Is SCOTUS Letting Trump Meddle in the Midterms?

**Leah Litman** (0:00)
Strict Scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's back to school season, and this year, five million children across Texas are going to be greeted by the Ten Commandments in their classrooms. Yes, you heard that right. Texas politicians passed a law requiring the Ten Commandments in every public school classroom, forcing their religion on every kid in those schools. 28 families in Texas, supported by Americans United for Separation of Church and State, are taking the fight to the Supreme Court. And they need you to amplify their voices before the Supreme Court gets its hands on this case. And we all know what the Fifth Circuit did. Obviously, they let Texas get away with all of this.
They're going to go up, but we're going to fight to get them taken down.
That's Texas public school parent Ted Lowe. Ted and Rebecca Lowe are an interfaith couple. Ted is Jewish and Rebecca is Christian. And their kids are in Texas public schools. The story they tell in this video is moving, and we hope everyone hears and shares it. Look, there is a human cost of Christian nationalist policies like these 10 Commandments laws and the decisions of the Supreme Court hands down. Every child deserves access to public education where they aren't subject to state imposed religion or religious instruction or coercion. Public education is supposed to be open and available to everyone. It's supposed to foster pluralism, not one specific religion.
Visit au.org/10c to learn more about this case and how you can help join the fight to protect Church-State separation. We talked a little bit about this case on our regular episode last week, but there's so much more to be said and to learn about the people who are fighting back.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:42)
Mr. Chief Justice, please report. It's an old joke, but when an argument man argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.

**SPEAKER_3** (1:54)
She spoke, not elegantly, but with unmistakable clarity. She said, I ask no favor for my sex.
All I ask of our brethren is that they take their feet off our necks.

**Kate Shaw** (2:25)
Hello and welcome back to Strict Scrutiny, your podcast about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it. I'm Kate Shaw.

**Leah Litman** (2:30)
And I'm Leah Litman.

**Kate Shaw** (2:31)
Which means you have two of your regular hosts, here today in the Summer Rotation. And don't worry, all three of us, meaning the two of us plus Melissa, will be back together very soon.

**Leah Litman** (2:41)
But for today's episode, we will discuss some legal news. Definitely the you kind of the news, mostly focusing on the Supreme Court's atrocious Shadow Docket Order on the president's wildly illegal executive order concerning elections and absentee ballots. After that, we're going to introduce our next bonus series, which will start this upcoming Thursday. That's right, as our attempt to take the edge off the fact that the summer is done and fall is here. Every Thursday in September, we're going to have a bonus episode on Supreme Court reform. Each episode will focus on one particular reform in death. We're calling it Hot Scotus Reform September, so please be sure to check those out. At least, I'm really excited about them.

**Kate Shaw** (3:21)
Are we going to make Hot Supreme Court Reform September happen, Leah?

**Leah Litman** (3:25)
I don't know. That was my effort.

**Kate Shaw** (3:27)
This is the beginning of our effort.
Yes, well, all of you need to help us out. And today, we're going to motivate that initial installment, that particular segment, by sharing a conversation that Leah had with Roy Cooper, who is running for Senate in North Carolina, and who will talk about how the Supreme Court has influenced his race. Then you'll hear Leah talk with Steve Vladeck about one kind of Scotus reform, and that is docket reform. So that will give you a taste for the series, which will then unfold for the rest of the month. Also, peep the t-shirt that Leah and I are both wearing. Can you see it, can you see it?

**Leah Litman** (3:59)
This is how you make hot Scotus reform September happen.

**Kate Shaw** (4:02)
I feel like maybe we need to cut off the sleeves. Will that be more? And my teenager would probably also trim it to make it like a crop top, which I think would work well for the shirt.

**Leah Litman** (4:11)
Yes, definitely.

**Kate Shaw** (4:13)
So the t-shirt that Leah and I are both wearing, we're going to need a bigger court, cute, comfortable, pick it up. It is available in the Crooked Store. We will have a link to where to buy it in our show notes. It's a great shirt, but more importantly, it's a really important topic, and we're going to stay very focused on it for September and beyond.