Strict Scrutiny

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Leah, Kate, and Melissa recap an important CVSG, the Court’s opinions (in Gary, Greer, and Terry), and a major Wisconsin Supreme Court case! Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Kate & Melissa host Heather McGhee to discuss her new book, The Sum of Us: What Racism Costs Everyone and How We Can Prosper Together. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

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. Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 3/6/26 – San Francisco3/7/26 – Los AngelesLearn more: http://crooked.com/eventsOrder your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad VibesFollow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.