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.

Today, Short Circuit includes more than just our popular weekly newsletter: we host a weekly Short Circuit podcast, we regularly tweet out entertaining summaries of state constitutional history, and we produce a longform podcast series.

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Bound By Oath

Punishment Without Crime | Season 3, Ep. 9

Civil forfeiture is a civil rights nightmare, allowing police and prosecutors to seize billions of dollars’ worth of property annually—cash, cars, houses, bank accounts, and […]

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Short Circuit

Short Circuit 345 | Supreme Court Preview at UNC!

For the 8th year in a row Short Circuit travels to the University of North Carolina to preview the Supreme Court’s new term, hosted by […]

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Unpublished Opinions

Unpublished Opinions 8 | I’m More of a Space Lawyer

It’s our first “breakout” episode where we have our own feed and webpage—plus our own logo. And that means its time to get into the […]

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Recent Newsletters

Abusive speech, criminal rioting, and Bellamy salutes.

Granted! Vacated! Remanded! This week, SCOTUS revived IJ client Mason Murphy’s retaliatory arrest claim against an officer who arrested him for walking on the wrong side of a rural road in Missouri—an offense that never results…

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