The first week of the new term has come and gone, and things are heating up… literally. Kirti Datla, director of Earthjustice’s Strategic Legal Advocacy Program, joins Melissa and Leah to discuss the term’s biggest climate case: Suncor v. Commissioners of Boulder County. They break down whether Boulder County’s lawsuit against oil and gas companies can move forward, or if the Court will shut it down based on federal law. Then, they dive into Samuel Alito’s big, bad book press tour and his reflections on Dobbs—including the friendships he says he lost along the way. Plus they cover Kash Patel’s engagement, Kimberly Guilfoyle’s corruption controversies, and Pete Hegseth’s announcement of a public execution. Finally, Melissa talks with Professor Bernadette Atuahene about her new book: Plundered: How Racist Policies Undermine Black Homeownership in America.

Favorite Things:

• Leah: So Unexplained: Justice Alito’s Non-Responsive Emergency Docket Defense | Steve Vladeck’s Substack: One First | Jon Ossoff V. Mike Collins Debate | Marquette Poll
• Melissa: Cherry Baby by Rainbow Rowell

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• Leah: The Love Hypothesis | The Public Shaming of John Roberts
• Kate: Should I Stay or Should I Go?

• Melissa: ‘A Different World’ Renewed for Season 2 | Swan Song by Earl Spencer

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In the fifth and final installment of our Hot Supreme Court Reform series, Kate speaks with Gabe Roth, executive director of Fix the Court. What would a meaningful and enforceable set of ethics rules look like for the Supreme Court justices? Why isn’t there an Inspector General for the judiciary? How are there no real rules around recusals? Roth makes the case for these nonpartisan reforms and more.

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It’s been a long summer, but Leah, Kate and Melissa are back together to break down the biggest cases and legal battles coming to the Supreme Court this term. Starting in October, the justices will hear challenges involving AR-15s and semi-automatic rifles, religious exemptions for schools receiving government funding, and the latest redistricting fights in Missouri and the 8th Circuit. Plus, Trump’s big arch updates and allegations that a government contractor illegally funneled nearly $200,000 to a Susan Collins super PAC. Then, Melissa sits down with National Association of Black Journalists President and Crooked’s Long Play cohost Errin Haines to discuss news outlets suing the President over press access. After, Leah talks to Columbia graduate and activist Mahmoud Khalil about the administration’s crackdown on pro-Palestinian speech and the treatment of people in ICE custody.

Favorite Things:

• Leah: ProPublica | Gil Duran, Nerd Reich; Naomi Klein & Astra Taylor End Times Fascism | Alyssa Edwards’ response to Ken Paxton
• Kate: Daniel Immerwahr’s How to Hide an Empire | Ari Berman and Pema Levy in Mother Jones on Callais and the New New Jim Crow | Nikole Hannah-Jones’s NYT Piece

• Melissa: Propublica’s piece on Susan Collins | Charles Spencer, Swan Song | Raphael Warnock, The Crooked Parts Made Straight | Zak Cheney-Rice, No One Can Fix School Segregation Alone | Stacey Abrams at LCCR Gala

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In the fourth installment of our Hot Supreme Court Reform September series, Leah sits down with former FTC Chair Lina Khan and Lev Menand, both of Columbia Law School, to talk through ways to limit how much SCOTUS can mess with federal agencies. Lev makes the case for stripping SCOTUS of its jurisdiction over administrative law and sending those cases to a specialized court, and Lina discusses venue and standing issues—reforming who gets to sue and where.

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Melissa and Leah cover this week’s legal horrors out of the Trump administration, including the President’s ban on certain media outlets from the White House, as well as his attacks on the Kennedy Center and the Presidential Records Act. Also covered: Kash Patel on bestiality, ammosexual wins of the week, a proposed ballot measure in Idaho to protect reproductive freedom, and Donald Trump Jr.’s Russian oligarch sugar daddy. Then, Melissa sits down with Crooked’s very own Alex Wagner to talk about her new book The Steal: Four Right-Wing Hard-Liners, One Republican Presidency, and the Raid on America's Courts. Check out Alex’s show, Runaway Country, wherever you pod.

Favorite things:

• Leah:Alex Wagner’s The Steal; PONIES (Peacock); The Women of Yesteryear, Kate Manne (More to Hate); The Retirement Plan, Sue Hincenbergs
• Melissa: The Steal; Kash Patel getting roasted on social media

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In the third installment of our Hot Supreme Court Reform September series, Leah sits down with Daphna Renan and Nikolas Bowie to discuss how judicial supremacy became the default operating system of the federal government, and how limiting the Supreme Court’s power to decline to enforce federal statutes is a crucial tool for reining it in. Niko and Daphna’s book is Supremacy: How Rule by the Court Replaced Government by the People. Enter the giveaway here!

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Kate, Leah and Melissa hop on to break down the Supreme Court’s decision to block the Trump administration’s Postal Service regulation announcing it would not deliver mail-in ballots unless states adopted a bunch of last-minute, unnecessary, burdensome, and impossible policies governing mail in ballots. They cover Trump’s tantrum over the decision, Brett Kavanaugh’s endlessly pathetic pick-me energy, and Sam Alito’s God tier false equivalencies.

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For a transcript of an episode of Strict Scrutiny please email transcripts@crooked.com