Strict Scrutiny

Being a Supreme Court podcast means we spend much of the year in dystopia. So just this once, let's look at the silver lining that is Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson. Amir Ali, executive director of the MacArthur Justice Center, joins Melissa, Kate, and Leah to look back on Justice Jackson's first year on the Supreme Court.

• Listen back to our episodes on Justice Jackson's historic nomination and hellacious confirmation hearings
• Fol...

Juvaria Khan, founder of The Appellate Project, joins Melissa, Kate, and Leah to catch up on the fallout of the Supreme Court's affirmative action decision in June. Then, Melissa talks with Justice Goodwin Liu of Supreme Court of California and Mary Hoopes of Pepperdine's Caruso School of Law about their research on how judges consider diversity when hiring clerks.

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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 Di...

Easha Anand of Stanford's Supreme Court Litigation Clinic joins Kate, Melissa, and Leah to lay out what SCOTUS has been up to in the world of criminal law. But first, Kate and Leah analyze the Fifth Circuit's opinion in the mifepristone case, and what it means for people seeking abortions across the country.

• Listen to "What's next in a post-Roe world," our episode with Diana Greene Foster, author of The Turnaway Study
• Get more ba...

It's been 10 years since the Supreme Court started to dismantle the Voting Rights Act in Shelby County v. Holder. Ari Berman, author of Give Us the Ballot: The Modern Struggle for Voting Rights in America, joins Leah and Kate to track the passage of the Voting Rights Act, the challenges against it over the decades, and the fallout from Shelby County and other voting rights cases.

• Order Give Us the Ballot from Bookshop.org. Code ...

It's been over a year since the Supreme Court overturned the constitutional right to an abortion in Dobbs v. Jackson Women's Health Organization. The majority opinion, concurrences, and joint dissent all made a lot of predictions about life without Roe-- but how accurate were they? Leah, Kate, and Melissa assemble a star-studded cast to do dramatic readings of the opinions and reflect on how they've panned out.

Featuring Jon Lovett ...

First things first, Melissa and Leah break down Sam Alito's latest airing of grievances in the Wall Street Journal. Then, Kate joins them for a lesson in actual history from an actual historian. Kate Masur, author of Until Justice Be Done: America's First Civil Rights Movement, from the Revolution to Reconstruction, joins the trio for a conversation about her Pulitzer Prize-nominated book.

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Leah, Kate, and Melissa join MSNBC's Chris Hayes (aka Mr. Kate Shaw) to fully process the drama of the last Supreme Court term. It's our second annual crossover with Why Is This Happening?!

Another year, another pretty consequential Supreme Court term. SCOTUS recently ended its term with a number of big decisions including striking down affirmative action and issuing opinions in the 303 Creative case, in which the majority created a...

Leah, Kate, and Melissa talk to Steve Vladeck about his new book, The Shadow Docket: How the Supreme Court Uses Stealth Rulings to Amass Power and Undermine the Republic. From abortion bans to immigration restrictions, COVID orders and death penalty cases, the Supreme Court has taken to changing the law in quiet.

• Order The Shadow Docket from Bookshop.org. Code STRICT10 gets you 10% off!
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Joel Anderson, host of Slow Burn: Becoming Justice Thomas, joins Melissa and Kate to analyze the justice's trajectory from his childhood in Georgia to his contentious confirmation hearings. Plus, Joel spills behind-the-scenes tea about reporting the series-- including how he found himself in the living room of Justice Thomas's mother.

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We're kicking off the Strict Scrutiny Summer Reading List with a wild ride through the history of the Federalist Society. Amanda Hollis-Brusky, author of Ideas with Consequences: The Federalist Society and the Conservative Counterrevolution and Separate But Faithful: The Christian Right's Radical Struggle to Transform Law & Legal Culture, joins Melissa and Leah to guide the journey.

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Melissa, Leah, and Kate recap the last Supreme Court term, as the justices speed off on their summer vacations (in a luxury yacht? on a private jet? in an RV in Walmart parking lot? Who's to say!). They highlight recurring themes throughout the justices' opinions, relive some of the best moments in oral arguments, recap the Court's scandals, and preview the cases that scare them next term.US term. 

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The Supreme Court ended its term today with a double whammy, issuing opinions in the 303 Creative case and the student debt relief cases. In the former, the majority creates "a constitutional right to refuse to serve members of a protected class." And in the latter, the majority invalidate's the Biden administration's student debt relief program because, well, they had feelings about it.

• Listen to our episode recapping the 303 C...

Today the Supreme Court delivered its opinion in Students for Fair Admissions, Inc. v. President and Fellows of Harvard College, declaring admissions programs that consider race to be in violation of the 14th Amendment. Melissa, Kate, and Leah break down the Chief Justice's opinion, Justice Thomas's galling concurrence, and the brilliant dissents by Justice Jackson and Justice Sotomayor.

• Listen to our recap of the hours and hour...

The Supreme Court handed down its decision in Moore v. Harper today, saying that state legislatures can’t actually make up whatever rules they want around federal elections, without oversight from anyone. But is this a victory for our democracy, or should we still be freaked out? Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down the opinion and the questions it leaves open.

We'll be around all week pushing out emergency episodes as the Supreme Cou...

The Supreme Court released its opinion in Haaland vs. Brackeen, a case that challenged the constitutionality of the Indian Child Welfare Act. In a surprising 7-2 vote, the Court upheld ICWA. Rebecca Nagle, host of This Land, joins Leah, Kate, and Melissa to unpack the opinion and what it means for indigenous families.

• Listen to two previous episodes with Rebecca Nagle: "Go Down Clutching the Constitution" from March 2022 when th...