Sign in
Government
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.
Meager Sentences
Kate and Leah are joined by Elizabeth Wydra and Aaron Reichlin-Melnick to discuss more of the Supreme Court's orders coming out of the shadow docket. First up is the Migrant Protection Protocol, also known as the "Remain in Mexico" program from the Trump Administration. Then it's a look at the Court's decision to vacate the CDC's latest eviction moratorium, which allows evictions to resume. Both orders ruled against the Biden administration and were divided along ideological lines.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:5013/09/2021
Messing with Texas
Leah, Melissa, and Kate reconvene for another emergency podcast on Texas SB8, which is now being challenged by the federal government. Y’all, they are messing with Texas!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
46:0911/09/2021
Untitled Dating Show
It’s law school advice time, Strict Scrutiny style! Melissa and Leah chat with Mark Moran, graduate of UVA Law and contestant on FBoy Island, for the first ever Strict Scrutiny x FBoy Island Crossover. What can law school teach you about reality TV, and reality TV teach you about law school? A lot, it turns out….
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
43:1306/09/2021
Flagrantly Unconstitutional
Melissa, Kate, & Leah get together again to discuss the Supreme Court’s decision in the Texas SB8 case, what is happening now in Texas, and what might happen still with the law.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
45:4804/09/2021
Message Received
Commander Professor Steve Vladeck joins us for an emergency episode about SB8, the most restrictive abortion law that has been allowed to go into effect since Roe v. Wade.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
40:0402/09/2021
Sexual Justice
Kate and Leah talk with Alexandra Brodsky, founding co-director of Know Your IX and author of Sexual Justice: Supporting Victims, Ensuring Due Process, and Resisting the Conservative Backlash.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
54:2930/08/2021
How Rights Went Wrong
Kate and Leah talk with Jamal Greene about his new book, How Rights Went Wrong: Why Our Obsession with Rights is Tearing America Apart.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
54:0623/08/2021
Open Wound
Melissa talks reparations with Katherine Franke, Columbia Law Professor and author of Repair: Redeeming the Promise of Abolition.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
47:1416/08/2021
Superminority Status
Melissa and Leah are joined by Easha Anand (MacArthur Justice Center) and Kate Levine (Cardozo University School of Law) to recap the big criminal law cases from last term.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:03:1809/08/2021
Born Tired
In collaboration with The Appellate Project, Leah, Kate, and Melissa talk to Debo Adegbile and Bruce Spiva about voting rights and diversity in the appellate bar.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
56:2802/08/2021
Anti-Democratic Super Weapon
It’s Supreme Court reform summer! On this episode, Leah talks to Professor Nikolas Bowie about his testimony to the Presidential commission on the Supreme Court and whether we have or should have a democracy.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
50:2026/07/2021
Justice, Justice Thou Shalt Pursue
Melissa interviews Berkeley Law Professor Amanda Tyler about the book she co-wrote with the late Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg, Justice, Justice, Thou Shalt Pursue. The book includes Justice Ginsburg's favorite opinions she authored, along with stories of her life, family, and career. Professor Tyler shares some of those stories as well as reflections on her working relationship and friendship with the justice. This conversation was originally an event put on by The Beverly Hills Bar Association and Writers Bloc Presents.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:0919/07/2021
Roses & Thorns
It’s here … our term recap! We go over all the roses and thorns from OT2020, or at least as much as we have time for in this jam-packed episode.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:23:1212/07/2021
Textually Challenged
For a further break down of the opinion that is definitely not necessary to enforce the Voting Rights Act (Brnovich v. DNC), Leah is joined by two voting rights experts, Professors Nick Stephanopoulos and Franita Tolson, who offer their thoughts on (among other things) what music Justice Alito was listening to while writing Brnovich and who he was talking to as well.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:25:1605/07/2021
An Insult to History
With SCOTUS finishing in July, Leah recaps the end of the term (end of democracy?) cases, Brnovich and Americans for Prosperity, with law of democracy experts Wilfred Codrington and Rick Hasen.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:07:3401/07/2021
Tired of These Fools
On June 23rd, we joined the Ninth Judicial Circuit Historical Society, together with the Western District of Washington Federal Bar Association, for a “SCOTUS in FOCUS” event moderated by Cynthia Jones, the program chair of the Society.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
56:3028/06/2021
Comrade Thomas
Kate and Leah recap the big FRIDAY, FRIDAY at the Supreme Court -- two statutory interpretation cases (Confederated Tribes of the Chehalis Reservation and Hollyfrontier Cheyenne Refining Co), and a major standing case (TransUnion v. Ramirez).
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:1025/06/2021
Cheerleaders for Democracy
Kate and Leah recap four opinions: Lange v. California; Mahanoy Area School District v. BL; Collins v. Yellen; and Cedar Point Nursery v. Hassid.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
59:1324/06/2021
Love and Basketball
Leah and Melissa do a quick dash through Monday’s opinions in Arthrex, NCAA v. Alston, and Goldman v. Arkansas Teacher Retirement Systems and a quick note on Nestle v. Doe before allowing Leah time to work out some feelings on Justice Alito’s dissent in the ACA case.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
36:2521/06/2021
Amuse Bouche
Kate and Melissa recap two opinions, California v. Texas (the ACA case) and Fulton v. City of Philadelphia (Masterpiece Cakeshop redux). For the latter, Katherine Franke joins with historical context and insights.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
41:5818/06/2021
State Courts Are Where It's At
Leah, Kate, and Melissa recap an important CVSG, the Court’s opinions (in Gary, Greer, and Terry), and a major Wisconsin Supreme Court case!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
40:1315/06/2021
Presto!
Kate, Melissa, and Leah get together to discuss Justice Kagan’s approach to statutory interpretation. We got two opinions this week, Sanchez v. Mayorkas, another unanimous immigration case, and the big ACCA (Armed Career Criminal Act, not Affordable Care Act) opinion we’ve been waiting for-- Borden v. US. They identify an important parallel between Justice Kagan and Taylor Swift and lay out the evidence that the Justices are reading their tweets (and everyone else’s too). Finally, they are joined by three former law clerks to Judge Katzmann (Professors Rachel Bayefsky, Bernie Meyler, and Lindsay Nash) to remember the late judge.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:02:0711/06/2021
Fetishistically Textualist
Leah, Melissa, and Kate recap the last week of opinions (Van Buren v. United States, Garland v. Dai, and Cooley v. United States). They also discuss some developments on the shadow docket, whether Neil Gorsuch is getting some cold feet about the whole textualism thing, and the newest teacher in town -- Justice Breyer, who clearly needs some Zoom advice.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
48:2304/06/2021
Death Eaters
Melissa interviews Ian Millhiser about his new book, The Agenda: How a Republican Supreme Court Is Reshaping America. This conversation was originally an event with the Commonwealth Club in April.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:04:2431/05/2021
Siren Songs
Kate, Melissa, and Leah notice the siren song of purposivism in some of the Court’s recent statutory interpretation cases. They also talk about developments on the Court’s death penalty docket before going through one of their binders of women advocates & advocates of color.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
51:4826/05/2021
Hysterical Lady Brains
Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down the recent cert grants, the oral argument in Terry v. United States, and the opinions in Edwards v. Vannoy, CIC v. IRS, Caniglia v. Strom, & BP v. Baltimore. They then workshop their reviews of Justice Breyer’s forthcoming book before highlighting some exciting Supreme Court-related book reviews.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:07:0824/05/2021
When There Are 535
In March, the NYU School of Law hosted the the Birnbaum Women’s Leadership Network's symposium on Politics, Power, and Women’s Leadership. As a part of the event, Melissa interviewed Congresswoman Katie Porter about her experience running for office, child care as infrastructure, and, of course, her big whiteboard energy.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:1217/05/2021
Drained Pool Politics
Kate & Melissa host Heather McGhee to discuss her new book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
51:5510/05/2021
Burn Book on Purposivism
Leah and Kate recap the textualist bonanza in Niz-Chavez v. Garland, and the recent arguments in Americans for Prosperity Foundation (during which Justice Alito signaled that he’s a fan of the pod) and Mahanoy School District. They also preview the final case of the term, Terry v. United States.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:14:4203/05/2021
Barking Goldfish
Kate, Leah, and Melissa go over new opinion, recap the previous week of oral arguments, and preview the next batch of cases to be heard at the Supreme Court.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
54:4026/04/2021
Right for the Wrong Reasons
Kate and Melissa are joined by special guests Juvaria Khan, Matthew Fletcher, and Carmen Iguina Gonzalez to discuss the upcoming April sitting and the work of The Appellate Project.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:01:4919/04/2021
Tsunami of Slime
Leah and Kate are joined by Sen. Sheldon “Whiteboard” Whitehouse to discuss the courts subcommittee hearing on dark money and how the topic of the hearing relates to the Court’s upcoming case in Americans for Prosperity Foundation v. Becerra/Thomas More Law Foundation v. Becerra.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:5712/04/2021
