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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 third installment of our Hot Supreme Court Reform September series, Leah sits down with Daphna Renan and Nikolas Bowie to discuss how judicial supremacy became the default operating system of the federal government, and how limiting the Supreme Court’s power to decline to enforce federal statutes is a crucial tool for reining it in. Niko and Daphna’s book is Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People. Enter the giveaway here!

Take the Strict Scrutiny survey.

New Strict Scrutiny 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

We Need To Talk About Judicial Review

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

BREAKING: SCOTUS Blocks Trump's Mail-In Ballot BS

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

How Trump is Using the IRS to Resegregate America

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.

Still Counting: Trump vs. The BLUE WAVE: A Midterm Extravaganza

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

We Need to Talk About Term Limits

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

We Need To Talk About Court Expansion

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 •

SCOTUS Greenlights Trump's Ballroom

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

Is SCOTUS Letting Trump Meddle in the Midterms?

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?

Drop everything and read! This week, the hosts celebrate the release of Leah’s book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes. Just how did the vibes get so rancid? What is Sam Alito’s…whole deal? And where does Taylor Swift factor in? The answers to these questions (and more!) are in the book. Then, after a rundown of the latest news out of the courts and White House, Leah chats with Amanda Litman, author of the latest book from Crooked Reads, When We're in Charge: The Next Generation's Guide to Leadership.

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

 • 3/6/26 – San Francisco

 • 3/7/26 – Los Angeles

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

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

The Supreme Court’s ‘Lawless’ Era

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