Law professors Leah Littman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray dissect the Supreme Court's newest rulings.
Strict Scrutiny tracks the Supreme Court, legal analysis, and the political fights around courts with unusual speed and bite. Its panel format turns cert denials, birthright citizenship, religious liberty, mail-in ballots, guns, asylum, and executive power into lively legal argument.
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Strict Scrutiny is an interview-and-panel show focused on U.S. Supreme Court decisions, argued cases, and the judicial-ethics and political news surrounding them. It is co-hosted by law professors Leah Littman, Kate Shaw, and Melissa Murray, who alternate leading segments and occasionally bring in outside experts for case-specific interviews. Guests have included Shannon Minter, legal director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights, discussing a conversion-therapy ruling tied to a law he helped draft, and constitutional law professor Steve Vladeck, who has guest-hosted news segments. Episodes regularly go opinion by opinion on cases touching LGBTQ rights, immigration and birthright citizenship, tariffs and executive power, and First Amendment limits on professional speech. Beyond individual rulings, the show follows lower-court fights over government compliance with court orders, judicial misconduct complaints, and Supreme Court ethics rules such as stock-disclosure requirements. Recurring subjects across episodes include sitting justices — Samuel Alito, Brett Kavanaugh, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch, Sonia Sotomayor, Elena Kagan, and Ketanji Brown Jackson — whose votes and written opinions the hosts analyze and often criticize from a left-of-center legal perspective. The show blends long-form doctrinal discussion with commentary on current politics, connecting court rulings to the sitting president and his administration's litigation record. Episode length varies widely, from short emergency-ruling breakdowns to panel episodes running past 80 minutes. The show is produced by Crooked Media and carries sponsor reads from advocacy-adjacent organizations like Americans United for Separation of Church and State. Listeners who already follow oral arguments or opinion releases will find the show assumes some familiarity with case names and legal terminology.
Made for: Listeners who follow U.S. Supreme Court oral arguments and opinions and want detailed, left-of-center legal analysis of cases on LGBTQ rights, immigration, and executive power.
What sets it apart: Hosted by three law professors who read opinions and dissents in close doctrinal detail rather than just summarizing outcomes, while still folding in real-time political commentary and an annual non-legal recommendations episode.
Based on 6 episodes we listened to · September 2026
Strict Scrutiny connects Supreme Court procedure to the real exercise of government power with precision, political clarity, and a sharp sense of humor.
Strict Scrutiny turns constitutional disputes and Supreme Court procedure into lively, pointed conversation. Melissa Murray and Kate Shaw move between close attention to cases and the wider exercise of government power, explaining terms such as certiorari while keeping the…
SCOTUS doctrine meets group-chat disbelief, giving you the citation and the raised eyebrow.
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Short reviews from the PlayNext desk, based on the episodes we processed.
A sharp legal-politics episode on Supreme Court procedure, presidential pressure, and the criminal justice stakes behind a denied cert petition.
Strict Scrutiny moves through a hard-edged week in legal politics, pairing presidential pressure on the Court over birthright citizenship with a closer look at the Court's refusal to hear Skinner v. Louisiana.
A brisk Strict Scrutiny episode built around birthright citizenship, Pamela Jo Bondi, and a sharp courts-and-government posture.
Strict Scrutiny frames this episode around birthright citizenship and Pamela Jo Bondi, but the available material mostly shows the scaffolding around the conversation: sponsors, a pointed joke about the government's birthright-citizenship arguments sounding stuck in 1826 or…
A pointed Strict Scrutiny episode on Colorado's conversion therapy ban, Supreme Court skepticism, and the civil rights stakes behind the case.
Strict Scrutiny takes up the Supreme Court's apparent skepticism toward Colorado's conversion therapy ban, with Shannon Minter joining the show's court-focused format.
Strict Scrutiny uses DOGE depositions to expose how federal power can become both destructive and hard to pin down.
Make America Grift Again treats a chaotic government-news week as a question of who is actually exercising public power, and who answers when federal institutions are damaged.
A court-watch preview of the Supreme Court's next Second Amendment fight, framed around precedent, rights, and institutional stakes.
Strict Scrutiny tees up another Supreme Court encounter with the Second Amendment, with the show treating the case preview as part of a larger argument about how precedent moves beyond any one doctrinal lane.
