Absentee Ballots, Asylum, and Too Many A**holes to Count

Strict Scrutiny

News, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 23 March 2026

⏱️ 81 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Leah, Kate, and Melissa preview this week’s arguments at the Court, including Watson v. Republican National Committee, a challenge over when election offices must receive absentee ballots in order for them to be counted. They also cover a flood of legal news, including the quagmire that is the New Jersey U.S. Attorney’s Office, rulings from lower courts both encouraging (U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia) and grim (the wrong-like-clockwork Fifth Circuit), and the showdown between Senator Rand Paul and Trump’s pick for DHS head, Markwayne “NOSPACES” Mullin.

Favorite things:

Kate: How to stop a dictator, Zack Beauchamp (Vox); The Case of Kristie Metcalfe (NYT’s The Daily); Project Hail Mary, Andy Weir
Leah: The Epic transcript from NJ; luck…or something, Hilary Duff (producer Melody’s pick: Future Tripping; producer Michael’s pick: Adult Size Medium); Her giveaway to celebrate Melissa’s new book (enter here);
Melissa: Love Story Official Playlist (Spotify); Paradise (Hulu); Risk and Resistance: How Feminists Transformed the Law and Science of AIDS, Aziza Ahmed.

Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader and enter the giveaway for a t-shirt HERE.

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

Follow us on Instagram, Threads, and Bluesky

Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0	Strict scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for separation of church and state.
0:04.3	You're not alone if it feels like Groundhog Day every morning when you read the news or even listen to what we're talking about here on strict scrutiny.
0:11.2	And while it's overwhelming, seeing the trajectory our country is on, we all show up every day, trying to find ways to make it better, to educate our neighbors and to fight for democracy.
0:20.2	Our friends at Americans United have been doing the same thing, day in and day out, for almost 80 years.
0:25.7	This year alone, they filed three separate lawsuits against Trump's anti-Christian-biased task force,
0:30.9	which, spoiler alert, is anything but unbiased.
0:34.1	AU has been tracking every mention of Christian nationalist rhetoric from this administration
0:38.3	and partnering with many allied organizations to sue and protect our constitutional right
0:42.9	of church-state separation, the right that protects all of our abilities to be who we are and live
0:48.2	as we choose so long as we don't harm others. It's easy to get apathetic, as we're all seeing
0:53.4	and hearing these attacks on our
0:54.7	freedoms every single day and watching a religion be weaponized for a power grab. Now isn't the
0:59.9	time to give up, though. Now is the time to fight back against the growing authoritarianism in our
1:04.4	country. Consider joining Americans United for separation of church and state. Learn more by visiting
1:09.4	a.U.org slash crooked because church-state
1:12.7	separation protects us all.
1:16.8	Quick question. Are you politically engaged and spiritually exhausted? If you said yes to both,
1:23.0	welcome home. I'm Erin Ryan. And I'm Alyssa Master of Monaco. And we're the host of Hysteria, the podcast for women who care about democracy, culture, and not losing their minds in the process.
1:33.5	We break down the news, call out the nonsense, and spotlight the women actually fighting back on Capitol Hill, in classrooms, and everywhere the stakes are high.
1:42.5	It's sharp, honest analysis featuring women's voices with humor and zero handholding.
1:48.2	Listen to hysteria wherever you get your podcasts and watch full episodes on YouTube.
1:55.2	Mr. Chief Justice, may it please support.
	...

Please login to see the full transcript.

Previous episode | Next episode

Disclaimer: The podcast and artwork embedded on this page are from Strict Scrutiny, and are the property of its owner and not affiliated with or endorsed by Tapesearch.

Generated transcripts are the property of Strict Scrutiny and are distributed freely under the Fair Use doctrine. Transcripts generated by Tapesearch are not guaranteed to be accurate.