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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

Kate and Leah run through the latest legal news, including updates on the SNAP benefits case, the email dump that revealed Jeffrey Epstein's deep ties to the establishment, and the political persecution of Representative LaMonica McIver. Then they catch up on the past couple weeks of oral arguments at the Supreme Court, which featured bad signs for a prisoner seeking damages after a flagrant violation of his religious rights, some relaxing detours into civil procedure, and Brett Kavanaugh’s deeply felt sense of injustice over…lawsuits against military contractors.

Favorite Things:

Leah • : 
Broken Country • , Clare Leslie Hall; 
Wild Dark Shore • , Charlotte McConaghy; 
First Lie Wins • ; 
Dopamine • , Robyn; Joyce Carol Oates on 
X • ; 
In Matt Gaetz Scandal, Circumstances Left Teen Vulnerable to Exploitation • , Michael S. Schmidt (NYT)
Kate • : 
The Preventionist • (Serial, NYT); 
Everybody Scream • , Florence + The Machine; 
The Long Christmas Dinner • , Symphony Space; 
A Year On From Trump’s Victory, Resistance Is Everywhere • , Rebecca Solnit (Guardian)

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

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

The Agonies of Brett Kavanaugh

Live from Crooked Con in Washington, Leah, Kate, and Melissa unpack the surprisingly not-awful oral arguments for Learning Resources, Inc. v. Trump, which put the president's tariffs in the hot seat. Then the hosts are joined by Representative LaMonica McIver of New Jersey to discuss the bogus charges against her for “assaulting” federal agents while conducting an oversight visit of an ICE detention center. Finally, friend of the pod Steve Vladeck joins Leah to break down the 3D chess behind Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s Friday night order granting an administrative stay in a case about the funding of SNAP benefits. Read Steve’s excellent piece on the subject here, and enter Leah’s Lawless giveaway here.

Favorite Things:

Kate • : Judge Sara Ellis’s reading of 
Chicago • by Carl Sandburg; 
How to Be a Good Citizen When Your Country Does Bad Things • , M. Gessen (NYT); 
The 25 Young(ish) New Democrats to Watch • , Matt Stieb and Kaleigh Rogers (New York Magazine)
Leah • : 
Zohran Mamdani’s Victory SpeechMelissa • : 
The Can’t Win Victory Fund

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

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

Will SCOTUS Say No to Trump’s Tariffs?

Kate, Leah, and Melissa dive into the legal pushback over ICE and the National Guard in Chicago and Portland, anti-marriage equality goblin Kim Davis’s unwelcome return to the courts, the administration’s lawless strikes on boats in the waters around South America, and the specter of Trump 3.0. Then, they preview November’s SCOTUS cases, including Learning Resources v. Trump, which challenges Trump’s authority to impose tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. 

Favorite things:

Leah • : 
Task • (HBO Max); 
West End Girl • , Lily Allen; 
The Kavanaugh Stop - 50 days later • , Chris Geidner (Law Dork); 
The Supreme Court’s Self-Defeating Supremacy • , Steve Vladeck (The Supreme Court Review); 
God’s Chief Justice • , Doug Bock Clark (ProPublica); 
Lawyers March for Democracy • on November 15 at 1-3pm.
Kate • : 
The Emergency • , George Packer; 
Expert Backgrounder on War Powers Resolution 60-Day Clock for Boat Strikes Expiring Monday • , Rebecca Ingber and Jessica Thibodeau (Just Security)
Melissa • : 
Impermissible Punishments: How Prison Became a Problem for Democracy • , Judith Resnik
Hurricane relief for Jamaica • :
The WalkGood Jamaica Relief FundThe American Friends of JamaicaGlobal Empowerment MissionMercy CorpsFood for the Poor Jamaica

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

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

The Legal Battles Over Trump’s War on Blue Cities

Kate and Leah dig into a very busy week of legal news as Trump wields his SCOTUS-enabled executive power in increasingly unhinged ways. They also discuss continuing challenges to the president’s deployment of the National Guard in blue cities, ProPublica’s reporting on “Kavanaugh stops,” and, for dessert, the bonkers text exchange between Trump lackey–turned–U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and Lawfare’s Anna Bower. Then they speak with author Irin Carmon about her new book, Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America. Presale for the West Coast tour starts Tuesday, Oct 28 at 10am Pacific time and runs through Thursday, 10/30 at 9AM Pacific. The code is DISSENT. 