A chatty favorites episode with a sharp Wisconsin courts aside folded into the jokes.
Strict Scrutiny's 2025 favorites episode is a loose, talky entry: books, clothes, moisturizer, 90s music references, a Taylor Swift cardigan, tour dates, and a quick turn into Wisconsin court politics. The legal thread is brief but pointed.
Sam Harris interviews scientists and journalists on AI risk, religion, and US politics.
WSJ reporters unpack the Epstein files, surrogacy industry abuses, and true-crime court battles.
Kara Swisher and Scott Galloway argue through tech, media, and Trump-era politics twice weekly.
Dan Carlin's solo essays connecting executive power, historical collapse, and American democracy.
Sharp political debate with policy detail and real disagreement.
Demetri Kofinas interviews specialists on geopolitics, energy markets, AI, and finance at length.
Religious liberty starts under pressure.
Religious freedom is the opening fight.
In an emergency episode of Strict Scrutiny, host Leah Littman and guest Shannon Minter — legal director at the National Center for LGBTQ Rights — analyze the Supreme Court's 8-1 decision in Trials v.
This episode discusses the potential for the Supreme Court to join Republican efforts to restrict mail-in voting, framed within broader concerns about democracy and church-state separation.
This episode discusses legal and political challenges related to absentee ballots, asylum policies, and the weaponization of religion through Christian nationalism, while promoting activism for church-state separation and democracy.
Doge depositions take over.
This episode discusses the Supreme Court, legal culture, and the Trump-Vance administration's Religious Liberty Commission, which is criticized for promoting Christian nationalism and undermining religious freedom.
A Supreme Court preview is on deck.
A legal analysis podcast discussing Supreme Court cases and the intersection of religion, law, and civil rights.
This episode discusses the importance of separation of church and state and promotes the Summit for Religious Freedom conference.
This episode discusses the importance of religious freedom and separation of church and state, promoting the Summit for Religious Freedom conference.
This episode examines the legal and ethical issues surrounding ICE's occupation in Minnesota, framing it as a violation of rights and democratic principles.
This episode discusses the importance of religious freedom and separation of church and state, promoting a conference on combating Christian nationalism.
This episode discusses the importance of separation of church and state, previews the Summit for Religious Freedom, and analyzes a Supreme Court case involving women's rights.
This episode discusses the importance of church-state separation and promotes the Summit for Religious Freedom conference.
Legal experts discuss Trump's invasion of Venezuela, holiday legal battles, and second-term judicial nominees.
Favorite things get legally weird fast.
This episode analyzes how the Supreme Court is poised to significantly expand presidential authority through upcoming decisions.
This episode discusses Trump's alleged maritime murders while promoting BetterHelp therapy services and touching on Supreme Court gender equality arguments.
The episode begins with a sponsored advertisement for Jones Road Beauty's Miracle Balm holiday collection.
This episode previews upcoming Supreme Court decisions in December, offering critical legal analysis and commentary on the court's actions.
A podcast about legal and political issues, starting with a sponsor ad for Smalls cat food.
This episode discusses the threat of Christian nationalism and the work of Americans United for Separation of Church and State in defending civil rights.
A legal and political analysis podcast discussing the threat of Christian nationalism to church-state separation, focusing on Supreme Court cases and advocacy.
A legal podcast analyzing Supreme Court cases and the threat of Christian nationalism to church-state separation.
The hosts discuss recent Supreme Court First Amendment decisions and the broader legal landscape around church-state separation.
An emergency episode analyzing a Supreme Court decision on birthright citizenship and discussing the broader Christian nationalist agenda.
Legal experts analyze a Supreme Court decision on Planned Parenthood and Medicaid recipients' civil rights, along with other legal news.
An emergency episode analyzing recent Supreme Court opinions, including a case on Tennessee's law prohibiting gender-affirming care.
This episode discusses the threat of Christian nationalism to church-state separation, focusing on recent Supreme Court cases and the push for religious public schools and vouchers.
A podcast analyzing Supreme Court cases and legal culture, focusing on church-state separation and threats to secular democracy.
Analysis of U.S.
This episode begins with a lengthy advertisement for Smalls cat food, promoting its health benefits and offering a discount code.