Strict Scrutiny Podcast Summary

Episode: Will SCOTUS Join the GOP War on Mail-in Ballots?
Date: March 30, 2026
Host: Kate Shaw (w/ guest hosts Ian Bassin, Elora Mukherjee)

Episode Overview

This episode dissects an increasingly urgent question: Will the Supreme Court sign off on the Republican Party’s attempts to restrict mail-in voting ahead of the 2026 midterms? Host Kate Shaw (solo on the regular crew) is joined by democracy defender Ian Bassin (Protect Democracy) and immigration law scholar Elora Mukherjee to break down the recent Supreme Court oral argument in RNC v. Watson—a pivotal voting rights case. They also cover breaking news impacting press freedom and the military, and dig into blockbuster SCOTUS cases on asylum and birthright citizenship. The tone is urgent, analytical, and at times irreverent.

Breaking News Updates (03:45–22:14)

1. Pentagon Press Policy Struck Down (03:45–07:29)

• D.C. District Court struck down the Pentagon’s new press pass rule, which required journalists to sign agreements not to report unapproved information.
• Judge Friedman found that this policy was First Amendment viewpoint discrimination and violated due process.
• Especially troubling given U.S. military activity: “It is at the maximum level of importance that the public have unfettered access to accurate reporting on the Pentagon and that was a harm to the country.” — Ian Bassin (06:07).
• Historical context: Cited 250 years of expectation that the press reports independently on the government.

2. Anthropic v. DoD – AI & Retaliation (07:29–10:56)

• Pentagon tried to block AI company Anthropic from government contracts after Anthropic refused to allow its tech for mass surveillance and killer robots.
• Judge Lin found this to be unconstitutional and unlawful retaliation for speech critical of the government; preliminary injunction issued.
• “The judge basically said…that was all wildly excessive, wildly unlawful, and in retaliation for Anthropic raising some public concerns about safety, that the Pentagon didn’t like.” — Ian Bassin (07:53)
• Notable act of industry solidarity: Researchers from rival AI companies (Google, OpenAI) joined to support Anthropic—likened to a NATO Article 5 moment (10:27).

3. Collective Action as Resistance (10:56–12:08)

• Not only lawsuits, but collective industry and press action seen as key resistance to authoritarian tactics.

4. Racial & Gender Bias in Military Promotions (12:08–15:41)

• Secretary Hegseth reportedly blocked promotions of four Army officers who happened to all be Black and/or women.
• Explicit, open reassertion of racially/gendered old hierarchies: “When this administration talks about merit, it is talking about the restoration of old status hierarchies in which leadership positions go to white men full stop.” — Kate Shaw (12:51)
• Judges—and the public—are noticing the brazen nature of discrimination and retaliation.

5. DOJ Error on Courthouse Arrests by ICE (15:42–18:21)

• DOJ admits in court to misstatements about ICE’s authority for courthouse arrests; implications for potentially reopening cases wrongfully affected.

Notable Quote

“[What ultimately does the administration in] is that it is so openly obvious about what it’s doing that the judges are like—the animus here is so clear and the double standard is so clear.” — Ian Bassin (14:03)

POLITICAL & CONTEXTUAL DEVELOPMENTS (22:14–37:09)

1. Trump’s Vile Response to Robert Mueller’s Death (22:14–25:25)

• Kate and Ian react to Trump publicly celebrating the death of a public servant.
• “When Donald Trump was getting five deferments from serving in Vietnam, Robert Mueller was getting a Purple Heart.” — Ian Bassin (23:23)
• Evidence that Trump remains deeply unpopular, despite appearances.

2. 8th Circuit Rulings and Shadow Docket (25:27–30:22)

• The 8th Circuit joins the 5th in upholding automatic detention of noncitizens—a breaking norm.
• Discussion of Supreme Court shadow docket mechanisms and urgency around Temporary Protected Status (TPS) for populations from Syria and Haiti.

