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Crooked Media

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.

Strict Scrutiny

Leah and Kate dive into the week’s legal news, explaining how SCOTUS continues to carry water for the Trump administration. They also cover an epic slapdown of the Roberts Court out of Hawaii, Sam Alito’s Italian sojourn, and the DOJ’s refusal to investigate the wads of cash lining border czar Tom Homan’s pockets. Then all three hosts are joined by special guests Sherrilyn Ifill, founding director of the 14th Amendment Center for Law & Democracy at Howard University, and New York Times columnist Jamelle Bouie to discuss the Supreme Court in the years after the Civil War and Reconstruction and why that era, known as the Redemption Court, resonates with today’s legal landscape.

Favorite Things:

 • Leah: 
Trump’s Dream of Infinite Presidential Power • , Jamelle Bouie (NYT); 
Jimmy Kimmel’s comeback monologue • (ABC)
 • Kate: 
Chris Hayes’ WITHpod episode with Bill McKibben • Jamelle: “
How Comedy was Destroyed by By an Anti-Reality Doomsday Cult • ,” Elephant Graveyard (YouTube)
 • Sherrilyn: 
Charles Sumner: Conscience of a Nation • by Zaakir Tameez; 
King of the North: Martin Luther King Jr.'s Life of Struggle Outside the South • by Jeanne Theoharis

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Trump Administration's SCOTUS Winning Streak

Leah is joined by guest co-host Skye Perryman, president & CEO of Democracy Forward, to discuss the week’s news, including the continued pushback on the shadow docket from the lower courts and Trump’s boundless abuse of Article II. Then Kate, Melissa, and Leah — along with special guest Sherrilyn Ifill — take a look at the impact of Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson, three years into her time on the Supreme Court.

Favorite things:

Skye • : 
Sierra FerrellLeah • : 
The Summer I Turned Pretty • (Amazon); 
Charlie Kirk, Redeemed: A Political Class Finds Its Lost Cause • , Ta-Nehisi Coates (Vanity Fair); 
Miolin Bakery • , Brooklyn; 
L’Appartement 4F • , Brooklyn & Manhattan 
Kate • : Pennsylvania Supreme Court election (get involved at 
Vote Save America • )

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Looking for Bright Spots in the Courts

Our fearless hosts continue to slog through this sh*tty shadow docket summer, covering an order from the Court okaying racial profiling by ICE officers, some ominous administrative stays, Amy Coney Barrett’s ongoing press tour through right wing media, and the lower courts’ continuing frustrations with this Supreme Court. Then, Leah and Kate speak with special guest Symone Sanders Townsend, co-host of MSNBC’s The Weeknight, about how the Supreme Court is carrying out key parts of Project 2025, and enabling and facilitating other parts of the government to do the same. 

Hosts’ favorite things:

 • Leah: 
The Guatemalan Children’s Case and the Judicial Learning Curve • , Anna Bower (Lawfare); 
What Should a Lower Federal Court Judge Do When SCOTUS Plays Calvinball? • By Michael Dorf (Dorf on Law). 
 • Kate: 
Bonus 177: A Closer Look at Justice Kavanaugh's ICE Raids Opinion • , Steve Vladeck (One First); 
Zohran Mamdani’s ‘Stop Sending Us Money” TikTok • Melissa: “
Trump’s Treasury Secretary Threatens to Punch Housing Official in the Face • ,” Maggie Haberman and Shawn McCreesh (Washington Post)

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How SCOTUS is Making Project 2025 a Reality

Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down how the lower courts are challenging the Trump administration and expressing their frustration with SCOTUS. Then, they check in with two members of the supermajority: Brett Kavanaugh, who’s touting a shiny new shadow docket rebrand, and Amy Coney Barrett as she commences her cursèd book tour. Finally, the hosts speak with Yale Law professor Justin Driver about his book, The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Higher Education.

Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:

Kate • : 
Apologies: You Have Reached the End of Your Free-Trial Period of America! • By Alexandra Petri (The Atlantic); 
Bonus 176: Law, Lawlessness, and Doomerism • , Steve Vladeck (One First); 
How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart • , Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole (NYT)
Leah • : 
The DC Circuit’s Realpolitik Orders in the Foreign Aid Funding Case • , Chris Geidner; 
174. Justice Gorsuch's Attack on Lower Courts • & 
Bonus 174: Playing the Justices for Fools • , Steve Vladeck (One First); 
The Supreme Court Is Backing Trump’s Power Grab • , Kate Shaw & Ezra Klein (NYT).
Melissa • : RFK’s Senate Finance Committee 
hearing • ; 
Hijacking the Kennedys • , Reeves Waldman (New York Magazine); 
Nancy Mace: Everything You Didn't Know About Her Sh*tty Past • (Crooked’s Hysteria); 
These Summer Storms • , Sarah MacLean; Gwyneth: 
The Biography • , Amy Odell
Justin • : 
The Creative Act: A Way of Being • , Rick Rubin; 
Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott • , Randall Kennedy (Yale Law Journal)

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Lower Courts Punch Up

The gang is back together as Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down this week’s mountain of legal news, including the Court’s greenlighting of Trump’s anti-DEI National Institutes of Health cuts, the president’s war on mail-in ballots, and a batshit missive from Solicitor General John Sauer. Then, Leah speaks with candidate for Michigan attorney general Eli Savit about the latest threat to marriage equality. Finally, Kate chats with Penn Law professor Serena Mayeri about her book, Marital Privilege: Marriage, Inequality, and the Transformation of American Law.

Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:

Leah • : 
One First • , Steve Vladeck; 
The Pennyroyal Green Series • , Julie Anne Long; 
Why the Supreme Court Is Not to Be Trusted • , Laurie L. Levenson (LARB)
Kate • : 
Would You Trust This Man With Your Elections? • By Richard Hasen (NYT); Kim Lane Scheppele’s 
Chautauqua lecture • ;
Melissa • : 
Atmosphere • , Taylor Jenkins Reid; 
Commonwealth • , Ann Patchett; 
The Gilded Age • (HBO)
Eli • : 
Jealous Type • , Doja Cat

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Shadow Docket Just Won’t Quit

Kate and Leah recap the week's legal news, including argument calendars for the next SCOTUS term and President Trump's attempted federal takeover of Washington, DC. Then, it's our third annual State of The Uterus episode. Melissa and Leah talk with Alexis McGill Johnson, president and CEO of the Planned Parenthood Federation of America, and Lisa Beattie Frelinghuysen, founder of ClutchKit, about the current status of reproductive freedom three years after the Supreme Court overturned Roe v. Wade. Finally, Leah talks about the authors of After Dobbs: How the Supreme Court Ended Roe, But Not Abortion.

Favorite Things:
Leah: Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancies in America, by Irin Carmon; track list and cover art for Taylor Swift's forthcoming The Life of a Showgirl; Ben Platt's cover of Diet Pepsi; Melissa's appearance on Nicole Wallace's podcast, The Best People; "Redistricting Texas Now is Illegal and the U.S. Department of Justice is the Reason Why," by Ellen Katz; and Laura Loomer's weird deposition in a case against Bill Maher

Kate: Vera, or Faith, by Gary Shteyngart; Parable of the Talents, by Octavia Butler; Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil by V.E. Schwab; The Retrievals; "The Chadha Presidency," by Josh Chafetz; and "Trump, John Roberts and the Unsettling of American Politics," by David Dailey

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

The Dubious Legality of Trump's DC Takeover

Melissa and guest co-host Imani Gandy of Rewire News Group break down the week’s legal happenings, including how Texas Democrats are attempting to thwart that state’s gerrymandering efforts, college admissions in the age of Trump, and more Epstein fallout. Then, Melissa chats with Duke Law Professor Brandon Garrett about his book, Defending Due Process: Why Fairness Matters in a Polarized World. Finally, Leah speaks with University of Michigan Law Professor Richard Primus, author of the new book The Oldest Constitutional Question: Enumeration and Federal Power. Check out Imani’s podcast Boom! Lawyered.

