Strict Scrutiny: "The Dubious Legality of Trump’s DC Takeover"

Date: August 18, 2025
Hosts: Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, Melissa Murray
Guests: Alexis McGill Johnson (Planned Parenthood CEO), Lisa Beatty Frielenhausen (ClutchKit founder), David Cohen, Carol Joffe (authors of After Dobbs)

Overview

This episode covers the legal and political chaos unleashed by the Trump administration’s intervention in Washington, D.C., which the hosts describe as a semi-militarized “takeover” using dubious legal pretexts. The episode also delivers their annual retrospective on the Supreme Court’s Dobbs decision, with guests breaking down the continuing fallout for reproductive rights, rising maternal mortality, the shifting landscape for abortion providers, and the emergent threats to contraception. The tone is characteristically incisive and irreverent, mixing legal analysis, dark humor, and trenchant critique of the Supreme Court and federal government.

Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. The Supreme Court’s Argument Calendar: Timing and Political Advantage

• Delays and Manipulation: The Court was three weeks late releasing its October/November oral argument calendar, an unusual delay with major consequences.
• High Stakes for Voting Rights: Louisiana vs. Calais is scheduled for early argument, concerning whether Section 2 of the Voting Rights Act is unconstitutional racial discrimination.
  • Potential for Rapid Harm: Rushed arguments may be designed to facilitate anti-democratic gerrymanders before the 2026 midterms.
• Pattern of Expediency: Hosts observe a pattern: when speed favors the Republican Party or Donald Trump, the Court acts quickly; when delay is beneficial, it slows down—consistent with “shadow docket” manipulation.
• Quote:

  "Honestly, surveying the cases that you just walked through, it is really very hard to come to any other conclusion.” —Leah Littman [07:23]

2. The Shadow Docket and Selective Emergency Justice

• Social Media Law Update: SCOTUS allowed a Mississippi law requiring parental consent for social media usage to take effect, following a similar approach used to restrict access to online porn.
• Justice Kavanaugh's Unilluminating ‘Cavcurrence’: Despite stating a law was likely unconstitutional, Kavanaugh allowed enforcement, without clarifying why.
• Selective Emergency Relief:
  • When the Trump administration needs shadow docket relief, a “likelihood of success on the merits” is enough. For other litigants? Not so.
• Quote:

  "In those cases, the court just seems to equate likelihood of success on the merits with an entitlement to relief on the shadow docket... It’s like DEFCON 10 levels of cluelessness.” —Melissa Murray [11:11]

3. The Legality and Consequences of Trump’s DC “Takeover”

• Overview: Trump declared a “crime emergency” in DC, deploying National Guard and seizing operational control of the DC police, despite DC’s Home Rule Act limiting such federal intervention.
• Legal Mechanisms Used:
  The administration cited an obscure statutory provision to claim authority over local police “for federal purposes” in emergency situations.
• Controversial Uses:
  • Federal arrests of minor actors (e.g., a DOJ lawyer who threw a sandwich) with aggressive force.
  • Chilling, propagandistic videos released of such arrests.
  • Attempts to appoint DEA officials as head of the Metropolitan Police—an overreach challenged in court.
• Pushback from DC and Courts:
  • DC Attorney General sued, arguing power only allows requesting police services—not directing all law enforcement or appointing leadership.
  • Temporary agreement rescinds direct federal appointments, but new orders may still skirt legality.
• Quote:

  "This kind of militarization is chilling and it could normalize a practice whether or not the law limits his ability to do it in other places in the eyes of the public.” —Leah Littman [28:37]

• National Implications:
  Rep. Comer made clear the intent is to export this model (“militarization coming to a city near you”) if it “works” in DC.
• Democratic Abomination:
  The events reinforce the imperative of DC statehood to block undemocratic federal interventions.

4. The Trump Judiciary: D.C. Circuit and Administrative State Destruction

• Aggressive Mandamus:
  A Trump-heavy D.C. Circuit panel vacated contempt findings for Trump officials, seriously distorting the lower court record and bypassing normal legal process.
• Gutting Federal Agencies:
  The same panel ruled administration moves to “pause” (de facto destroy) the CFPB cannot be judicially reviewed unless the shutdown is formally declared—allowing a “death by a thousand cuts” to agencies.
• Quote:

  "It’s just embarrassing stuff, I think.” —Melissa Murray [33:21]

5. Attacks on Cultural and Historical Institutions

• Smithsonian "Review":
  Trump’s administration ordered the Smithsonian to scrub museums of “divisive” language, targeting especially the National Museum of African American History and the National Museum of the American Indian.
  • Panel asks: What “non-divisive” language could possibly be used to portray the realities of slavery and genocide?
• Quote:

  "Really raises the question, like what, pray tell, is the non-divisive language these institutions are supposed to use to describe slavery and genocide?" —Leah Littman [37:52]

6. Lightning-Round Legal Updates

• SCOTUS shadow docket decisions pending:
  • NIH grant cancellations for “politically objectionable” research.
  • ICE’s racially-profiled raids in Los Angeles—all before the Court on emergency requests.

Dobbs Retrospective & The State of Reproductive Rights

Segment 1: Ongoing Consequences of Dobbs—Maternal Death and Institutional Retrenchment

Notable Guests:

• Alexis McGill Johnson (Planned Parenthood CEO)
• Lisa Beatty Frielenhausen (ClutchKit founder)

Key Points:

• Growing List of Preventable Deaths:
  ProPublica reporting and state maternal mortality reports attribute women’s deaths to abortion bans (Amber Thurman, Candy Miller, etc.), but such truths are now suppressed by shuttered review boards and CDC data cutbacks.
  • “The focus on consolidating power and control over our bodies is so compelling that they are willing to actually hide the information rather than consider the implications and the value of our lives.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [46:26]
• Contraceptive Access Under Threat:
  Systemic attacks: cutting Medicaid/Title X, rolling back ACA contraception coverage, and promoting disinformation linking contraception to abortion.
• Political Messaging and Suppression:
  Suppression of reproductive health information (websites gone, accurate sex ed outlawed) coincides with “pro-birth, not pro-life” policies.
• Quote:

  “They are actively codifying inequality. The way they are able to do that is there is a fundamental lack of value of our humanity.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [65:32]

Segment 2: The Attacks on Contraception and Gender Equality

• Contrary to Public Views:
  Contraception enjoys overwhelming bipartisan support, but legislative/practical obstacles are quietly increasing (e.g., prescription requirements, parental consent, confusion purposefully sown re: morning-after vs. abortion pills).
• Economic Fallout:
  Trump-era policies are leading to a mass exodus of women (esp. Black women) from the workforce, amplifying concerns about codified gender inequality.
• Rise of "Anti-Woman Entrepreneurship":
  TX lawsuits target doctors for providing abortion/contraception across state lines; "fetal personhood" is being used as a wedge for massive new legal restrictions.
• Quote:

  “There is no state where banning abortion is popular. There’s no state where banning contraception is popular... The only reason this is happening is because constituents don’t have the levers of accountability.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [65:32]

Segment 3: Resistance and Innovations—The "Clutch Kit" Story

• Clutch Kit Origin:
  Brainchild of Lisa Beatty Frielenhausen (with input from Emma Watson and inspired by Justice Ginsburg/Gloria Steinem dinner!): a package providing emergency contraception/Pregnancy tests, targeting "contraceptive deserts."
• Grassroots Solutions:
  Kits are now being distributed via donations—especially to college campuses and underserved areas.
• Entrepreneurship and Mutual Aid as Resistance:
  Guests call for movement entrepreneurship, culture change, and practical mutual aid alongside legal reform.
  • “I want to live in a world where we are all carrying around medication abortion in our bags with hot sauce... that's actually also part of change.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [76:17]

Notable Quotes & Moments (with Timestamps)

• Supreme Court’s partisan timing:

  “It’s like slapping you in the face.” —Melissa Murray [07:41]

• Shadow docket favoritism:

  “When Emergency relief helps Trump or Republicans, they can hustle. When delay helps, they take their sweet time.” —Leah Littman [07:23]

• D.C. militarization myth:

  “Let me be crystal clear, crime in D.C. is ending and ending today.”—Trump administration clip, mocked by hosts [16:20]

• Federal overreach:

  “Chilling...and could normalize a practice even when illegal elsewhere, in the eyes of the public.”—Leah Littman [28:37]

• Maternal deaths since Dobbs:

  “Her mother learned that Amber died because of an abortion ban through ProPublica reporting...having to be re traumatized learning that it was preventable. It was an unnecessary loss.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [46:26]

• On contraception:

  “Access to contraception is as endangered as everything.” —Kate Shaw [57:51]

• Grassroots hope:

  “My hope is coming from the brilliance of entrepreneurship in the space...I know the next gen is not having it.” — Alexis McGill Johnson [76:08]

After Dobbs: Interview with David Cohen & Carol Joffe

• Core Insight:
  Despite dire predictions, abortion rates nationally have not dropped as expected because providers, advocates, and patients have built new infrastructure—travel networks, telemedicine, legal defense.
• Risks Remain:
  This patchwork is costly, exhausting, and precarious; depends on sustained funding and volunteer commitment; medication abortion is vital but vulnerable to federal rollback.
• Escalating Threats:
  Trump’s DOJ refusing to enforce the FACE Act signals potential for increased anti-abortion violence.
• The Supreme Court’s “Retreat” Is a Myth:
  Kavanaugh’s claim that Dobbs would “get the courts out of abortion” has been decisively disproven—courts are more entangled than ever.
  • “Coach Kavanaugh does not know much what he’s talking about...He just threw that into his concurrence to placate the dissenters, I guess.” —David Cohen [92:50]
• The Chaos Is the Point:
  Legal confusion serves anti-abortion strategy; providers must track implement fast-changing laws, sometimes on an hourly basis.
  • “Patients call up and say, is abortion legal where I live?...The providers, they are providing legal care.” —David Cohen [97:02]
• Sustaining Resistance:
  The resilience is not limitless. Grassroots support, funding, and local action remain critical.
  • “Give money, vote at every level...local clinics need your support.” —Carol Joffe [104:23]
  • “Yes, the Supreme Court matters. But it’s not the end all, be all...There are people on the ground who are resisting with their daily actions.” —David Cohen [104:49]

Concluding Segment: Recommendations & Good News

• Book and Article Recommendations:
  Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America (Irene Carmon), Vera or Faith (Gary Shteyngart), Parable of the Talents (Octavia Butler), “Redistricting Texas Now is Illegal” (Ellen Katz).
• Rays of Optimism:
  Grassroots innovation; Clutch Kit distribution; ballot initiative victories; the next generation’s activism.
• Favorite Quote:

  “I believe that is the job of a movement leader, to beat everybody with a hope stick.” —Alexis McGill Johnson [76:08]

Timestamps for Major Segments

• [03:44] Court’s Argument Calendar and Voting Rights Act
• [08:19] Shadow Docket and Emergency Orders
• [13:24] Trump’s D.C. “Takeover” and Legal Background
• [25:38] Legal Challenge by D.C. Attorney General
• [28:37] Chilling National Implications / Militarization
• [42:02] Annual Dobbs Retrospective Begins
• [46:26] Maternal Mortality and Data Suppression
• [58:25] Contraception Under Attack
• [65:24] Anti-Women Policy Outcomes and Economic Fallout
• [72:14] Clutch Kit Origin Story
• [82:06] Interview: "After Dobbs" (Cohen & Joffe)
• [104:23] How to Support Providers/Patients

Final Takeaways

• The hosts expose how the Trump administration’s weaponizing of legal technicalities and emergency powers in DC exemplifies the broader project of undermining democratic institutions, curtailing rights, and normalizing federal overreach.
• The Dobbs decision’s fallout—rising maternal deaths, criminalization of pregnancy, attacks on contraception—is ongoing, generational, and abetted by concerted efforts to erase data, suppress information, and harden inequality.
• Resistance endures through grassroots innovation, mutual aid, and state-by-state organizing, but it is beleaguered and must be vigorously supported.
• The episode fuses national legal developments with stories of creative resistance and unflinching critique, offering listeners both a call to action and clear-eyed hope rooted in collective struggle.

For further information or to get involved, the episode directs listeners to organizations like Planned Parenthood and Americans United for Separation of Church and State, and to consider supporting grassroots reproductive health efforts such as Clutch Kit and local abortion funds.