Episode notes
Melissa, Leah, and Kate briefly recap the Court’s two major immigration decisions last week (for a deeper dive, check out last week’s emergency episode ), before digging into the Second Amendment case, Wolford v. Lopez , which featured a cage match between private property rights and the right to bear arms, as well as Sam Alito’s funhouse-mirror version of history. Also covered: opinions involving green card holders, tax foreclosures, the Religious Land Use and Institutionalized Persons Act, the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act, corporate liability for human rights abuses, and pesticides.…
Podcast
Strict Scrutiny
Strict Scrutiny · News · English
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
More from Strict Scrutiny All episodes →
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S7 · E46 · 20 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 27 min
How Bad Is Trump's Attorney General Pick?
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…
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S7 · E45 · 13 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 28 min
Our Long Road Out of Autocracy
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);…
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S7 · E44 · 6 Jul 2026 · 1 hr 32 min
Surveying the Wreckage of This Supreme Court Term
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 [email protected]
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S7 · E43 · 30 Jun 2026 · 59 min
SCOTUS Just Barely Preserves Birthright Citizenship
In their second emergency episode in two days, Leah, Melissa, and Kate break down the Court’s final day of the term and folks, it’s a doozy. We’ve got America’s preeminent “father of daughters” Coach Brett Kavanaugh’s majority opinion allowing states to exclude trans women and girls from female sports teams, a massive blow to campaign finance law, and the survival of birthright citizenship by the skin of the 14th Amendment’s teeth. To top it all off, we got an Alito retirement fakeout courtesy of NPR. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE on November 6th in Washington, DC: Crookedcon.com Buy…
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S7 · E42 · 29 Jun 2026 · 54 min
SCOTUS Kills Independent Agencies, Expands Presidential Power
In this emergency episode, Leah and Kate break down today’s incredibly consequential decisions in Trump v. Slaughter and Trump v. Cook , which followed the Project 2025 playbook to rewrite almost a century of precedent regarding presidential power. They also discuss how close the Court came to ruling that states can’t count absentee ballots that are cast by election day but received after election day in Watson v. RNC . 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…
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S7 · E40 · 25 Jun 2026 · 38 min
BREAKING: SCOTUS Greenlights Trump’s Cruel Immigration Policies
In this emergency episode, Kate, Melissa, and Leah unpack the two major immigration opinions handed down by SCOTUS today. The brutal TL;DR, courtesy of Justice Sotomayor: “The consequences of today’s decision are predictable. More people will die.” 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
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S7 · E39 · 22 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 27 min
Why is SCOTUS Hoarding Opinions?
Leah, Melissa, Kate, and special guest Elie Mystal of The Nation speculate about why the Court is hoarding opinions this late into bad decision season before diving deep on the ruling in United States v. Hemani , which features drugs, the Second Amendment, and Amy Coney Barrett’s iconic Ambien jar. Plus: a new summer cocktail makes its debut, and no holds are barred, especially when it comes to Trump’s flop makeover of the Reflecting Pool. This episode was recorded live at the Gramercy Theatre in New York City. Favorite things: Leah :Barack Obama’s speech at the opening of his presidential…
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S7 · E38 · 15 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 19 min
The Malicious Incompetence of Trump's DOJ
Kate and Leah cover this week’s three Supreme Court opinions—one featuring a killer Ketanji Brown Jackson dissent—before turning to legal news, where bad behavior is everywhere. We’ve got a violent judge who can’t park in Idaho, politically motivated prosecutors in Chicago, and Trump’s generationally incompetent personal lawyers failing to do basic lawyering. Finally, Leah speaks with Mary Moriarty, Hennepin County (MN) Attorney, about the charges her office has filed against ICE agents, the breakdown in cooperation between local authorities and the feds, and FAFO , the new coalition of…
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S7 · E37 · 8 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 24 min
Affirmative Action for Mediocre Men
Leah and Melissa break down what may be a new low for the Court: granting Alabama’s request to reinstate racially discriminatory voting maps. Then, they turn to the big questions: how dead is Trump’s slush fund for insurrectionists? Just how awful are Acting AG Todd Blanche and Acting DNI Bill Pulte? Will Michigan’s Democratic senators stand up to Trump’s appalling nominee for a seat on the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Michigan? They also cover three SCOTUS opinions from last week before Melissa speaks with Yale Law Professor Judith Resnik about her recent book,…
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S7 · E36 · 1 Jun 2026 · 1 hr 38 min
Ballrooms, ‘Bama and (Very) Bad Behavior
Leah, Kate, and Melissa recap another busy week in legal news, covering the continued fallout from the Voting Rights Act case, Louisiana v. Callais , the ongoing saga of the DOJ’s insurrectionist slush fund, wild twists with the Broadview Six, more ballroom drama, the curious case of the Georgia judge who had loud sex in her chambers and then lied about it, and more. They also cover SCOTUS opinions involving compassionate release for prisoners and compelled arbitration before Leah speaks with University of Michigan law professor Barbara McQuade about her book, The Fix: Saving America from…
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