BREAKING: SCOTUS Blocks Trump's Mail-In Ballot BS

It's back to school season, and this year, 5 million children across Texas are going

“to be greeted by the 10 Commandments in their classrooms.”

Texas politicians passed a law requiring the 10 Commandments in every public school classroom, forcing their religion on every kid in those schools. 20 families in Texas supported by America's United for Separation of Church and State are taking the fight to the Supreme Court. And we need you to amplify their voices before the Supreme Court gets its hands on this

case. We've already talked about on the podcast how the Fifth Circuit decision aligns practice was total BS.

“I mean, it had to like in the 10 Commandments to basically like a poster.”

Almost suggesting, "Oh, what, you triggered lips?"

But the reality is, there's a human cost of Christian nationalist policies like these 10

Commandments laws, as well as the decisions the Supreme Court hands down. Public schools are supposed to be accessible to all. They're not supposed to be instructing on the state's preferred religion or the state's edited version of Scripture. Visit AU.org/10C to learn more about this case and how you can help join the fight

to protect Church State separation. As Chief Justice, I please court, it's no joke but when I argue, man argues against you 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." The last of our brethren is that they take their feet off our knees. Hi, all, it is the ladies of Strix scrutiny, coming to you with a quick morning after analysis of the Supreme Court's decision to block the Trump administration's postal service regulation,

announcing that the postal service did not want to deliver mail-in ballots unless states adopted a bunch of last-minute unnecessary very burdensome and likely impossible to meet policies governing mail-in ballots.

“Okay, so the top line most important thing to know in terms of the upcoming critical midterm elections is this.”

It is now crystal clear that under the law, the Trump administration cannot interfere with absentee voting via the postal service. That means if your state allows you to vote by mail, you will be able to do so consistent with your state's rules, regardless of the Trump administration's diabolical efforts to the contrary. The Supreme Court told the administration that it cannot use the postal service to steal or rig an election by throwing out thousands of ballots and disenfranchising people. I'm just going to say, right answer, took a long time to get there.

Specifically, the court declined to issue a state, which is a pause of the lower court's ruling that had invalidated the postal services regulation. So we're going to spend a little bit of time analyzing what the court did, which is going to involve a fair bit of mocking Brett Kavanaugh, the most pathetic and needy pick me justice who may have ever lived. And then Samuel Edon Clarence Thomas, who took their adult pickled Fox News consuming right-wing man is fear podcast listening brands to new lows.

In addition to all of that, just wanted to emphasize, do not congratulate, do not give the Supreme Court credit for telling Donald Trump that he doesn't have the power to rig an election in the sloppiest, most chaotic, wildly illegal last minute dashway possible.

Shortly, do not give the Supreme Court credit for finally deciding to crack open their copies of the Constitution and read the elections clause.

Okay, just to remind you, while the other reason you ought not congratulate the Supreme Court is because this is the same court that just a few months ago, killed section two of the Voting Rights Act and cleared the way for a little unprecedented, completely unorthodox mid-cycling redistricting, where Republicans are authorized and indeed encouraged to cheat democracy. And erase the political power of democratic voters and black voters in particular. This is the same court that just a few weeks ago, opted not to block the underlying executive order, the same one that announced Donald Trump's plans to try and interfere with this election, including using the U.S. Postal Service to do so.

And then just kind of strong us along for these valuable days as the elections do ever near. As we all wonder, are we really going to have an election that works in any meaningful way or not? And luckily, the answer for now is yes, we will. But the court is again kind of crowning itself the ultimate decider of that critical democratic question. And just to elaborate on what Melissa was just saying, it is because of the earlier Supreme Court decision that the only thing that is blocked right now is the Postal Service Regulation announcing plans to decline to deliver batches of ballots.

This could still chill election officials implementation of their own election rules, and that is on the Supreme Court.

“And the only reason we are still even having to talk about how will this midterm operate will it actually proceed is because the Supreme Court declined to block the executive order.”