3. Corruption & “Dildo Doctrine” (36:14–37:09)

• Leah Litman’s coined term (“dildo doctrine,” a recurring bit) to spotlight a strategy of admitting outrageous adventures in corruption (like the $1.25M Flynn settlement).
• Reports of market actors betting on policy announcements for profit—a new level of government corruption.
• "Leah, when you get back, we're going to need a phrase to capture that level of corruption, because it is absolutely insane, the level of corruption in there." — Ian Bassin (36:27)

SUPREME COURT: VOTING CASE DEEP DIVE – RNC v. Watson

[Key Segment: 37:09–65:04]

Case Background

• Mississippi law: Allows mail-in ballots postmarked by Election Day to be counted if received within five days.
• Challenge: RNC and the Trump administration claim federal law requires all ballots to be counted only if received by Election Day.

Arguments & Court Dynamics

Statutory Text and Reading History (38:31–44:09)

• RNC relies on 19th-century election statutes specifying “Election Day.”
• Text and history don’t support RNC’s interpretation; major purpose historically was to prevent fraud related to voting in different states, not mail deadlines.

Danger to Early Voting/Election Administration (49:35–52:43)

• If Supreme Court sides with RNC, could upend voting in 14+ states, and perhaps threaten early voting everywhere.
• “You're talking about totally upending voting practices in this country. Let's just be clear—that's what they're trying to do.” — Ian Bassin (49:35)

Media/Epistemic Influence (40:51–58:04)

• Justices Alito and Kavanaugh appear receptive to “big lie” fraud narratives.
• "Sam Alito and Brett Kavanaugh taking that right into their veins and then using it as justification for sort of constitutional and textual interpretation." — Ian Bassin (44:09)

Selective Concern for "Confidence" in Elections (52:43–54:12)

• Appeals to “appearance of fraud” and voter “confidence” are invoked—despite no actual evidence.
• “A solution in search of a problem which is basically a lot of the sort of Trump kind of election corruption situation...” — Ian Bassin (54:12)

Purcell Principle: Results-Oriented Justice (59:53–61:14)

• The supposed judicial rule against changing election rules close to an election (“Purcell”) only ever kicks in to block progressive changes, but not to block disenfranchisement.

Notable Quotes

• “If the Supreme Court wants to...build confidence in elections, it can come out and say all this big lie nonsense is bunk. You don’t need to believe it. That would do it.” — Ian Bassin (58:04)
• “It’s always too close to an election to protect voting rights. It’s never too close to an election to restrict them.” — Ian Bassin (60:48)

[Timestamps / Clips]

• Alito’s textual “gotcha” (48:09)
• Justices raising spectral fraud/appearance of fraud concerns (52:43, 53:35)
• Kavanaugh pushing the “disenfranchisement” talking point (58:35)
• Gorsuch’s absurd hypotheticals about ballot “recall” (62:08)

AUTHORITARIANISM & MIDTERM ELECTIONS

[65:04–73:12]

Protect Democracy’s “Authoritarian Playbook”—The Four D’s:

• Deceive, Disrupt, Deny, Defeat (Protect Democracy report)
• Trump’s pattern: create perception of stolen election > get accomplices > disrupt voting > deny if unsuccessful.
• “He’s going to engage in deception. He is going to try to convince people there’s something wildly untoward here...So you can enter the disrupt phase...If that doesn’t work…the deny phase…But there’s a fourth D, and this is the good news—the fourth D is defeated, which is what we’re going to do.” — Ian Bassin (65:28)

Why There’s Still Hope

• Trump has become deeply unpopular before consolidating power.
• Key institutions (Senate, agencies) are beginning to resist his agenda.
• “We are going to win this battle for democracy...because the autocrat here is pretty incompetent and made the mistake of becoming unpopular before he consolidated power.” — Ian Bassin (70:12)

IMMIGRATION CASES AT THE SUPREME COURT

Guest: Elora Mukherjee (77:46–112:25)

Mullen v. Al Otro Lado (Asylum "Metering" Policy)

• Issue: Whether asylum seekers presenting themselves at border crossings receive a threshold fear screening or can be turned away.
• The U.S. has, for decades and under international law, allowed at least a basic fear screening at the border.
• Statutory sticking point: meaning of "arrives in"—whether it requires having already entered U.S. territory.
• "If Alito, Gorsuch and Barrett's reading prevails, asylum seekers would be blocked from having any opportunity to have a threshold screening." — Elora Mukherjee (86:00)
• Mootness issue: Biden administration formally ended the “metering” policy, but Court seems eager to reach the merits anyway.

