The argument presented by Congressman/Doctor Showalter (Reathel Bean) regarding legitimate rape echoes a statement made by former Missouri Representative Todd Akin, who said "If it's a legitimate rape, the female body has ways to try to shut that whole thing down."
At the end of the episode, Benson indirectly reveals to Amaro that she is the child of a rape, though the credits appear before she tells him the full story. In the episode Russian Brides (2011), Amaro had asked Benson about her father, to which she told him it was "a long story."
When Purcell cross-examines Benson, he asks if she ever helped wrongfully convict a man, to which Benson replies only one and that she advocated for his release after she found out. Benson's statements refer to Omar Pena and the events of the episode Justice Denied (2012)
Both David Marciano and Danny Pino appeared in the FX show The Shield (2002). In reversed roles, Marciano plays a police detective while Pino plays a horrific serial rapist.