At a time when some states had already begun to allow people to vote. So let's break down the order that the court issued late Monday night and just a couple of sentences the Supreme Court order gave two reasons for why the lower court could block the Postal Service Regulation or at least why the Supreme Court wouldn't disturb that lower court order. First the Supreme Court's order said the government is quote unlikely to succeed on the merits that is a majority of just assisting to be of the correct view that the Postal Service does not in fact have the authority to engage in mass disenfranchisement efforts that would supplant state election rules.

Second the Supreme Court's order said the quote equitable factors do not favor the government.

“Equitable factors include things such as whether the party seeking relief from the court here the federal government is likely to suffer a reprobable harm and how the other parties might be harmed as well.”

All right. So that was the majority order and it was very short, very spare. What wasn't spare were some of the separate opinions. And I just want to say as a pro tip to everyone out there listening, shutting up is free saying and writing nothing beyond that is free and costless. So whatever possible air on the side of efficiency and just shut the fuck up and not let your whole ass hang out. That part. But again, proving that it's never the right course to not let your whole ass hang out and proving that his appointment was never going to be free or costless for most of us Brett Kavanaugh decided to weigh in anyway and again with real cost to all of us who have to read what he had to say just as Kavanaugh decided that he was going to make it very clear that he actually does think that the president can use the Postal Service to wipe out state rules regarding mail and

ballots just can't do it right now. Right. So this is what Kavanaugh wrote quote, there is at least a fair prospect that the final rule falls within the Postal Services statutory authority.

But he said that applying the rule now isn't justifiable because election officials will not have enough time to grapple with it. Shorter Brett Kavanaugh, I would still really like to be Chief Justice, Mr. Trump. So while this is a, you know, do it do it the right way. It would still like to be Chief Justice, Mr. Trump, please. Only you can do it that way, Moistina. I can't do that. So while it's a seven to a decision on the bottom line of whether to disturb the lower courts and junction blocking the Postal Service regulation with only Thomas and Alito noting their dissents.

“Kavanaugh's concurrence signals that he's probably going to rule in Trump's favor if this issue comes up before the 2028 election with more lead time. So I think it's probably better to think of this as a six to three majority.”

So thankfully, right, looking on obviously the bright side here, Gorsuch and Barrett do not join this concurrence, which hopefully means they're on board with the idea that this rule is illegal, not just now, but in general, not sure I would totally take that to the bank. But that has to start. I am going to optimistically construe their failure to join this concurrence, and also I know it's there, but they also I think this is obviously critical. Don't join the unhinged Alito Thomas descent, which we are going to go deep on in.

I think that they Shane may be still has some power for them that I think is important, and also I think they're at least somewhat even if tenuously connected to reality, which I think means they realize that the court would own the absolute chaos around this election that would ensue if in fact they decided to let Trump move forward with this order and this regulation. I guess the best read here is that however on board they are, and I think it's enthusiastically on board with the dismantling of the voting rights act, the destruction of real multiracial democracy, they're not fully on board with this sort of blatant election interference.

I just want to add late breaking, we got a true social post from the president reacting to this. Oh, no, it seems to be that down. Oh, yeah, and which he refers to Thomas and Alito as called legends both. That's a t-shirt. That is t-shirt. We got to we got to get that t-shirt for ourselves. The justices he appointed who ruled against him he says, quote, these are not the people I interviewed to serve on the United States Supreme Court. They are merely a shell of their original.

I know, you have to know that Brett Kavna is just fucking crying himself. It was Brett Kavna with Arthur the Ardvart fist right now.

It is not easy for me to write this criticism of the United States Supreme Court, and I'd love this breaking news because like let's just be honest, like this Supreme Court nominally gave him a loss.

“But this whole thing is taken so much time. It's so much chaos. I'm sure that the chaos itself is by itself a suppressive action. Like there may be people who are like, do I even need to vote? Like should I vote?”

There's so many questions. Like the court has given him a huge assist even to ultimately this is a formal law. So my guy like take take the W, like you got to W and someone even entertaining this absolute nonsense. Well, and, and I think that's part of the sort of back to the kind of pragmatic sort of effect here. Yes, this should mean that people are able to vote in the way that they always have in their states.

