What is Short Circuit?
Short Circuit is your concise (and sometimes irreverent) source for important and interesting cases and legal stories you might otherwise have missed.
Launched by the Institute for Justice (IJ) in 2015, Short Circuit started off as a short weekly newsletter rounding up the most interesting developments in the federal circuit courts of appeal as well as a weekly podcast digging into a couple recent particularly noteworthy cases.
Today, as part of IJ’s Center for Judicial Engagement, and with the newsletter and flagship podcast still going strong, Short Circuit also includes our legal history documentary podcast Bound By Oath, now in its fourth season, and our monthly roundtable podcast Unpublished Opinions. We also hold live shows (contact us if you’re interested in hosting one) and other events. Wherever and whoever you are there’s plenty of options to get engaged.
Receive the Newsletter
Keep current on the federal circuit courts with a weekly email round-up in your inbox.
Bound By Oath
Oath or Affirmation. (And Treason.) | Season 4, Ep. 3
On this episode, we recover a lost part of the Fourth Amendment that the Supreme Court essentially erased in 1960. In the case of Jones […]
Listen NowShort Circuit
Short Circuit 437 | Privately Racing the Nondelegation Doctrine
An old friend rejoins the show, the Horseracing Integrity and Safety Act of 2020. It’s been trotting around the federal courts of appeals for a […]
Listen NowUnpublished Opinions
Unpublished Opinions 25 | Pulling Up the Ladder
With guest host Patrick Jaicomo, he and IJ’s Anya Bidwell and Diana Simpson conspire on how best to keep the competition out of their guild. […]
Listen NowRecent Newsletters
Financial surveillance, impaired contracts, and games of gotcha.
New on the Short Circuit podcast: Privately nondelegating horse puns. In 2020, the U.S. Postal Service made a number of changes that reduced service. New York, New Jersey, and Hawaii sue, alleging that the…