Sausage Fest
“Live” from Yale Law’s ACS chapter, Leah and Kate recap the end of the March sitting, break down recent opinions, and kvell over some court culture -- the first batch of judicial nominees from the Biden administration!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:06:0705/04/2021
Spaceships and Serial Killers
Melissa and special guest Ginger Anders recap the first week of the March sitting and preview the second week of the March sitting.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:11:2029/03/2021
Dear Steve
Melissa, Kate, and Leah preview the March sitting and have a romp through court culture — cancel culture, the monarchy, media bias, and so much more!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:2522/03/2021
Amend: The Fight for America
Melissa, Kate, and Leah are joined by Robe Imbriano, producer of Amend: The Fight for America, and Michelle Adams, Cardozo Law Professor and one of the experts featured in the Netflix docuseries.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
49:0215/03/2021
Get to the Punchline
Leah and Kate recap some February arguments (Brnovich v. DNC and United States v. Arthrex) before pleading with the Biden administration to give them some court culture material. Oh, and, Justice Breyer they have a request for you -- with respect, of course.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
58:1208/03/2021
Toddler Logic
Leah is joined by Josie Duffy Rice, President of the Appeal, and Jay Willis, senior contributor at the Appeal, to discuss some Court related news, preview the upcoming Voting Rights Act case, and chat about some emerging Fourth Amendment issues on the Court’s docket.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
59:1701/03/2021
Wilding Out
Melissa, Kate, and Leah recap opinions, preview the first week of arguments in the February sitting, and discuss the perils of Zoom filters and group texts.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:3922/02/2021
Dude Process
Kate and Leah do a “snap” episode on the most recent impeachment proceedings.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:1215/02/2021
Gold Highways
Leah and Kate are joined by David Schleicher and Sam Moyn, cohosts and creators of “Digging A Hole,” a legal theory podcast. They discuss Supreme Court reform and why none of them were invited to join the court reform commission.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:1308/02/2021
Dirty Damages
Leah, Melissa, and Kate recap the January sitting and the inauguration festivities. They also extend a few invites to join the pod -- so listen in!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
55:0201/02/2021
My Name Is Pauli Murray
Leah, Melissa, and Kate are joined by Julie Cohen, Betsy West and Talleah Bridges McMahon, the team behind the new documentary, My Name Is Pauli Murray. The film premieres at the Sundance Film Festival this week.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
53:0825/01/2021
Rinse & Repeat
Leah, Melissa, and Kate are joined by Rutgers Law Dean Kim Mutcherson, host of “The Power of Attorney” podcast, to break down (FOR NOW) the Court’s recent grants, the decision in FDA v. ACOG, and to recap and preview some January cases.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:01:0620/01/2021
The Meme Lives
Leah, Melissa, and Kate discuss the insurrection, their new BFF Joe Manchin, the upcoming January sitting, and the 25th Amendment.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:03:4411/01/2021
No Coup For You
In this monster episode, Leah, Melissa, and Kate recap all of the December arguments, and the opinions we’ve gotten to date. They also deliver some disappointing news to Texas et al: NO COUP FOR YOU!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:19:2728/12/2020
Our Favorite Things
Melissa, Leah, and Kate bring some BIG OPRAH ENERGY to share some of their favorite things around the holidays and new year.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
20:3823/12/2020
When Reality Is Surreal
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.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
43:0721/12/2020
Normal Scrutiny
Leah and Melissa are joined by the first repeat guest on Strict Scrutiny, Elie Mystal, to discuss his recent column about Democratic leadership on the Senate Judiciary Committee. They also provide some dramatic readings and reenactments of some of the hearings and filings from the (poorly run) coup attempt.
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:07:1014/12/2020
Big Whiteboard Energy
It’s the episode you’ve been waiting for – our breakdown of Justice Alito’s keynote speech at the Federalist Society convention. And as our guest, we have the Senator living rent free in Justice Alito’s head – Senator Sheldon Whitehouse of Rhode Island, who gets his own Strict Scrutiny nickname in this episode!
Follow us on Instagram, Twitter, Threads, and Bluesky
01:07:4107/12/2020