First, I can recommend it for the knowledge and experience of the hosts. Leah Litman, Melissa Murray, and Kate Shaw are each professors or assistant professors at law schools, and before that, each of them clerked for a Supreme Court Justice. They know a great deal about the law, and particularly about the culture and procedure at the Supreme Court.
Second, I can recommend Strict Scrutiny for the depth of coverage. The court itself isn't hearing cases every week, but the podcast has a new episode every Monday. (At a minimum; when the Court makes big news outside its usual schedule, the podcast is close behind with a special episode.) Every single case of a term is touched on in either a preview episode of the week to come, an analysis episode of the week concluded, or both. The three hosts started their podcast primarily for their own students, so they go pretty far into the details... but they soon discovered (to their surprise) that they had a wider audience, so they also now do a pretty good job of explaining things for laypeople. (That wider audience included the people behind Pod Save America. Strict Scrutiny is being brought into their Crooked Media podcast family.)
Third, I can recommend the podcast for being staunchly feminist, which is a much-needed perspective when it comes to Supreme Court coverage. You might think: the current court has more women Justices than ever in history. But the number of women lawyers who argue before the court is still woefully low. And the behavior by some of the Justices toward the few who do appear is often -- as this podcast regularly shows -- condescending to insulting. (Besides: three out of nine Justices, or even the fourth that President Biden intends to nominate -- is still under-representation.)
The podcast is unabashedly liberal in its perspectives, which neither they nor I make any apologies for. I would call it unabashedly "correct," especially as the Court tacks ever farther to the right, in defiance of the views shared by a majority of Americans. (Poll after poll has made clear where the people are on campaign finance laws, gun regulation, abortion -- to name but a few. But it's pretty clear that the Supreme Court is going to be moving the law far in the opposite direction this term.)
If I had one criticism of the podcast, it would be that the hosts can at times be pretty snarky. But even that is a criticism I wouldn't put much force behind. For anyone paying any attention to the Supreme Court right now, a heaping helping of gallows humor is the only way to get through it. And anyone not paying attention to the Supreme Court is likely in for some unpleasant surprises in the months ahead.
Want to know more about the Supreme Court? Strict Scrutiny is a good way to do so. I'd give the podcast a B+ overall.
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