But yeah, I really do worry about all of the uncertainty that has hung around voting by mail in recent weeks because of Trump and because of scotists.

Maybe that people are confused and scared and don't vote by mail. So it's really important there would be a full court press to get the word out that Trump has failed here and you get to vote the way that you voted before he tried to put this executive order into play so.

“Thank you for that PSA. Let's go back to our originally scheduled programming which involves dragging Brett Kavanaugh.”

Okay. I got to talk to you about this calf currents. Right. I think Coach K is branching out on his calf currents vibes. Right. So this particular calf currents is doing something that Brett Kavanaugh did in the birthright citizenship case. So do you remember when he wrote his concurrence in birthright citizenship? There's like I'm really against you, Daddy Trump, but don't worry. I'm still preserving the option for you to later do some totally illegal shit, right? I want you to be able to do that. So this is the same vibe here. He is basically like we're not going to do it in this election, but 2028 is coming up and pretty sure there's some statutory authority for the U.S. Postal Service to do this here speaking of statutory authority.

I've got to wonder if Brett Kavanaugh is even inclined to actually do this major questions doctrine thing for real for real because he really, really never seems to want to do it when it would apply to Donald Trump. So listeners, if you haven't been listening to strict scrutiny for your entire life, what are you even doing with your life, but let me catch you up real quick. The major questions doctrine is a totally made up, fanfic thing that Neil Gorsuch likes to cozy up to every night before he goes to bed, and it basically requires Congress to first explicitly authorize any sweeping program that an administrative agency might see to put in place, for example, student loan relief.

This court loves to apply the major questions doctrine mostly to the Biden administration. It has applied the major questions doctrine to Donald Trump and the context of tariffs, but mostly because that was an opportunity to further embed this made up fanfic into jurisprudence not because it actually was a major question. In any event, coach Kavanaugh here doesn't seem to ever want to do the major questions doctrine because if you applied this made up fanfiction, it would totally apply here. This is a major program of sweeping repercussions shouldn't the court intervene here and make sure that Congress specifically authorize the U.S. Postal Service to completely

“utilize elections and take all control of elections away from the states because that seems pretty consistent with a major policies seems big.”

It does, but Kavanaugh thinks the agency can do it anyways because he can't read. I'd like to offer him some free tips. One is that by the time I was in kindergarten, I could read.

Second is by the time I was a teenager, I learned that not everyone will like me and that's okay. By my 30s, I'd even learn to be comfortable with that fact.

I know that I could do hard right things, even if those things might be unpopular. I see you want to do hard right things. Not more things, exactly. Exactly, not not the meaning here, Brad, but please see your therapist for some help for how you might be able to evolve to get on my level. Indeed.

No joke. They're my decompression evening comfy wear. It's cooling fabric, but also soothing. I just love it. I remember the first time I felt the fabric. It's an easy stretch, nothing yucky, and it just has this cool comforting feeling to it and it works in the summer and the winter. I'm clear how it can be so temperature versatile, but it is, and as an added bonus, you can try it because it's super low pressure and risk free. There's a return in exchange window, if it isn't right, and the pieces are backed by a warranty against manufacturing defects.

Head to cozyyarth.com and use my code scrutiny for up to 20% off home and sleepwear. That's code scrutiny for up to 20% off on home and sleepwear. And if you see a post-project survey, please be sure to mention that you heard about cozy earth right here. This episode is sponsored by Better Help. If I could wake up tomorrow and be better at one thing, it would probably be, I don't know, putting things out of my mind, like just being able to compartmentalize stuff, so I can chill and relax without having to do everything.

“If I can to handle it immediately, if I could choose a second thing, it would be small talk. Not great at it, not good at it, honestly, not even really possible.”

Better is a feeling, and it's defined by you, and for Better Help, it's a better help therapist who really gets you. It's a focus on global, emotional while being with thousands of therapists and millions of members in over 100 countries. It's progress. That could be getting better at handling stress and work, or small talk, especially with strangers. Sign up and get 10% off at betterhelp.com/strict. That's BetterHELP.com/strict. Strict scrutiny is brought to you by Zeeviotics Prealka Hall. Between work, family responsibilities, and everyone needing something from you all day, getting together with friends can feel like a form of self-care.

