
Strict Scrutiny
Crooked Media


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Top 10 Strict Scrutiny Episodes
Goodpods has curated a list of the 10 best Strict Scrutiny episodes, ranked by the number of listens and likes each episode have garnered from our listeners. If you are listening to Strict Scrutiny for the first time, there's no better place to start than with one of these standout episodes. If you are a fan of the show, vote for your favorite Strict Scrutiny episode by adding your comments to the episode page.

Can These Courts Be Reformed?
Strict Scrutiny
08/28/23 • 74 min
Melissa, Leah, and Kate invite two guests to zoom out and analyze how the current Supreme Court got to be the way that it is... and what progressives are doing to push back. Michael Waldman, author of The Supermajority: How the Supreme Court Divided America, provides historical context for other times the Supreme Court has challenged the country. And Brian Fallon, co-founder of Demand Justice, reflects on his tenure as Executive Director as the group challenged Democrats to get on board with judicial reform.
- Order The Supermajority by Michael Waldman at Bookshop.org. Code STRICT10 gets you 10% off!
- Read about Demand Justice's current campaigns for reform
- Follow @CrookedMedia on Instagram and Twitter for more original content, host takeovers and other community events.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)


5 Listeners

03/31/25 • 94 min
Jon Lovett joins Leah and Melissa to talk about what’s at stake in this week’s Wisconsin Supreme Court election and what it was like campaigning for Susan Crawford in Madison and Milwaukee. Then, the ladies run through a busy week of argument recaps, opinions, and legal news, covering the relitigation of the Voting Rights Act, the sunsetting of the administrative state, and that text chain.
Hosts’ favorite things this week:
- Leah: After Dobbs, David Cohen & Carol Jaffe; Mayhem, Lady Gaga; Black Bag, Steven Soderbergh; Wrexford & Sloane mystery series by Andrea Penrose; Lawsuits by Wilmer & Jenner challenging wildly unconstitutional executive orders; Judge Howell’s order rejecting the request for her to recuse in the challenge to the EO targeting the Perkins Coie order
- Melissa: Last week’s episode of Strict Scrutiny; A Season of Light, Julie Iromuanya; The Note, Alafair Burke; Yacht Rock: The Dockumentary (Max); Gwyneth and Meghan on Instagram; New Phone; Houthis? (Christian Schneider on X); Text STOP to opt out of war plans (Leta McCullough Seletsky on Bluesky)
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



5 Listeners

08/05/24 • 87 min
Jon Lovett joins Melissa and Leah to climb inside the mind of one of Project 2025’s biggest boosters: J.D. Vance. It’s nasty in there! Then, Leah and Melissa discuss the proposed SCOTUS reforms. Finally, Leah chats with Olivia Warren and Deeva Shah about misconduct in the federal judiciary–specifically, the investigation into certified creep Judge Joshua Kindred.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)


5 Listeners

Pod Save the Separation of Powers
Strict Scrutiny
03/03/25 • 77 min
Leah, Melissa, and Kate once again wade through the latest malevolence from the Trump White House in a segment they’re now calling “Pod Save the Separation of Powers.” Then, they turn to what’s going on at One First Street, covering some new opinions, as well as this week’s arguments, including a case about “reverse discrimination.”
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



5 Listeners

Deportations and the Death of Due Process
Strict Scrutiny
03/24/25 • 85 min
After a deep dive on the Trump administration’s horrifying misuse of the Alien Enemies Act to deport people from the US without due process, Kate and Leah preview upcoming SCOTUS cases about the Voting Rights Act and the Environmental Protection Agency. Along the way, they also touch on the Trump administration’s targeting of certain law firms and its continued attacks on DEI.
Hosts’ favorite things this week:
- Leah: Fight! Fight! Fight!, Rebecca Traister; AOC’s Bluesky feed during the CR debates/debacle; The Hidden Motive Behind Trump’s Attacks on Trans People, M. Gessen; This Election Will Be a Crucial Test of Musk’s Power, Kate Shaw; Trump Has Gone From Unconstitutional to Anti-Constitutional, Jamelle Bouie
- Kate: The Feminist Law Professor Who Wants to Stop Arresting People for Domestic Violence, Sarah Lustbader; The Dangerous Document Behind Trump’s Campus Purges, Daphna Renan & Jesse Hoffnung-Garskof; The Cost of the Government’s Attack on Columbia, Christopher L. Eisgruber
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



