
Can Elon Musk Buy the Wisconsin Supreme Court Race? (With Jon Lovett)
Explicit content warning
03/31/25 • 94 min
5 Listeners
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)
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)
Previous Episode

Deportations and the Death of Due Process
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)
Next Episode

What’s the Future of Planned Parenthood?
Leah and Kate recap recent opinions and arguments from the Supreme Court, including cases about tax exemptions for religious organizations and the future of Planned Parenthood. Along the way they celebrate Susan Crawford’s election to the Wisconsin Supreme Court and Cory Booker’s 25-hour speech on the Senate floor, touch on potential legal challenges to Trump’s ruinous tariffs, and discuss the latest in the ongoing right-wing effort to challenge Allison Riggs’ election to the Supreme Court of North Carolina.
Hosts’ favorite things this week:
- Kate: Unmarked Vans. Secret Lists. Public Denunciations. Our Police State Has Arrived, M. Gessen; Setting the Record Straight on the Anti-Trump Injunctions, Steve Vladek; The Battle for the Bros, Andrew Marantz; Museum of Now, This American Life; The Senate and the Edward Martin Nomination, Jack Goldsmith; Isola, Allegra Goodman; How the Trump Administration Learned to Obscure the Truth in Court, Leah Litman
- Leah: Eternal Sunshine Deluxe: Brighter Days Ahead, Ariana Grande; Hate Won't Win: Find Your Power and Leave This Place Better Than You Found It, Mallory McMorrow; Why Trans People Must Prove a History of Discrimination Before the Supreme Court, Chase Strangio; Remarkable Things in the Government’s Alien Enemies Act Briefs to the Supreme Court, Marty Lederman
Vote for Less Radical in the Webby Awards here and 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)
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