee (The Atlantic) Somil: Lost Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers; Frozen Charlotte, Jack White Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E51
August 17 · 1 hr 36 min
All the President’s Henchmen
Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Kate is joined by Liz Oyer, former DOJ pardon attorney and federal public defender, to tick through last week’s news. Among the items covered: Todd Blanche’s swearing-in by lackey Emil Bove, the latest attempt by the administration to expand executive privilege, the renewed vendetta against the Fed’s Lisa Cook, and John Roberts’ Substack debut…That’s right, the Chief is out here postin’. Then, a conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer about their new book, On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. Check out Liz’s podcast, Is This Really Legal?. Favorite things: Kate: Just Security’s Reinvention Blueprints; One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention, Maryam Tahmasebi; John Oliver on the DOJ; Trump’s catering cart caper Liz:How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Theo Baker; The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout; Ponies (Peacock) Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E50
August 13 · 38 min
Know Your Rights: Copwatching 101
In part one of our two-part Know Your Rights series, Leah speaks with Brooklyn Law School’s Jocelyn Simonson about copwatching. They cover what the law says about filming police and federal officers like ICE agents, the line between protected observation and unlawful interference, and how to think about navigating the gap between exercising your constitutional rights and personal safety. Jocelyn’s book is Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Incarceration. Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E49
August 10 · 1 hr 31 min
Sometimes, These F*ckers Lose
Melissa and Justice Correspondent for The Nation Elie Mystal sift through the results of last week’s primaries, including good news from Missouri and Kansas, with a detour on why Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed needs to shape up on Court reform. Then, the latest installment of Todd Blanche’s confirmation process for Attorney General and the many misdeeds at the department he hopes to permanently lead: letting insurrectionists off the hook, the targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center as well as a progressive judge who used to work there, and assaults on the fourth estate. Also: welcome to the resistance…Jeanine Pirro? And finally, a late-breaking update on the Trump administration's continuing war on birthright citizenship. Favorite things: Elie: Jouppi v. Alaska Melissa:Crash Into Me, Robinne Lee Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E48
August 3 · 1 hr 31 min
Will Trump Succeed in Rigging the Midterms?
Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Kate and Leah have good news and bad news. The good: The Paramount/Warner Brothers merger is on hold, the Tate brothers are facing extradition, and Todd Blanche’s nomination for AG has hit a roadblock. The bad: …Everything else. They also cover the ongoing prosecution of Jim Comey for seashell art, and speak with UCLA Law’s Rick Hasen about Trump’s effort to assert presidential control over federal elections. Then, Kate checks in with Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director for If/When/How, on what she and her colleagues are seeing when it comes to the use of the criminal law to target both abortion and people who experience pregnancy loss after Dobbs. Favorite things: Kate: Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez; A Setback for the MAGA Media Takeover, Michelle Goldberg (NYT); Dancing to Stave Off Dementia, Emily Goligoski (Harper's Bazaar); Creating the Administrative Constitution: The Lost One Hundred Years of American Administrative Law, Jerry L. Mashaw Leah: Music, Fashion, Film, Charli xcx; Who's the Clown?, Audrey Hobert; This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy, Ben Wikler; Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk's Racist Commentary?, Jamelle Bouie (New York Times); Supreme Court Job Approval Slumps to Record Low (Gallup) Rick: Jo Nesbø's Detective Hole (Netflix); Lucky (Apple); The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders, Seth Masket; Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History, Julia R. Azari Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E47
July 27 · 1 hr 29 min
Dude Process, Not Due Process
Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle Friend of the Pod Emily Amick of Emily in Your Phone joins Leah to break down the week’s legal news, and the various and sundry ways due process is getting railroaded by Trump, the courts, and the terrible (mostly) men therein. While no discussion of bad decisions would be complete without the Fifth Circuit, we also have an appearance from Senator Josh Hawley, whose effort to limit information on medical abortion options has disturbing links to the playbook used against gender-affirming care. Then, Leah speaks with Kalpana Kotagal, Commissioner at the Equal Employment Opportunity Commission, about being the lone Democratic appointee after Trump fired the others, and the work of the Commission in a post-independent agency world. Check out Emily’s Substack, Instagram, and her book, Democracy in Retrograde. Favorite things: Leah:The Off Campus Series, Elle Kennedy; Game of Rogues, Julie Anne Long; Andrew Tate's Empire of Abuse, Heidi Blake (+ Blake’s interview with WITHpod); Autonomy News; this decision from the Hawaii Supreme Court; Subpoenas About Reporting on Qatar Gifted Air Force One Are Withdrawn After Argument in SDNY, Matthew Russell Lee (Inner City Press) Emily: Careless People, Sarah Wynn-Williams; The God of the Woods, Liz Moore; Ride or Die (Amazon Prime); Smitten Kitchen’s zucchini pasta Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E46
July 20 · 1 hr 26 min
How Bad Is Trump's Attorney General Pick?
