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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.

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

Know Your Rights: Do You Have to Talk to Cops?

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

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

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

All the President’s Henchmen

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

Know Your Rights: Copwatching 101

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

Sometimes, These F*ckers Lose

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

Will Trump Succeed in Rigging the Midterms?

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

Dude Process, Not Due Process

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

How Bad Is Trump's Attorney General Pick?

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

Our Long Road Out of Autocracy

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

Know Your Rights: Copwatching 101

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