Favorite things:

 • Leah: 
Resistance Is Cringe—But It’s Also Effective • , Quinta Jurecic (The Atlantic); 
The Democrats' Main Problem Isn’t Their Message • , Chris Hayes (NYT); 
The Peril of a White House That Flaunts Its Indifference to the Law • , Charlie Savage (NYT); 
Everybody/Elizabeth Taylor Mashup • (Backstreet Boys/Taylor Swift)
 • Kate: 
Five Tuesdays in Winter • , Lily King; 
I’m Still Here

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

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

Trump’s DOJ Shakedown

Leah, Kate, and Melissa break down last week’s agonizing two-and-a-half-hour oral argument in Louisiana v. Callais, a case that could see the already weakened Voting Rights Act gutted even further. They highlight the themes that emerged and dig into the case’s broader context with Sam Spital, Associate Director-Counsel at the Legal Defense Fund, then recap the week’s other arguments and the latest legal news. Finally, Leah talks with Joyce Vance about her new book, Giving Up Is Unforgivable: A Manual for Keeping a Democracy.

Favorite things:

Leah • : The 
Bow Street Runners • series, Lisa Kleypas; 
Flirting Lessons • , Jasmine Guillory
Kate • : 
What Are We Living Through? • By Jedediah Britton-Purdy & David Pozen (Boston Review); 
Originalist ‘Bombshell’ Complicates Case on Trump’s Power to Fire Officials • , Adam Liptak (NYT)
Melissa • : 
The Lawyer, the Witch, and the Witness: Proving Witchcraft in the English Courts • , Trace M. Maddox (Yale Journal of Law & the Humanities); Slow Dance, Rainbow Rowell; 
One Battle After Another

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

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

Will the Voting Rights Act Survive SCOTUS?

Leah, Melissa, and Kate are back in business, breaking down this term’s first week of arguments at SCOTUS, including a challenge to Colorado’s ban on conversion therapy for minors. Also covered: the indictment of New York’s Attorney General Letitia James, the continuing legal fights against Trump’s efforts to send the National Guard into Portland and Chicago, and Attorney General Pamela Jo Bondi’s pugnacious testimony before the Senate Judiciary Committee. Then, Kate and Leah speak with Yale Law Professor John Fabian Witt about his book The Radical Fund: How a Band of Visionaries and a Million Dollars Upended America, which chronicles how philanthropist Charles Garland bankrolled progressive causes through his American Fund for Public Service.

 • If you want to learn more about 
Buck • v. 
Bell • (the 1927 case Justice Alito referenced in the 
Chiles • arguments), 
listen to our deep dive • from 2020

Favorite things:

Leah: Protest videos from Portland and Chicago; The Sentimental Garbage podcast on The Life of a Showgirl

Kate: Writers & Lovers by Lily King, Creation Lake by Rachel Kushner; Red Clover Ranch in Wisconsin; wine and cider from Las Mujeres

Melissa: Vision & Justice; Miss Toy Poodle on Instagram

Leah will be in conversation with UCLA Law Professor Rick Hasen at the Hammer Museum in Los Angeles on Tuesday, Oct 14, 2025 at 7:30 PM. Details here.

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

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

Will SCOTUS Allow Conversion Therapy for Minors?

Kate, Leah, and Melissa preview what fresh hell SCOTUS has in store for us this term, including challenges to the Fourteenth Amendment and the Court’s continued obsession with fighting the culture wars. Then, after breaking down the latest legal news, the hosts welcome Lieutenant Governor of Illinois–and Senate candidate–Juliana Stratton to discuss Trump’s plan to deploy the National Guard to Chicago, how state and local governments can push back against this administration, and what gives her hope in this fight. Finally, a game to commemorate Chief Justice Roberts’ 20 long years on the Court. This episode was recorded live at the Athenaeum Center in Chicago.

Favorite things:

Leah • : 
Bone Valley: A True Story of Injustice and Redemption in the Heart of Florida • , Gilbert King; 
Without Precedent: How Chief Justice Roberts and His Accomplices Rewrote the Constitution and Dismantled Our Rights • , Lisa Graves; 
One Battle After Another • ; 
The Life of a Showgirl • , Taylor Swift
Kate • : 
WBEZ Chicago • ; 
Block Club Chicago • ; 
Chicago Reader • ; 
The Chicago Sun-Times on Broadview • ; 
Heart the Lover • , Lily King
Melissa • : 
Ta-Nehisi Coates and Ezra Klein Hash Out Their Charlie Kirk Disagreement • ; Tony Shalhoub’s 
Breaking Bread • (CNN); 
Mexodus • (Audible’s Minett a Lane Theater); 
Meghan Markle in Balenciaga

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

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

Something Wicked This Way Comes: A SCOTUS Term Preview

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! 

 • 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

 
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! 

 • 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

 
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! 

 • 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

 
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

Leah and Melissa are joined by Alexandra Petri, author of Nothing Is Wrong And Here Is Why, and Washington Post columnist. They discuss how to cover news by laughing rather than crying, and how to satirize reality when reality is surreal.

 

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

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

When Reality Is Surreal

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