Strict Scrutiny

Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle

Leah is joined by guest co-host Somil Trivedi, advocacy director & senior counsel at Court Accountability, to run through last week’s legal news, which involves a whole lot of straight up fascism, the corruption that enables it, and the rising tide of Christian nationalism. They also ask the important questions: Who’s the richest SCOTUS justice? And…what exactly is Trump babysitter Natalie Harp’s whole deal? Then Melissa sits down with Jesse Wegman for a conversation about his book, The Lost Founder: James Wilson and the Forgotten Fight for a People's Constitution.
Favorite Things:

Leah: The Natalie Harp saga; The Five-Star Weekend (Peacock); Lost Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers; He Was Deported to a Country He’d Never Heard Of. He May Never Go Free, Nicholas Casey (NYT); Kate’s conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer about their book, On Courage; The Wrong Kind of American, Julia Curlee (The Atlantic)

Somil: Lost Weekend, Phoebe Bridgers; Frozen Charlotte, Jack White

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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 transcripts@crooked.com

Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle

Kate is joined by Liz Oyer, former DOJ pardon attorney and federal public defender, to tick through last week’s news. Among the items covered: Todd Blanche’s swearing-in by lackey Emil Bove, the latest attempt by the administration to expand executive privilege, the renewed vendetta against the Fed’s Lisa Cook, and John Roberts’ Substack debut…That’s right, the Chief is out here postin’. Then, a conversation with Julia Angwin and Ami Fields-Meyer about their new book, On Courage: How to Be a Dissident in an Age of Fear. Check out Liz’s podcast, Is This Really Legal?.
Favorite things:

Kate: Just Security’s Reinvention Blueprints; One Woman’s Message From the Hell of ICE Detention, Maryam Tahmasebi; John Oliver on the DOJ; Trump’s catering cart caper 

Liz:How to Rule the World: An Education in Power at Stanford University, Theo Baker; The Things We Never Say, Elizabeth Strout; Ponies (Peacock)

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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 transcripts@crooked.com

In part one of our two-part Know Your Rights series, Leah speaks with Brooklyn Law School’s Jocelyn Simonson about copwatching. They cover what the law says about filming police and federal officers like ICE agents, the line between protected observation and unlawful interference, and how to think about navigating the gap between exercising your constitutional rights and personal safety. Jocelyn’s book is Radical Acts of Justice: How Ordinary People Are Dismantling Incarceration.
Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky
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 transcripts@crooked.com

Melissa and Justice Correspondent for The Nation Elie Mystal sift through the results of last week’s primaries, including good news from Missouri and Kansas, with a detour on why Michigan Senate candidate Abdul El-Sayed needs to shape up on Court reform. Then, the latest installment of Todd Blanche’s confirmation process for Attorney General and the many misdeeds at the department he hopes to permanently lead: letting insurrectionists off the hook, the targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center as well as a progressive judge who used to work there, and assaults on the fourth estate. Also: welcome to the resistance…Jeanine Pirro? And finally, a late-breaking update on the Trump administration's continuing war on birthright citizenship. 
Favorite things:

Elie: Jouppi v. Alaska

Melissa:Crash Into Me, Robinne Lee

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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 transcripts@crooked.com

Huge news for lawyers: You can now listen to Strict Scrutiny for CLE credits in California, New York, Texas, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Virginia, North Carolina, Georgia, Washington, and Oregon! More info at crooked.com/strict_cle

Kate and Leah have good news and bad news. The good: The Paramount/Warner Brothers merger is on hold, the Tate brothers are facing extradition, and Todd Blanche’s nomination for AG has hit a roadblock. The bad: …Everything else. They also cover the ongoing prosecution of Jim Comey for seashell art, and speak with UCLA Law’s Rick Hasen about Trump’s effort to assert presidential control over federal elections. Then, Kate checks in with Farah Diaz-Tello, senior counsel and legal director for If/When/How, on what she and her colleagues are seeing when it comes to the use of the criminal law to target both abortion and people who experience pregnancy loss after Dobbs.
Favorite things:

Kate: Olga Dies Dreaming, Xochitl Gonzalez; A Setback for the MAGA Media Takeover, Michelle Goldberg (NYT); Dancing to Stave Off Dementia, Emily Goligoski (Harper's Bazaar); Creating the Administrative Constitution: The Lost One Hundred Years of American Administrative Law, Jerry L. Mashaw

Leah: Music, Fashion, Film, Charli xcx; Who's the Clown?, Audrey Hobert; This Is the Plan: How to End America's Meltdown and Save Democracy, Ben Wikler; Why Do We Tolerate Elon Musk's Racist Commentary?, Jamelle Bouie (New York Times); Supreme Court Job Approval Slumps to Record Low (Gallup)

Rick: Jo Nesbø's Detective Hole (Netflix); Lucky (Apple); The Elephants in the Room: How Trump Voters Seized the Party from Republican Leaders, Seth Masket; Backlash Presidents: From Transformative to Reactionary Leaders in American History, Julia R. Azari

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

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 transcripts@crooked.com