Whether it's a glass of wine, a dinner, or a long overdue girl's night, I drink Zeeviotics Prealka Hall before my first drink. I'm intentional about what I put in my body, and that doesn't stop when I'm out with my friends. Zeeviotics Prealka Hall Probiotic drink is the world's first genetically engineered probiotic. It was engineered by PhD microbiologists to break down as doubt-hide, an unwanted byproduct of alcohol metabolism. Make pre-algall your first drink of the night, drink responsibly, and enjoy your next day activities.

Zeeviotics has sold more than 14 million bottles, and earned the trust of thousands, including us.

When I drink my Zeeviotics Prealka Hall, I know I will wake up the next day, and be able to go for a swim, or a training run, and also run around the park with my dog. And get in some work. These are basically my three ingredients to happiness, which means I get to have fun and do the things that maybe want to have even more fun. Try for yourself today, and if you are unsatisfied, they will refund your entire order. No questions asked. Head to Zeebiotics.com/strictcodestrict for 15% off your first order. Zeeviotics is a partner of mine.

[Music] I'm going to pivot to something, not at all, if all, in fact, like very unawalled, which is the Piesta Rezi stall,

the descent of one Samuel Elito, joined by one Clarence Thomas. They basically indicate TLDR that they would

file King Trump to do everything and anything, including rigging and stealing the upcoming midterm elections.

“Where to even start with this completely unhinged descent? Like these guys, whoa, what serves?”

What are we doing here? Let's highlight a few very chef's kiss features of this descent. So first of all, this duo has a very creative HGTV inspired approach to statutory interpretation that is right with false equivalencies. The other thing this descent does is it victim-blames the states and Democrats,

for basically getting themselves into this mess because they objected to a federal takeover of the

election process. Again, truly peak-ledo to blame the victim. The other thing that it does is it embraces wholeheartedly with their full chest. All of these voter fraud conspiracies in the absence of any evidence. I mean, it's truly, I saw Goodie Proctor forging mail and ballots with the devil in the moonlight.

“Like, it's that kind of vibe. And all of this, I think, goes to the fact that at bottom,”

these two literally could not give a fuck about voters or democracy or an expression of the people's will because really what they want is what they have right now, which is Donald Trump in office doing the most. So Alito packs a lot in. We're going to just again, as Melissa said, take through some of the highlights slash lowlights. One is Alito claims that the postal service has the authority to implement this regulation that might disenfranchise literally millions of people and erase state laws governing mail and ballots. In some ways,

And because he says the administrative procedure act doesn't actually allow you to challenge certain kinds of postal service regulations. And one of the ways he does that is by focusing on particular regulation of postal service power, including its power to dispose of stuff in the mail that is supposed to be limited to, quote, non-malable matters, like stuff that exceeds size and weight limits. And he refers to this provision of the postal service law as, quote, tucked away in a corner and niche.

And thus, essentially irrelevant in the context of what he views as this broad, nearly plenary power of the postal service to regulate all aspects of the mail. This is the very HG TV forward interior design approach to statutory interpretation. We're just rearranging some furniture here by which I mean congressional enactments and asking whether this statute has good feng shui.

But anyway, are you even surprised? Now, this is basically the same play that Alito did in Louisiana versus

Kelly, where he's like, you know what, let me update, essentially two of the voting rights.

“I mean, yeah, this is like, do you makeovers interior decorating and more?”

But this is like trading spaces when there was a hildy. Hildy was the decorator in trading spaces who would literally come in and paint your fucking living room black and put like a vase in the middle of your container and table filled with nothing but eggs and be like, it's gorgeous. Like, that sounds like how Melania redesigned the, the, the easing for that first Christmas they had in the White House room. Yes, with the monopolistries. Yes, that was great.

