How Low Can the DOJ Go?

Strict Scrutiny

News, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 27 April 2026

⏱️ 97 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

From the DOJ’s targeting of the Southern Poverty Law Center for its anti-KKK work to Kash Patel’s outrageous lawsuit against The Atlantic for its reporting on his unfitness for office to the Fifth Circuit’s legal contortions allowing Texas to mandate the Ten Commandments be displayed in classrooms, it’s been a wild week in the law. Kate and Leah unpack it all before recapping the week’s oral arguments, which featured the welcome return of former Solicitor General Elizabeth Prelogar to One First Street’s hallowed halls. For the second part of the show, Kate and Leah speak with University of Pennsylvania law professor Shaun Ossei-Owusu about his new book, Law on Trial: An Unlikely Insider Reckons with Our Legal System.

Favorite things:

Kate: Sexistential, Robyn; USAID Whistleblower Says It Was Even Worse Than People Knew, Vittoria Elliott (Wired); Into the Wood Chipper: A Whistleblower's Account of How the Trump Administration Shredded USAID, Nicholas Enrich; Enrich’s interview on Pod Save the World; Melissa on the Work Friends podcast
Leah: The Great Divide, Noah Kahan; Kahan’s Tiny Desk Concert; It Is Time for Ruthless Aggression, Jonathan V. Last (The Bulwark); The Gerrymandering Fight Should Be A Dress Rehearsal For Court Packing, Brian Beutler (Off Message); Sanewashing the Emergency Docket, Steve Vladeck (One First); The SPLC indictment, the Klan history behind it, and the ignominy of Todd Blanche, Chris Geidner (Law Dork); LEGO Kash Patel videos

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2026!

6/20/26 – New York City

Learn more: http://crooked.com/events

Preorder Melissa’s book, The U.S. Constitution: A Comprehensive and Annotated Guide for the Modern Reader

Preorder a signed paperback of Leah’s book, Lawless, here.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Struck scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for separation of church and state.
0:04.1	You're not alone if it feels like Groundhog Day every morning when you read the news or even when you listen to what we're talking about here on strict scrutiny.
0:11.9	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
0:21.1	democracy. And our friends at Americans United have been doing the same thing day in and day
0:26.1	out for almost 80 years. This year alone, they filed three separate lawsuits against Trump's
0:32.3	anti-Christian biased task force, which, spoiler alert, is anything but unbiased. A.U has been tracking every
0:39.3	mention of Christian nationalist rhetoric from this administration and partnering with many
0:44.4	allied organizations to sue and protect our constitutional right of church-state separation.
0:49.7	The right that protects all of our abilities to be who we are and live as we choose so long as we don't
0:55.3	harm others. It's easy to get apathetic, as we're all seeing and hearing these attacks on our
1:00.4	freedoms every single day, and we're watching religion be weaponized for a power grab. But now
1:06.2	isn't the time to give up. Now is the time to fight back against the growing authoritarianism in our country.
1:12.9	Consider joining Americans United for Separation of Church and State. You can learn more by visiting
1:17.6	AU.org forward slash crooked because church state separation protects us all.
1:25.8	Mr. Chief Justice, may please report.
1:30.1	It's an old joke, but when I argue men, argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.
1:38.1	She spoke not elegantly, but with unmistakable clarity.
1:43.6	She said, I asked no favor for my sex.
1:49.0	All I ask of our brethren is that. We're your host for today. I'm Leah Littman. And I'm Kate Shaw. Melissa is unfortunately away this week, but we have a jam-packed episode for you anyway. We will start with
2:21.7	legal news, including the DOJ's decision to charge the Southern Poverty Law Center for,
2:26.6	get this, efforts to take down the Ku Klux Klan. Not a joke, just a fact. We will also cover
2:33.4	the latest and greatest from both America's
	...

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