Legal Challenges and Academic Freedom

Leah, Melissa and Kate join forces to dig through the Trump administration’s latest affronts to the law and the possibility that its officials could be held in criminal contempt. They also react in real time to the Court’s decision to take up the question of birthright citizenship and cheer Harvard’s stand against the administration. Finally, they take a look at what’s in front of SCOTUS this week, including a new opportunity for the conservative majority to use the EPA as a punching bag and its latest foray into the culture wars.

Hosts’ favorite things:

• Melissa: White Potus (SNL); Good Dirt, Charmaine Wilkerson; Hacks (Max); Confessions of a Female Founder (with Reshma Saujani)
• Kate: So You Want to be a Dissident Julia Angwin & Ami Fields-Meyer (New Yorker); Who Is Government? The Untold Story of Public Service, Michael Lewis; Just Security (Substack); Judge Wilkinson’s opinion for the 4th circuit on the Abrego Garcia case; Catalina, Karla Cornejo Villavicencio
• Leah: Never Again Will I Visit Auschwitz: A Graphic Family Memoir of Trauma & Inheritance, Ari Richter; The Vibe Shifts Against The Right, Michelle Goldberg (NYT); Harvard’s new website
• Also mentioned this episode: The Supreme Court threatens to bring “Don’t Say Gay” to every classroom in America, Ian Millhiser (Vox); Five Questions About Domestic Use of the Military, Steve Vladek (One First)

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

Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes 

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky