Strict Scrutiny — Trump’s DOJ Shakedown (October 27, 2025)

Episode Overview

This episode of Strict Scrutiny explores the “dark timeline” of American legal and political culture under the second Trump administration, focusing on the escalating corruption, autocracy, and lawlessness stemming from both the executive branch and the Supreme Court’s enabling jurisprudence. Hosts Leah Litman, Kate Shaw, and (periodically) guest Erin Carmon dissect ongoing legal cases around Trump’s “DOJ shakedown,” the White House’s literal and metaphorical demolition, expanding DOJ and military powers, and attacks on voting rights, before transitioning to an in-depth interview with journalist Erin Carmon about her new book, “Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America.”

Key Discussion Points and Insights

1. Updates on Article II (The Presidency) and Article III (The Courts)

• White House as a Symbol of Lawlessness

  • Trump is physically demolishing the White House’s East Wing for a new ballroom, seen as the defining image of his second term [04:25].
    • “The guy is literally tearing down the White House, which he does not own, again, because he wants a ballroom.” – Leah [04:25]
  • Symbolic link is made between the destruction of government property and the destruction of democratic norms and the law.

• Department of Justice “Shakedown”

  • Trump is demanding $230 million from the DOJ under the Federal Tort Claims Act, claiming damages from investigations into Russian interference and the Mar-a-Lago search [07:13].
  • The decision about whether Trump gets this payout would be made by DOJ officials who were formerly Trump’s own defense attorneys—now serving as Deputy AG and head of the Civil Division [07:13].
    • “Trump’s former personal lawyers in these matters would be the ones deciding whether he is entitled to compensation.” – Kate [08:16]
  • Trump’s demand letter explicitly cites Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts’s immunity ruling in Trump v. United States as justification [10:39].
    • “Even Trump and his lawyers recognize not only that this is weird, af, but that John Roberts gave them a leg up…” – Leah [10:39]

• SCOTUS Empowering Executive Corruption

  • The hosts repeatedly trace this abuse back to John Roberts and the Supreme Court’s immunity decision, which “handed the President more and more power over every part of government” [09:02].

2. The Presidential Pardons and Unitary Executive Theory Come Home to Roost

• Partisan Pardons

  • Trump continues the pattern of pardoning or commuting sentences of Republican officeholders convicted of felonies (e.g., George Santos, Chris Collins, Paul Manafort, Steve Bannon, etc.) [13:49].
    • “By the end of his first term, Trump had pardoned more than half of the Republican congressmen convicted of felonies in the 21st century.” – Kate [13:49]

• Weaponization of Federal Power

  • Striking contrast between mercy toward allies and legal action against opponents.
  • Use of military strikes: President is ordering lethal strikes against alleged “narco traffickers” abroad without Congressional authorization, resulting in civilian deaths [17:13].
    • “These strikes are unlawful... the premeditated extrajudicial killings have been murders, regardless of whether the 43 people blown apart, burned alive, or drowned in 10 strikes so far were indeed running drugs.” – Quoting Charlie Savage, NYT [17:13]
  • Trump publicly asserts he doesn’t need to ask Congress for a declaration of war: “I think we're just going to kill... People that are bringing drugs into our country.” – Trump (audio clip) [18:22]
  • This behavior is directly tied to SCOTUS’s rulings giving expansive deference to presidential decisions [19:02].

• Tariffs as Personal Vendetta

  • Tariff decisions against Canada motivated by personal pique, with Trump announcing new tariffs in response to a Canadian ad [21:09].
    • “All trade negotiations with Canada are hereby terminated. Thank you for your attention to this manner, President DJT.” – Trump [21:09]

3. Unchecked Federal Militarization and Judicial Deference

• Legal Challenges to National Guard Deployments
  • Multiple lawsuits challenge Trump’s deployment of the National Guard in LA, Portland, and Chicago in response to alleged or exaggerated threats [25:56-34:51].
  • Decisions repeatedly go Trump’s way due to judicial deference: even factually unsupported “national emergency” declarations are rubber-stamped.
    • “Trump can basically gesture toward anything that happened this year, seemingly anywhere, and use that as a basis for federalizing and deploying the Guard…” – Kate [28:35]
  • Dissenting judge warns: “Above all, I ask those who are watching this case unfold to retain faith in our judicial system for just a little longer.” – Judge Graeber [33:47]

4. Supreme Court’s Erosion of Rights & Legal Safeguards

• Voting Rights Act Under Threat

  • The court appears poised to dramatically limit Section 2, with government lawyers minimizing the impact, but outside scholars estimating the damage could be five times worse [35:45-39:55].
  • Active gerrymandering underway as states anticipate the court's permissiveness, e.g., North Carolina's new maps [38:32].

• ICE Abuses & Kavanaugh’s Disregard

  • New ProPublica reporting shows over 170 cases of U.S. citizens unlawfully detained by ICE, directly contradicting Justice Kavanaugh’s unfounded claims about “brief stops” [35:45].

• Alabama Executions—Sotomayor’s Dissent

  • Justice Sotomayor, joined by Justices Kagan and Jackson, dissents in a denial of a stay where the state executes Anthony Boyd via nitrogen asphyxiation, describing the excruciating process in graphic detail [50:42]:
    • “For two to four minutes, Boyd will remain conscious while the state of Alabama kills him. He will immediately convulse. He will gasp for air. He will thrash violently against the restraints…” – Sotomayor, dissent [51:24]
  • Actual execution took 37 minutes, underscoring the brutality [51:24].

5. The Trump Administration’s “Best People” in Action

• Lindsay Halligan Debacle
  • Former Trump lawyer turned acting U.S. Attorney, Halligan, indicts former FBI Director Jim Comey and New York AG Tish James, which previous officials had refused to do [45:14].
  • Halligan’s “off the record” demand to Lawfare reporter Anna Bauer, after a combative exchange, becomes a viral example of incompetence and misunderstanding of journalistic ethics [46:54]:
    • “By the way, everything I ever sent you is off the record. You’re not a journalist, so it’s weird saying that, but just letting you know.” – Lindsay Halligan [47:48]

In-Depth Interview: Erin Carmon on “Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America”

[56:23–76:32]

Context and Motivation

• Carmon describes how the Dobbs decision, especially Alito’s dehumanizing language about pregnancy, inspired her book [58:33]:
  • “When I got to the line where he said, At 12 weeks, the unborn human being has, ‘taken on the human form in all respects’… I decided I would title the piece in response…I too have a human form.”

Key Issues Explored

• Systemic Dehumanization of the Pregnant Person

  • Courts and anti-abortion activists erase the pregnant individual—focusing instead on the fetus, sometimes to the point of risking the mother's life or health [64:27].
    • “They themselves lay out in black and white that in weighing these emergency situations, absolutely nothing can be done that can implicate the provider in even potentially or unintentionally harming a fetus. …some would argue, I go a little too in the weeds on this, but it, to me, is such an illustration of the profound contempt for the health and life of the individual who is carrying that pregnancy.” – Erin Carmon [60:46]

• Interconnections Between Reproductive Abuse and Broader Social Control

  • How legal mechanisms originally used to oppress enslaved and marginalized women are now deployed more broadly. Quote from Dorothy Roberts: “What is tested and tolerated in black women is later turned more broadly.” [65:40]

• Collateral Damage of Abortion Bans

  • Restrictions affect miscarriage care and IVF, as evidenced by the Alabama Supreme Court ruling that embryos are “extra uterine children.” Uses story of Alison (ACLU attorney) denied miscarriage care [68:43].

• Non-abortion Care and Trap Laws

  • Even birth centers face punitive regulation post-Dobbs; reproductive control is not about “protecting babies,” but about social and political dominance [73:38].

• Real-world Suffering under New Regimes

  • ICE detains pregnant women in horrific conditions, including forced miscarriages and medical neglect [65:40].
  • Alabama jails women postpartum for supposed “fetal endangerment,” illustrating the criminalization of pregnancy [68:10].

• False Promises of Social Safety Nets after Roe

  • Republicans have not followed through with meaningful support for families or social services after Roe, despite such claims [72:45].

Memorable Quotes

• “To me, it really distills the logic of punishment... they're being jailed for the sake of their fetuses.” – Erin Carmon [67:30]
• “It is an account that is enraging, but also where the players are genuinely inspiring.” – Leah [76:20]

Notable Moments & Quotes with Timestamps

• “I am wondering whether we should start calling Donald Trump a Roberts Baron… using the federal government as the President’s personal piggy bank.” – Leah [10:14]
• “I think Roberts Baron’s very good.” – Kate [10:37]
• Trump, on extrajudicial killings: “I don’t think we’re going to necessarily ask for a declaration of war. I think we’re just going to kill people that are bringing drugs into our country.” [18:22]
• “These guys are so thirsty for fascism. It’s unreal… Are you taking notes on an autocracy plan?” – Leah [33:04]
• Judge Graeber in dissent: “Above all, I ask those who are watching this case unfold to retain faith in our judicial system for just a little longer.” [33:47]
• Anna Bauer on Halligan: “I’m really sorry, but that is just not how any of this works.” [47:48]
• Justice Sotomayor, on execution by nitrogen asphyxiation: “For two to four minutes, Boyd will remain conscious… he will thrash violently against the restraints… Boyd asks for the barest form of mercy. To die by firing squad, which would kill him in seconds rather than by a torturous suffocation lasting up to 4 minutes. The Constitution would grant him that grace. My colleagues do not.” [51:24]

Segmented Timeline of Major Topics

• [03:12–14:36]: Trump’s White House destruction, DOJ shakedown, and the implications of Supreme Court’s immunity decision.
• [14:36–24:54]: Pardons and commutations of Republican officials, retaliatory prosecutions of critics, militarized federal strikes, and deference from courts.
• [24:54–34:51]: Developments in legal challenges to National Guard deployments—Portland, LA, and Chicago.
• [34:51–44:33]: Updates on Brett Kavanaugh’s enabling of ICE abuses, threats to the Voting Rights Act, and DOJ interventions in elections.
• [44:33–54:54]: Lindsay Halligan’s legal and PR misadventures as acting US attorney (with Lawfare episode).
• [56:23–76:32]: Interview with Erin Carmon on “Five Women and the Perils of Pregnancy in America.”
• [76:32–End]: Recommendations, book event details, closing credits.

Tone and Language

As usual, the hosts mix sharp legal analysis with irreverence and dark wit. The conversation is dense with references, sarcasm, and exasperation, as well as hope, especially during the Carmon interview, which foregrounds the human cost of recent legal changes.

For Further Exploration

• Recommended Reads:
  • Charlie Savage in the NYT: “The peril of a White House that flaunts its indifference to the law.” [77:16]
  • Quinta Jurecic in The Atlantic: “Resistance is Cringe, But It’s Also Effective.”
  • Lily King’s “Five Tuesdays in Winter” (fiction).
• Upcoming Live Events:
  • CrookedCon in DC [November 7]
  • Strict Scrutiny West Coast Shows—San Francisco (March 6) and Los Angeles (March 7)

Final Takeaway

This episode underscores how the intersection of an unfettered executive, a compliant Supreme Court, and a corrupted Department of Justice produces a cascade of abuses, with real consequences for American democracy, civil rights, and bodily autonomy. Erin Carmon’s segment brings the conversation home, showing the personal stories behind the headlines and reminding listeners that the harms of current legal regimes extend far beyond theory.

“If you want to understand our unreal times, you’ve got to talk to the very real people who are experiencing it all firsthand.” [79:58]