Surveying the Wreckage of This Supreme Court Term

**Melissa Murray** (0:00)
Strict Scrutiny is brought to you by Americans United for Separation of Church and State. It's everywhere right now, the celebration of America's 250th anniversary, and we're in the thick of it this month. Christian nationalists are using this milestone not to unite, but to divide. They're pushing the lie that America was founded to be a Christian nation, where just one religious movement gets to decide who fully belongs, instead of the real truth that America was founded as a democracy, committed to liberty and justice for all.
The idea that America was founded as a Christian nation is propaganda. It's not patriotism. It's a dangerous lie meant to justify censorship, discrimination, attacks on public schools, assaults on LGBTQ plus rights, restrictions on reproductive freedom, and government favoritism toward one extremist version of Christianity.
Americans United for Separation of Church and State is here to fight back against this dangerous and egregious misinterpretation of our founding documents. AU fights daily for everyone's ability to live as themselves and believe as they choose, so long as they don't harm others. It's a novel idea in the day and age when almost every day, we see Christian nationalism weaponizing a faith to attack individual freedoms across the country. So do something patriotic this summer as you're dodging the propaganda flying at you from all angles. Become a member of Americans United for Separation of Church and State. By supporting AU, you're committing to standing up and protecting church-state separation in every area of life. And you can learn more about how you can support AU and how it protects everyone's rights at au.org/crooked.

**SPEAKER_2** (1:37)
Mr. Chief Justice, please support. It's an old joke, but when a man argues against two beautiful ladies like this, they're going to have the last word.
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** (2:20)
Hello, and welcome back to Strict Scrutiny, your podcast about the Supreme Court and the legal culture that surrounds it. We're your hosts, I'm Leah Litman.

**Melissa Murray** (2:26)
I'm Melissa Murray.

**Kate Shaw** (2:27)
And I'm Kate Shaw. And this is our term recap episode, which means we will look back at the court's term and take stock.
Technically, the October 2025 term isn't over. It will not be over until October term 2026 begins. And given the shadow docket activity, which is always very, very significant over the summer, there will be plenty to keep the justices busy and probably us as well. I'll just say, I hope the emotional support billionaires understand that this will be a working vacation.

**Leah Litman** (2:57)
Yeah, John Roberts is going to be working to finally come up with a way to reconcile slaughter and cook, or maybe even settle on what the legal standard for cause is. Work, bitch.

**Melissa Murray** (3:07)
Ferk, bitch.
That said, listeners, since the court has finished releasing opinions and argued cases, we think it's important to step back and analyze the bigger picture rather than focusing on particular opinions as we do during the regular term. As always, the court made this so difficult for us to do because they didn't release the final opinions until the absolute last day in June, and indeed they consolidated some of the biggest cases right at the end. The one exception, of course, was Louisiana vs. Calais, which it released at the end of April. Just in time to throw the midterm primaries into chaos, but all the other bangers, those came out right at the end. Yeah.

**Leah Litman** (3:52)
There was also the terrorist decision. But all of that means that we are recording this recap only a few days after the court finally finished releasing opinions, which means this is just a first pass at surveying the wreckage of October term 2025 Probably going to be circling back to this bad decision season as we brace for October term 2026

**Kate Shaw** (4:11)
But per usual on this term recap episode, we'll highlight some themes, offer some roses and thorns in the process, and do our level best to try and ring at least a little bit of levity out of the shitstorm that was this term.
That's going to be hard. Honestly, things are pretty bleak. We'll conclude by discussing our summer plans, or really rather the podcast plans for the break.

**Melissa Murray** (4:33)
All right. So listeners, I think it's time to pour yourself a stiff Susan Collins and buckle up for the term recap. And I'm just going to say, this was such a doozy of the term. I don't think it's going to be a one cocktail kind of enterprise. So we have something else for you beyond the standard Susan Collins.