SCOTUS Greenlights Trump's Ballroom

**Leah Litman** (0:00)
Strict Scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. 250 years into the American experiment, it's time for all of us to decide, what kind of a country do we want to be?
The founding fathers got a lot of things wrong, but one thing they got right was knowing that church and state need to be kept separate. Christian nationalists are trying to destroy that history and take this country down a scary path. They're misusing government power to impose their beliefs, rewrite our history and decide who belongs in America.
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**SPEAKER_2** (1:13)
Mr. Chief Justice, may I please report. It's an old joke, but when an argument argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.

**Melissa Murray** (1:25)
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.

**Leah Litman** (1:55)
Hi, everyone. Here's the deal. We plan to take Labor Day off. It's a holiday, and unlike some people, cough one first street, we're not anti-union. Unfortunately, the Supreme Court always stays on its hustle of doing the most and being the worst, which means we've got to stay on ours. Hence the bonus episode today. Can't stop, won't stop, never ever. Think of it this way. We announced hot Scotus reform September, and then the Supreme Court decided to make it really easy on us by helping us make the case for Scotus reform. So before this Thursday's first episode of hot Scotus reform September, we bring you this bonus episode.

**Melissa Murray** (2:30)
Because, listeners, the Supreme Court really did it this time. They indulged Mad King Donald Trump's edifice complex. They are letting him have his gold-gilded ballroom, and they are allowing him to use our taxpayer dollars to fund this ballroom. They did it in part because we all know that Donald Trump is a very special boy, and he needs a very special ballroom, and also national security.
Not surprisingly, listeners, there were some casualties along the way. Fiscal conservatism definitely caught some strays, but so too did standing doctrine, and a Justice Scalia opinion on standing.
Yes, folks, you heard that right. These committed conservatives did not have any qualms whatsoever about sacrificing the patron saint of the conservative legal movement on the altar of Donald J. Trump's deli special ballroom.

**Leah Litman** (3:25)
So TLDR, the Scalia opinion and the doctrine of standing are for suckers, much like stare decisis. So in case you're keeping score at home, stare decisis, Scalia opinions, and standing, all for suckers. Here's the background. Donald Trump decided on his own, without congressional authorization, as one does, to tear down part of the White House. The White House is the people's house. It's not his.
He doesn't own it. It is a federal holding.

**Melissa Murray** (3:52)
You know how we know he doesn't own it?

**Leah Litman** (3:53)
How?

**Melissa Murray** (3:54)
Because it's not literally covered in fucking gold everything.

**Melissa Murray** (3:57)
That's how we know it's not his.

**SPEAKER_2** (3:58)
Well, it's about to be.

**Melissa Murray** (3:59)
Well, that's true. But now it isn't.

**Leah Litman** (4:01)
He's not even a renter here, and he decided to remake it in the image of Mar-a-Lago.

**Melissa Murray** (4:06)
He wants to remake the people's house, the White House, the house that Dolly Madison first lived in, the first First Lady to live there, the lady who took all of the paintings out when they were being attacked during the War of 1812 He's going to take that house, the people's house, and he's going to remake it in the image of his casinos, his garish resorts and maybe Versailles. Not the real Versailles, but that Florida Versailles that was the subject of that documentary. Was it Marie Antoinette who said, Separation of powers'?