5 Listeners

Florida Becomes a Battleground for Reproductive Rights
Strict Scrutiny
04/08/24 • 64 min
Kate and Leah break down the latest court news with Errin Haines, Editor-at-Large for The 19th and host of The Amendment, including developments in abortion access in Florida and the discourse around whether Justice Sotomayor should retire. Then, Jill Habig of the Public Rights Project and Tyler Yarbro from the Tennessee Freedom Circle join Melissa, Kate, and Leah to talk about the latest conservative effort to control the courts: judicial gerrymandering.
- Listen to Melissa's interview with Errin on The Amendment, talking about the Trump indictments
- Submit a question for our upcoming mailbag episode here!
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



5 Listeners

Yes, We’re in a Constitutional Crisis
Strict Scrutiny
02/17/25 • 73 min
Live from Fordham Law, Leah, Melissa, and Kate stay on the Trump 2.0 chaos beat. They cover the continued ransacking of the federal government by the new administration, lawlessness at the DOJ, and the gutting of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau. Finally, they take some time to consider just how much this new administration hates women.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)


4 Listeners

The Conservative Push to Sue the Media Into Oblivion
Strict Scrutiny
03/10/25 • 71 min
After covering the latest goings-on in Trumpland, Melissa and Kate turn to this week’s SCOTUS arguments and opinions, touching on the Court’s decision to weaken the EPA’s clean water regulations and Mexico’s bid to hold American gun manufacturers liable for cartel violence. In the second part of the episode, Kate and Melissa talk with David Enrich of the New York Times about his new book, Murder the Truth: Fear, the First Amendment, and a Secret Campaign to Protect the Powerful.
Hosts’ favorite things this week:
- Melissa: Never Caught: The Washingtons' Relentless Pursuit of Their Runaway Slave, Ona Judge by Erica Armstrong Dunbar; Due Care in a Conservative Court by Hila Keren (forthcoming in the Wisconsin Law Review); With Love, Meghan (Netflix)
- Kate: Towards A New Equal Protection Paradigm by Issa Kohler Hausmann, co-authored with Kevin Yang and Charlotte Lawrence; Severance (Apple TV+)
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE - The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! Listener presale Wednesday March 12 at 10am local time - Thursday March 13 at 10pm local time with code YOLO, general sale starts Friday March 14
- 5/31 - Washington DC
- 6/12 - NYC
- 10/4 - Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



4 Listeners

How to Lose a Democracy in 10 Laws (with Elie Mystal)
Strict Scrutiny
03/17/25 • 67 min
Leah, Kate, and Melissa are joined this week by Elie Mystal, justice correspondent for The Nation, whose new book is Bad Law: Ten Popular Laws That Are Ruining America. They talk about what rotten laws should be done away with while touching on the latest news, including the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and the dismantling of the Department of Education.
Hosts’ favorite things this week:
- Melissa: The Trouble of Color: An American Family Memoir by Martha Jones; Paradise (Hulu)
- Leah: Bad Law by Elie Mystal; The Bee Sting by Paul Murray; Martyr! by Kaveh Akbar; Corruption & the Maximalist Theory of Presidential Power by Bob Bauer (Executive Functions); Five Questions about The Khalil Case by Steve Vladeck (One First)
- Kate: Character Limit: How Elon Musk Destroyed Twitter by Kate Conger and Ryan Mac; Interview with Lindsay Nash on Mahmoud Khalil by Isaac Chotiner (New Yorker)
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)



4 Listeners

Project 2025: 900 Pages and 100% Deranged
Strict Scrutiny
07/29/24 • 79 min
Leah and Melissa introduce a new series on Project 2025, the Heritage Foundation’s deranged instruction manual for taking away all of our rights and making everyone’s lives worse. Then, the whole crew is together for a conversation with Dylan C. Penningroth about his book Before the Movement: The Hidden History of Black Civil Rights.
Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!
- 5/31 – Washington DC
- 6/12 – NYC
- 10/4 – Chicago
Learn more: http://crooked.com/events
Pre-order your copy of Leah's forthcoming book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (out May 13th)


4 Listeners
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FAQ
How many episodes does Strict Scrutiny have?
Strict Scrutiny currently has 348 episodes available.
What topics does Strict Scrutiny cover?
The podcast is about News, Court, Podcasts and Government.
What is the most popular episode on Strict Scrutiny?
The episode title 'Deportations and the Death of Due Process' is the most popular.
What is the average episode length on Strict Scrutiny?
The average episode length on Strict Scrutiny is 61 minutes.
How often are episodes of Strict Scrutiny released?
Episodes of Strict Scrutiny are typically released every 7 days.
When was the first episode of Strict Scrutiny?
The first episode of Strict Scrutiny was released on Jun 19, 2019.
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