Strict Scrutiny

By Strict ScrutinySociety & Culture News Government Philosophy

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on Philosophy
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Typical duration
84 min
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Strict Scrutiny episodes

June 22Why is SCOTUS Hoarding Opinions?
Leah, Melissa, Kate, and special guest Elie Mystal of The Nation speculate about why the Court is hoarding opinions this late into bad decision season before diving deep on the ruling in United States v. Hemani, which features drugs, the Second Amendment, and Amy Coney Barrett’s iconic Ambien jar. Plus: a new summer cocktail makes its debut, and no holds are barred, especially when it comes to Trump’s flop makeover of the Reflecting Pool. This episode was recorded live at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City.
Favorite things:
Leah:Barack Obama’s speech at the opening of his presidential center,
Kate:Michelle Obama’s speech; Obama and Mamdani Show How It’s Done, Jamelle Bouie (NYT)
Melissa: Becoming (Netflix); her award-winning audiobook

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
1 hr 27 min
June 15The Malicious Incompetence of Trump's DOJ
Kate and Leah cover this week’s three Supreme Court opinions—one featuring a killer Ketanji Brown Jackson dissent—before turning to legal news, where bad behavior is everywhere. We’ve got a violent judge who can’t park in Idaho, politically motivated prosecutors in Chicago, and Trump’s generationally incompetent personal lawyers failing to do basic lawyering. Finally, Leah speaks with Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County (MN) Attorney, about the charges her office has filed against ICE agents, the breakdown in cooperation between local authorities and the feds, and FAFO, the new coalition of prosecutors fighting back against federal overreach. The paperback edition of Leah’s book, Lawless, featuring brand-new material is out on Tuesday, June 16. Buy it here!

Favorite things:
Leah: The Supreme Court Doesn’t Own the Constitution, Jamelle Bouie (NYT); Supreme Court rejects Alabama's request to let it kill Jeffery Lee with nitrogen gas this week, Chris Geidner (Law Dork)
Kate: The Hill, Harriet Clark
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026!
6/20/26 – New York City
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Buy Melissa’s bestselling book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader

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1 hr 19 min
June 08Affirmative Action for Mediocre Men
Leah and Melissa break down what may be a new low for the Court: granting Alabama’s request to reinstate racially discriminatory voting maps. Then, they turn to the big questions: how dead is Trump’s slush fund for insurrectionists? Just how awful are Acting AG Todd Blanche and Acting DNI Bill Pulte? Will Michigan’s Democratic senators stand up to Trump’s appalling nominee for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan? They also cover three SCOTUS opinions from last week before Melissa speaks with Yale Law Professor Judith Resnik about her recent book, Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy.
Favorite things:
Leah: Maria Collett’s speech to the PA Senate on LA v. Callais; Autocratic Judging, Rebecca L. Brown and Lee Epstein (UCLA Law Review); AOC for President, Megan Wachspress (Liberal Currents); A Shocking Betrayal of Black Americans, Mara Gay (NYT)
Melissa: Imar Lyman at the Kreeger Museum in DC
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026!
6/20/26 – New York City
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Preorder Lawless in paperback (out June 16)
Buy Melissa’s bestselling book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
1 hr 25 min
June 01Ballrooms, ‘Bama and (Very) Bad Behavior
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/events

Buy Melissa’s bestselling 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
1 hr 38 min
May 25Trump's Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Grift
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/events

Buy Melissa’s bestselling 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
1 hr 35 min
May 18How SCOTUS is Waging Electoral Warfare
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/events

Buy Melissa’s bestselling 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
1 hr 45 min
May 11The Constitution (Melissa's Version)
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/events

Buy 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
1 hr 43 min
May 04Supreme Court Declares Racism Over
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/events

Order 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
1 hr 32 min
April 29BREAKING: SCOTUS Deals Another Blow to Multiracial Democracy
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/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
33 min
April 27How 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
1 hr 26 min