Kate brings you a triptych of legal happenings this week. First, the latest news with friend of the pod Katie Phang, including a look at Todd Blanche’s Senate confirmation hearing, which certainly confirmed one thing: once you’re Trump’s personal lawyer, you’re forever Trump’s personal lawyer. Then, a conversation about making the courts an electoral issue and why we need fresh candidates for judicial seats with Run for Something’s Amanda Litman. Finally, ahead of a crucial August 4th ballot measure in Kansas, Kate speaks with Micah Kubic, Executive Director of the ACLU of Kansas, and Emily Wales, President and CEO of Planned Parenthood Great Plains, about how Republicans in Kansas are trying to change how justices are selected for the state supreme court in order to walk back abortion rights. Check out Katie’s YouTube channel & Substack and pre-order Amanda Litman’s book, When We’re in Charge, in paperback. Favorite things: Kate:Road trips, HUMBE Amanda:This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy, Ben Wikler; Ungodly Rich, Katharine McGee; Down to Earth, Julia Turshen Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E45
July 13 · 1 hr 27 min
Our Long Road Out of Autocracy
Kate is joined by returning guest and friend of the show, Kim Lane Scheppele, the Laurance S. Rockefeller Professor of Sociology and International Affairs at Princeton, and one of the world’s leading scholars of democratic backsliding, autocracy, and the rule of law. They discuss how the Supreme Court has been “captured,” the ways Donald Trump is attempting to remake Washington, D.C., in his image, and what Hungary can teach us about autocracy and how to recover from it. Favorite things: Kate:Emil Bove Defended Trump in Court. Then Trump Made Him a Judge, Mattathias Schwartz (NYT); Mailman: My Wild Ride Delivering the Mail in Appalachia and Finally Finding Home, Stephen Starring Grant Kim:Regime Change: Inside the Imperial Presidency of Donald Trump, Maggie Haberman & Jonathan Swan; Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID, Nicholas Enrich; The Dual State, Ernst Fraenkel; The Origins of Totalitarianism, Hannah Arendt; It Can't Happen Here, Sinclair Lewis; Borgen - Power & Glory (Netflix); Gok Wan's Easy Asian (Prime Video) Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E44
July 6 · 1 hr 32 min
Surveying the Wreckage of This Supreme Court Term
Melissa, Kate, and Leah take a look back on this Supreme Court term as a whole. The hypocrisy, the racism, the sheer stupidity... it's all here! Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E43
June 30 · 59 min
SCOTUS Just Barely Preserves Birthright Citizenship
In their second emergency episode in two days, Leah, Melissa, and Kate break down the Court’s final day of the term and folks, it’s a doozy. We’ve got America’s preeminent “father of daughters” Coach Brett Kavanaugh’s majority opinion allowing states to exclude trans women and girls from female sports teams, a massive blow to campaign finance law, and the survival of birthright citizenship by the skin of the 14th Amendment’s teeth. To top it all off, we got an Alito retirement fakeout courtesy of NPR. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com
S7 · E42
June 29 · 53 min
SCOTUS Kills Independent Agencies, Expands Presidential Power
In this emergency episode, Leah and Kate break down today’s incredibly consequential decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook, which followed the Project 2025 playbook to rewrite almost a century of precedent regarding presidential power. They also discuss how close the Court came to ruling that states can’t count absentee ballots that are cast by election day but received after election day in Watson v. RNC. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book,The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny, please email transcripts@crooked.com.
S7 · E41
June 29 · 1 hr 20 min
SCOTUS Keeps Rewriting Gun History
Melissa, Leah, and Kate briefly recap the Court’s two major immigration decisions last week (for a deeper dive, check out last week’s emergency episode), before digging into the Second Amendment case, Wolford v. Lopez, which featured a cage match between private property rights and the right to bear arms, as well as Sam Alito’s funhouse-mirror version of history. Also covered: opinions involving green card holders, tax foreclosures, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, corporate liability for human rights abuses, and pesticides. They wrap up the show with some of the latest voting rights news. Favorite things: Leah:Kate on Hasan Minhaj’s podcast; JD Vance’s Richard Nixon revival; SDNY on trans minors Kate:Judge Patrick J. Schiltz’s opinion quashing the subpoenas to state and local Minnesota officials Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Buy Leah’s book, Lawless, now out in paperback Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com.

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