Supreme Court Declares Racism Over

Strict Scrutiny

News, Philosophy, Society & Culture, Government

4.6 • 5.7K Ratings

🗓️ 4 May 2026

⏱️ 92 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

The 5th Circuit gave us a doozy late on Friday night by tightening access to the abortion drug mifepristone—Leah and Melissa break it down. Then, the full crew dives deeper into the Court’s catastrophic Voting Rights Act decision in Louisiana v. Callais (for their initial reaction, check out last week’s emergency episode). Next, they recap the troubling oral arguments in Mullin v. Doe, the case about Temporary Protected Status, in which Trump’s Solicitor General tried to argue that the President’s extremely racist statements about migrants from certain countries weren’t, in fact, racist at all. Also covered: Trump’s ballroom, arguments in an important Fourth Amendment case, and how some savvy federal judges are turning the administration’s favorite legal concept—the unitary executive theory—against it.

Favorite things:

Kate: The Loneliness of Sonia and Sunny, Kiran Desai; Transcription, Ben Lerner
Leah: Ariana Grande’s new album announcement; Noah Kahan on tour; SCOTUS Drops The Other Shoe on the Voting Rights Act, Sherrilyn Ifill (Sherrilyn’s Newsletter); The Slaying of the Voting Rights Act by the Coward Samuel Alito, Rick Hasen (Slate); The Supreme Court is Corrupt. This is What We Can Do About It, Jamelle Bouie
Melissa: Yesteryear, Caro Claire Burke; Voters Can Be Disenfranchised Now, Adam Serwer (The Atlantic); Legal Defense Fund

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6/20/26 – New York City

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

Transcript

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0:00.0	Strict scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for separation of church and state.
0:04.4	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.
0:11.6	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.
0:21.3	Our friends and Americans United have been doing the same thing, day in and day out, for almost 80 years.
0:26.5	This year alone, they filed three separate lawsuits against Trump's anti-Christian bias task force,
0:32.2	which, spoiler alert, is anything but unbiased.
0:35.0	Americans United has been tracking every mention of Christian nationalist
0:38.2	rhetoric from this administration and partnering with many allied organizations to sue and protect
0:43.2	our constitutional right of church state separation, the right that protects all of our
0:47.5	abilities to be who we are and live as we choose so long as we don't harm others. It's easy to
0:52.8	get apathetic, as we're all seeing and hearing
0:54.9	these attacks on our freedoms every single day and watching a religion be weaponized for a power grab.
1:00.4	Now isn't the time to give up, though. Now is the time to fight back against the growing authoritarianism
1:05.1	in our country. Consider joining Americans United for separation of church and state.
1:09.5	Learn more by visiting AU.org slash crooked because church state separation protects us all.
1:17.2	Mr. Chief Justice, may it please support. It's an old joke. When I argue,
1:23.9	men, argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.
1:28.3	She spoke, not elegantly, but with unmistakable clarity.
1:34.3	She said, I ask no favor for my sex.
1:39.3	All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our legs.
2:00.0	Struck scrutiny listeners, after we finished recording late on a Friday evening the fifth circuit
2:05.0	decided it was time for slapping some additional restrictions on Mifapristone one of the two
	...

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