This is a shape rotating approach to statutory interpretation. This is textualism, guys. This is right. But it's like, seriously, I have no idea what it means to say that some statutory enactments are niche or tucked away in a corner other than that it allows the justice to say that these parts of the statute that I don't like and that prevent me from reaching my desired outcome

don't count. Basically, it means water some statutes between friends and fascists. Nobody puts Congress in a corner, except just steps down. Yeah. Where is Johnny to come and like redeem all of us?

Johnny from dirty dancing. Anyway.

“We knew which Johnny we're talking about.”

I just like, I don't know. I don't know. For me, I got you. No, no, it's for the millennial. Oh, the young gentleman don't know their dirty dancing. Yeah. Okay. Well, watch that.

I mean, literally, you have never like sweat and looking at Patrick's Wazy while playing

a DVD and rewatt and lived. They have not lived. I knew. Sorry. Thank you.

That's the substance. Oh. Folks, in truly epic false equivalencies, just as Alito suggested in this descent. That's a postal service regulation committing to throw out your ballots on Moss if any ballot in a batch of ballots doesn't comply with these arbitrary rules.

“He says this is no different than quote.”

The basic requirement to list the recipients address on one side. Sir. What are as why I? My kids would send mail back from camp and I'm just going to say, schools are not teaching kids how to address an envelope.

And I didn't realize that I actually had to do this. So I don't know how my kids learned to address an envelope, but they can't. And the mail still got to my house. So the postal service still delivered it. So I'm not actually sure this is the argument he thinks it is.

Anyway, the second point just as Alito makes is that this entire

Fiasco is really the fault of liberals, Democrats, and the states themselves who decided to challenge that. So it's not the Trump administration's fault. The Trump administration gets no blame for announcing plans to interfere with the midterm elections by taking over the postal service and using it to

federalize the elections. According to Justice Alito, "The plaintiff states and the courts bear a substantial share of the blame for the rules timing." That is obviously because the states decided in April to challenge this and litigation cast a cloud over the government's ability

to make a rule. Also might want to put the court in here too for saying that the litigation right in the first instance and maybe that also put some time on the clock. I'm not sure it's all the victims fault here. Yeah, and there's also kind of as a substantive response and on this timing question.

Just a reminder that even though the administration was subject to an injunction, the postal service did go ahead and issue a rule anyway. So the litigation does not seem to be the thing that caused any delay. The postal service moved forward anyway. So you know, what's a guess a little thing like causation when you

can just say the Trump is the victim and you know, blue state AGs and the Democratic appointees are the problem. Also Taylor Swift. Yes. Also to the extent Alito is suggesting that everything would have been

hunky dory had the rule been finalized by made August. That is just wrong. That would not have been enough time for implementation without mass disenfranchisement. States had already printed ballot return envelopes and informed

And in what can only be described as an effort to cultivate

collegiality among colleagues.

“Justice Alito also tries to lay the blame for all of this on his colleagues.”

The other Supreme Court justices as he puts it quote. The government had to wait nearly another full month for this court to weigh in. This is a less than subtle attack on Justice Jackson. If you haven't picked up on this, there are stories in the right wing media.

Suggesting that justice Jackson caused some delay because she dain to put pen to paper and write a descent. In a footnote to the order announcing that the court would immediately put into effect. It's ruling nullifying the voting rights act, which then set off the last minute redistricting even in places where primaries were under way.

Justice Alito also suggested that that was Justice Jackson's fault because she had descended from the order. And Justice Alito responded that the quote constitutional question was argued and conference nearly seven months ago. And that kind of language obviously set off all of these right wing

takes about how Justice Jackson and the Democratic appointees, but mostly Justice Jackson are to blame for the court unleashing chaos in the upcoming midterm election.

“So FYI, according to right wing media, if black people are disenfranchised”

is because this black woman decided to write some stuff down. Who taught her to read anyway? And to write 100%. Yeah. And just to reveal how conspiracy theory manga-pilled he is, Alito repeats, like with a straight face,

the demonstrably false claim that the regulation interfering with male ballots is needed to quote better, detect election fraud to be clear. As a reminder, there is exactly zero evidence in the record of this. There is exactly zero evidence of this period in or out of the record.

