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Strict Scrutiny

Strict Scrutiny

#6 in Government this week

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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  • 42 episodes
  • Avg 1 hr 15 min
  • English
Counted on this page — what you have heard stays on this device, so it is not something the list can be paged by.
  • S7 · E30
    April 27 · 1 hr 36 min

    How Low Can the DOJ Go?

    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/events Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Preorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here. Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

  • S7 · E29
    April 20 · 1 hr 37 min

    SCOTUS Squabbles Go Public

    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/events Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader Preorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here. Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

Showing 41–42 of 42 episodes