Hosts’ Favorite Things:

Melissa: Tom Lake, Ann Patchett; The Midnight Library, Matt Haig; How the George Floyd Protests Changed America, for Better and Worse, Justin Driver (NYT)

Imani: Palisade Peaches; Revenge; Death Stranding; Brit Box

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

10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

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

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

How the GOP is Trying to Steal the 2026 Midterms

Leah and guest co-host Mark Joseph Stern of Slate and the Amicus podcast run through what’s been happening in the courts this week, including disturbing attacks on judges, the confirmation of the extremely unsavory Emile Bove, and Amy Coney Barrett’s upcoming appearance with Bari Weiss. Then, Kate and Melissa speak with Jessica Calarco, sociologist and professor at the University of Wisconsin–Madison, about her book, Holding It Together: How Women Became America’s Safety Net.

Hosts’ favorite things:

 • Mark: 
The Subway • , Chappell Roan; 
Uncle Bobby’s Wedding • , Sarah S. Brannen & Lucia Soto
 • Leah: 
Life Is a Lazy Susan of Sh*t Sandwiches • , Jennifer Welch and Angie Sullivan; 
The Chrysalis Option • , Eric Coulson; 
DOJ's (Ridiculous) Misconduct Complaint Against Chief Judge Boasberg • , Steve Vladeck (One First); 
Dept. Q • (Netflix); 
NY Times Pitchbot • on 
SCOTUS

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Stacking the Bench with Creeps & Kooks

Kate and Leah break down the week’s legal happenings, including Trump’s flailing efforts to manage the Epstein fallout, the latest abomination from the shadow docket, and the legal quagmire surrounding Trump lackey Alina Habba’s appointment as U.S. Attorney for New Jersey. Then, they speak with law professors—and former clerks for David Souter—Allison Orr Larsen and Erin Delaney about the late justice’s legacy.

Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:

 • Kate: The Power Broker, Robert Caro; 
Will to Resist: What Dartmouth Teaches Harvard About Protecting American Freedom • , Bruce Swartz (Just Security)
 • Leah: 
The Palace of Rogues Series • , Julie Anne Long
 • Allison: 
Tucci in Italy • (National Geographic); 
Marjorie • , Taylor Swift
 • Erin: 
How to Hide an Empire; A History of the Greater United States • , Daniel Immerwahr

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Can Trump Sue His Way Out of the Epstein Mess?

Melissa and Kate run through the latest legal news, including the Court greenlighting the dismantling of the Department of Education. Then, they speak with NYU law professor Rachel Barkow about her book, Justice Abandoned: How the Supreme Court Ignored the Constitution and Enabled Mass Incarceration. 

Hosts’ favorite things:

Kate • : 
Legalistic Noncompliance • , Leah Litman and Dan Deacon (University of Michigan); 
Trump’s Plans to Put Emil Bove on the Supreme Court • , Jeffrey Toobin (NYT); 
Bonus 167: The Case for Not Writing • , Steve Vladeck (One First)
Melissa • : 
Wedding People • by Alison Espach; 
What Reading 5,000 Pages About a Single Family Taught Me About America • , Carlos Lozada (NYT); 
The Kent Family Chronicles • , John Jakes; Emily in Paris walking tour

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

SCOTUS Enables Government Destruction

Leah, Melissa, and Kate kick off with a look at Jack Smith’s unsealed brief on Trump’s election interference case before digging into some cases the court is hearing this week, including one centered around ghost guns–unserialized guns that can be put together from component parts. Then, Melissa and Leah speak with Doha Mekki and Jonathan Kanter of the DOJ’s Antitrust Division about how antitrust law can be a vehicle for progressive social change.

 • Listen back to our 2023 
interview • with one of Richard Glossip's lawyers

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

 • 10/4 – Chicago

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

Get tickets to CROOKED CON November 6-7 in Washington, D.C at http://crookedcon.com

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

 
Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

An Unsealed Brief, Ghost Guns, & Antitrust Law as Social Justice

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