And against this evidence-free conspiracy claim, some little balance is the difficulty to election officials.

He's basically saying as for the equities which we talked about earlier,

the government has a strong interest in enforcing the rule and implementing it. We'll also enhance the visibility of federal ballot mail to better detect election fraud. Then he says on the other side of the balance, the plaintiff states invoked the practical effects of implementing the rule

close to the midterm elections. So notice who is not in this scale anywhere to be found. You have the Trump administration on one hand, state election officials on the other, the millions of voters who cast their ballots by mail,

know where to be seen, including voters who cast their ballots by mail, because that is the way elections are conducted in their states, or because they live in a rural area, or they are disabled, or elderly,

and voting by mail is literally their only option to vote. Those people and their democratic interest and participation get Nary mentioned in Alito's balance of the equities. Let's be fair to him. He does say explicitly that he takes that problem very seriously,

but it is not enough to convince him. Well, but he's talking about the vertex of the problem. He says I take the problem very seriously. And the problem he's talking about is the burden on election officials, we have to scramble to change their rules.

I thought it would have been so easy to write a sentence or to acknowledge the voters and see that. I didn't see it. I did a fair reading is that he bundled the voters into that. He just doesn't give a fuck about anything.

He just doesn't give a fuck about anything. I just want to stand with Alito. I hear you on there's enough fair criticism. We don't want to do any unfair. But I actually think that when you read this closely,

he is talking about plaintiff states, not representing the people,

because he's always believed that the states represent the people

most clearly and see dots through their legislatures. Yeah, that's true. Probably you need to wrap this up.

“And in some ways the best thing about this is that Alito would be mad as hell.”

If you even suggested that this opinion suggests he is a political hack. He would be the victim of false allegations. And definitely don't go on social media and say that just as Alito is a political hack who listens to right-wing radio and podcast and Fox News all the time. So much so that his brain is actually pickled.

Definitely don't say that. But what you should say is absentee, mail-in ballots, remain intact for the upcoming midterm, the postal service, Trump administration cannot interfere with them because for this Supreme Court last minute sloppy elections, the version is just too far.

They would prefer that the administration lie better or implement the Republican Party's long term anti-democracy agenda rather than just going out on Trump's own. I think. That seems right.

That seems right. That's a lie better. Also, sorry, while we were recording, we got the absolute best victim-pleaming analog. So cash-patel is going to lead us to find before the Senate.

And Durbin asked him about the FBI revisiting its hiring criteria and no longer excluding people who had engaged in bestiality.

Tell me what it should before.

“It automatically disqualified any individual who participated on either side of it.”

Obviously, we're never going to hire the criminal.

The bestiality? Yes. So you just qualified the animal? And yes. Okay, and cash-patel response.

Applicants who have engaged in bestiality means they were victims of bestiality.

Because they were forced to do so.

And the sheep made me do it.

“The FBI, the sheep not pointed me do it.”

And prevent victims from serving like the FBI firing people. We're forced to assist with animals against their will. Leah, I don't think you really fully grappled with the full effects of the sheep state. Oh, no. I'm sorry.

I had to bring your attention to this.

Trying to monitor in the event. There were any additional breaking Supreme Court.

“Related things that weren't going to happen in Congress anymore.”

And yet, you have extend yet. Durban asked this question well. FYI, if Pam Bondi had set this, she would be out. I mean, she is out. The fact that cash-patel continues to be employed by the federal government is proof positive

that not having a uterus is the single best career move you can take in the administration. Single best. Absolutely. Yeah. Well, I'm glad to leave it to you.

Bye. Bye. Dual meaning there. Sheep state and animals. Yeah.

Ooh. [MUSIC PLAYING] Strix hereby is a crooked media production. Our show is produced by Melody Raule and Michael Galsmith. Our music is by Eddie Cooper.

Our team includes Vaptic Roach, Ben Hethcote, Johanna Kase, Kenny Mothit, Adam Lippert, and Eric Shoot. Our production staff is proudly unionized with the writer's skills of America. [MUSIC PLAYING]