Will Trump Succeed in Rigging the Midterms?

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