Strict Scrutiny - Supreme Ambition

Melissa, Kate, and Leah sit down with Ruth Marcus, the author of Supreme Ambition: Brett Kavanaugh and the Conservative Takeover.

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

  • 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

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Opening Arguments - OA566: Explosive Lawsuit Against the NFL Details Racial Bias

After being fired from the Miami Dolphins, Brian Flores has filed a very serious lawsuit against the NFL for racial bias in hiring. This is absolutely huge news. Find out why the NFL is in serious trouble!

Links: Flores v. NFL, Douglas Wigdor - New York's Best Employment Lawyer, 42 US Code § 1981 - Equal rights under the law,  Comcast Corp. v. National Assn. of African American-Owned Media, Palmer v Cook :: 2019, NJ law against discrimination

Amarica's Constitution - Gary and Gorby – Special Guest Gary Hart

We continue our mining of Gary Hart’s wisdom, as the former Senator, and Presidential candidate weighs in on the sort of questions a public and political intellectual confronts over a lifetime.  How can we think about Ukraine and Russia in light of our past?  Would tensions between the US and Russia today be particularly different if Gary Hart had won the presidency in 1988, given the story he tells about his prospective inauguration?  The richness of a conversation with Gary Hart is such that even a passing reference produces a new insight on how the Cold War might have taken a different path.  We hear inside references on what it’s like to run for President from a principal player in 3 presidential races:  1974, 1984, and 1988. Inevitably, stories never before heard emerge, and they are here for you to savor.

SCOTUScast - FEC v. Ted Cruz – Post-Argument SCOTUScast

On January 19th, the Court heard arguments in Federal Election Commission v. Ted Cruz for Senate. At issue were: (1) Whether appellees have standing to challenge the statutory loan-repayment limit of 52 U.S.C. 30116(j); and (2) whether the loan-repayment limit violates the Free Speech clause of the First Amendment. Joining today to discuss this case is Professor Bradley Smith, the Josiah H. Blackmore II/Shirley M. Nault Professor of Law at Capital University Law School.

SCOTUScast - Biden v. Missouri & NFIB v. DOL, OSHA – Post-Decision SCOTUScast

The Supreme Court recently issued its decisions in two federal vaccine mandate cases, Biden v Missouri and National Federation of Independent Business v. Department of Labor, Occupational Safety and Health Administration. Several states and interest groups sought emergency relief on regulations issued by OSHA as well as the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services.

The OSHA rule mandated large employers to require vaccination or regular testing of their employees. CMS required vaccination of staff at health care facilities participating in Medicare or Medicaid programs. The Court granted a stay of the OSHA rule pending merits review in the Sixth Circuit, but stayed an injunction of the CMS rule allowing it to go into effect.

Joining today to discuss these decisions are, in order of appearance:
1) David Dewhirst, Solicitor General, Montana
2) Professor Dorit Reiss, James Edgar Hervey '50 Chair of Litigation, UC Hastings Law
3) Professor Ilya Somin, Antonin Scalia Law School, George Mason University

Opening Arguments - OA565: How Madison Cawthorn Could Be Kept off the Ballot

Check out this one WEIRD trick to.... *record scratch* wait a minute... it's not a weird trick? Wow! Well, check out this one legitimate way in which Madison Cawthorn could be kept off the ballot! It turns out, the Constitution actually isn't a super big fan of insurrections. Also, some additional info on anti-trust law, and a Wild Card (wooooooooo!) on a new bill written by a Democrat AND a Republican that actually has a chance of passing!

Links: Cawthorn Complaint, Next day order staying proceedings, Gerard Magliocca, Amnesty and Section Three of the Fourteenth Amendment, Article 11B. Challenge to Candidacy, GOP Power Lawyer: Congress Said Insurrection Is Cool In 1872, 1872 Amnesty Act, Klobuchar Cotton Bill

Strict Scrutiny - Mensch On The Bench

Kate, Melissa, & Leah are joined by Dean Risa Goluboff & Tejas Narechania for a retrospective on Justice Breyer. Then FEC Commissioner Ellen Weintraub joins for a discussion of FEC v. Ted Cruz for Senate.

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

  • 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

Amicus With Dahlia Lithwick | Law, justice, and the courts - Justice Breyer to Retire

As Justice Stephen Breyer announces his intention to step down from the Supreme Court, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Judge Nancy Gertner to discuss why now, what now, and who now. Judge Gertner is a former federal judge, member of the White House’s Supreme Court Reform Commission, Harvard Law professor … and she’s known Justice Breyer for decades. They discuss what’s changed on the court and wax nostalgic about Justice Breyer and Justice Scalia’s Muppet stadium tour. 


In our Slate Plus segment, Dahlia Lithwick is joined by Slate’s own Mark Joseph Stern to dig into some of the nastier commentary around possible nominees for Justice Breyer’s seat, and to figure out what the rest of the term might look like in light of this week’s news. 

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Podcast production by Sara Burningham.

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Opening Arguments - OA564: The Reteyerment; At-Will Employees Forced to Stay? and Avenatti vs Stormy Daniels!

Huge news day! BREYER WILL RETEYER! What a relief. Andrew takes us through that and the potential replacements. They're all great! Then we've got, by immense popular demand, coverage of a story in which at-will employees were forced by a court to stay in their job. What happened? Was it reported correctly? Find out! Then finally, it's Stormy Daniels vs scumbag Michael Avenatti in one of the many trials Avenatti is facing for his unethical behavior.

Links: Leader of the Oath Keepers, Democrats Can Replace Justice Stephen Breyer on Party Lines, injunction against at-will employees

Strict Scrutiny - Comeback Kid

Our boy Steve is retiring. Here are our thoughts on the timing, his legacy, and potential successors.

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! 

  • 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