About this episode
<p>Kate, Leah, and Melissa break down how the lower courts are challenging the Trump administration and expressing their frustration with SCOTUS. Then, they check in with two members of the supermajority: Brett Kavanaugh, who’s touting a shiny new shadow docket rebrand, and Amy Coney Barrett as she commences her cursèd book tour. Finally, the hosts speak with Yale Law professor Justin Driver about his book, <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-schoolhouse-gate-public-education-the-supreme-court-and-the-battle-for-the-american-mind-justin-driver/7fa95a1b7c24d21d?ean=9798987053768&next=t">The Fall of Affirmative Action: Race, the Supreme Court, and the Future of Higher Education</a>.</p><p>Hosts’ and guests’ favorite things:</p><ul> <li> <strong>Kate</strong>: <a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/newsletters/archive/2025/09/america-free-trial-services/684072/">Apologies: You Have Reached the End of Your Free-Trial Period of America!</a> By Alexandra Petri (The Atlantic); <a href="https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-176-law-lawlessness-and-doomerism">Bonus 176: Law, Lawlessness, and Doomerism</a>, Steve Vladeck (One First); <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/05/us/navy-seal-north-korea-trump-2019.html">How a Top Secret SEAL Team 6 Mission Into North Korea Fell Apart</a>, Dave Philipps and Matthew Cole (NYT)</li> <li> <strong>Leah</strong>: <a href="https://www.lawdork.com/p/the-dc-circuits-realpolitik-orders">The DC Circuit’s Realpolitik Orders in the Foreign Aid Funding Case</a>, Chris Geidner; <a href="https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/174-justice-gorsuchs-attack-on-lower">174. Justice Gorsuch's Attack on Lower Courts</a> & <a href="https://www.stevevladeck.com/p/bonus-174-playing-the-justices-for">Bonus 174: Playing the Justices for Fools</a>, Steve Vladeck (One First); <a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2025/09/02/opinion/ezra-klein-podcast-kate-shaw.html">The Supreme Court Is Backing Trump’s Power Grab</a>, Kate Shaw & Ezra Klein (NYT).</li> <li> <strong>Melissa</strong>: RFK’s Senate Finance Committee <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=N2IEnZ2MtKw">hearing</a>; <a href="https://nymag.com/intelligencer/article/kennedy-family-legacy-dynasty-rfk-jr-trump.html">Hijacking the Kennedys</a>, Reeves Waldman (New York Magazine); <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=o6uLsW-bOTM">Nancy Mace: Everything You Didn't Know About Her Sh*tty Past </a>(Crooked’s Hysteria); <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/these-summer-storms-a-novel-sarah-maclean/b7d9a29f7c2e1444?ean=9780593972250&next=t">These Summer Storms</a>, Sarah MacLean; Gwyneth: <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/gwyneth-the-biography-amy-odell/05570a5d2d68cb47?ean=9781668005774&next=t&utm_source=google%2Cgoogle&utm_medium=cpc%2Cpaid_search&utm_campaign=coop_s%2Cbookshop_dsa_sands&s=&utm_content=s%2C176349376953&s_dsa=&utm_term=&utm_page=%7Blpurlpath%7D&gclid=CjwKCAjwlOrFBhBaEiwAw4bYDbWwUpYR2JkHQPoj-P8Ks7qLM2DvfxJtE0BMvL0uWWfJTBEQ5pYuzBoCMeIQAvD_BwE&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22224636854&gbraid=0AAAAACfld42Gw898nV9Ya42IYkm6oaOcF">The Biography</a>, Amy Odell</li> <li> <strong>Justin</strong>: <a href="https://bookshop.org/p/books/the-creative-act-a-way-of-being-rick-rubin/7884653d3a8189a4?ean=9780593652886&next=t&utm_source=google&utm_medium=paid&utm_campaign=pmax_makegood_july2025&utm_content=6600617235&utm_term=%7Bsearchterm%7D&utm_product_id=&utm_item_id=%7Bitem_id%7D&gad_source=1&gad_campaignid=22829786313&gbraid=0AAAAACfld43MfY6h1kbSE8C5vMIlV0Qtx&gclid=CjwKCAjwlOrFBhBaEiwAw4bYDYqNjh0NAGJDEjHtwurd9iX1Px1pJFDiCpKsqLYIPd7HkyBS0SQnuBoC7G0QAvD_BwE">The Creative Act: A Way of Being</a>, Rick Rubin; <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/796572">Martin Luther King's Constitution: A Legal History of the Montgomery Bus Boycott</a>, Randall Kennedy (Yale Law Journal)</li> </ul><p></p><p>Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025! </p><ul> <li>3/6/26 – San Francisco</li> <li>3/7/26 – Los Angeles</li> </ul><p></p><p>Learn more: <a href="http://crooked.com/events">http://crooked.com/events</a></p><p>Order your copy of Leah's book, <a href="https://www.simonandschuster.com/books/Lawless/Leah-Litman/9781668054628">Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes</a></p><p>Follow us on <a href="https://www.instagram.com/strictscrutinypodcast/?hl=en">Instagram</a>, <a href="https://www.threads.net/@strictscrutinypodcast">Threads</a>, and <a href="https://bsky.app/profile/strictscrutiny.bsky.social">Bluesky</a></p>