Trump’s DOJ Shakedown

Kate and Leah dig into a very busy week of legal news as Trump wields his SCOTUS-enabled executive power in increasingly unhinged ways. They also discuss continuing challenges to the president’s deployment of the National Guard in blue cities, ProPublica’s reporting (propublica.org/article/immigration-dhs-america…) on “Kavanaugh stops,” and, for dessert, the bonkers text exchange (lawfaremedia.org/article/anna--lindsey-halliga…) between Trump lackey–turned–U.S. Attorney Lindsey Halligan and Lawfare’s Anna Bower. Then they speak with author Irin Carmon about her new book, Unbearable: Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America (bookshop.org/p/books/unbearable-five-women-and…). Presale for the West Coast tour starts Tuesday, Oct 28 at 10am Pacific time and runs through Thursday, 10/30 at 9AM Pacific. The code is DISSENT.
Favorite things:

• Leah: Resistance Is Cringe—But It’s Also Effective (theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/10/no-kings…), Quinta Jurecic (The Atlantic); The Democrats' Main Problem Isn’t Their Message (nytimes.com/2025/10/19/opinion/democrats-atten…), Chris Hayes (NYT); The Peril of a White House That Flaunts Its Indifference to the Law (nytimes.com/2025/10/24/us/politics/white-house…), Charlie Savage (NYT); Everybody/Elizabeth Taylor Mashup (instagram.com/p/DQAwfwriTzP) (Backstreet Boys/Taylor Swift)

• Kate: Five Tuesdays in Winter (bookshop.org/p/books/five-tuesdays-in-winter-l…), Lily King; I’m Still Here (imstillhere-film.com)

Get tickets for STRICT SCRUTINY LIVE – The Bad Decisions Tour 2025!

• 3/6/26 – San Francisco

• 3/7/26 – Los Angeles

Learn more: crooked.com/events
Order your copy of Leah's book, Lawless: How the Supreme Court Runs on Conservative Grievance, Fringe Theories, and Bad Vibes (simonandschuster.com/books/Lawless/Leah-Litman…)
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