Trump v. Barbara (Birthright Citizenship)

• Issue: Constitutionality of Trump’s day-one executive order ending birthright citizenship for children of certain immigrants.
• Radical Break: The order is contrary to the 14th Amendment, >100 years of precedent (Wong Kim Ark), and longstanding statutes.
• Government now argues only children of “lawfully domiciled” aliens get birthright citizenship—a fringe, rejected theory.
• Real-world consequences: Every birth at every hospital would trigger citizenship-status checks; huge bureaucratic and legal chaos.
  • “Hospitals are not equipped in the delivery room to be checking people’s passports, to be checking people’s birth certificates... These are not easy, straightforward questions.” — Elora Mukherjee (102:31)

IMMIGRATION ENFORCEMENT—IN PRACTICE

(105:10–112:25)

• Conditions in immigrant family detention (e.g., Dilley, TX) remain deplorable: bad food, poor medical care, 24/7 lights.
• “It is a prison for babies, toddlers, and children.” — Elora Mukherjee (105:10)
• Individuals, especially children with special needs, suffer severe consequences; releases often rely on immense legal and media advocacy.
• Call to action for listeners: learn about habeas litigation; participate in community support and mutual aid.

Ending Recommendations (112:25–116:28)

• Kate Shaw:

  • Recommends op-eds and new books:
    • Ganesh Sitaraman’s piece on deregulation and air travel
    • Dorothy Roberts’ and Shaun Ossei-Owusu’s new works

• Ian Bassin:

  • “The World of Yesterday” by Stefan Zweig (memoir, pre-war Europe)
  • “The Lost Founder” by Jesse Wegman (democratic vision at the founding)
  • British punk band Idles, especially the immigrant-anthem song “Danny Nedelko”
    • “I want their version of where that some of that male aggressiveness goes to be channeled in the direction that the Idols lyrics are pointing, which is we can be better to our neighbors, we can be good people, we can have a better world.” — Ian Bassin (113:07)

Notable Quotes

• “It is just disgusting and outrageous that the president of this country wouldn’t honor that [Mueller’s service] and would do the opposite. But there’s part of me that goes, okay, good, good, you do that, Trump—because it is so disgusting that people can really see who this man is and what it’s about.” — Ian Bassin (23:23)

• “Don't give up hope in this moment...We all need to rise up at this moment and work to save our democracy.” — Elora Mukherjee (109:58)

• "We are going to win this battle for democracy in this country...because the autocrat here is pretty incompetent and made the mistake of becoming unpopular before he consolidated power." — Ian Bassin (70:12)

Key Timestamps

• 03:45 – Pentagon press policy/Anthropic case press freedom segment
• 12:08 – Military promotion discrimination
• 22:14 – Mueller’s death, Trump’s reaction
• 37:09 – Supreme Court voting case breakdown (RNC v. Watson)
• 65:04 – Protect Democracy’s authoritarian playbook
• 77:46 – Supreme Court: immigration (asylum & birthright citizenship)
• 105:10 – Real-life impact of immigration enforcement
• 113:07 – Book and music recommendations

Summary Takeaway:
This episode spotlights the erosion of democratic norms and the Supreme Court’s increasingly pivotal—sometimes perilous—role in election administration, immigration law, and government accountability. Through rigorous legal analysis, firsthand advocacy, and a dash of optimism, the hosts urge vigilance, participation, and hope in the ongoing struggle to defend democracy and the rule of law.