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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit
Short Circuit 348 | Excessive Fines and the IRS
Is a “fine” a “fine”? No, not at all, and therefore it can’t be “excessive.” At least that’s the IRS’s position. Thankfully that argument was […]
Listen NowUnpublished 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Unpublished Opinions 8 | I’m More of a Space Lawyer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 […]
Listen NowRecent Newsletters
Private searches, threatening tweets, and constitutional abominations.
New on the Short Circuit podcast: The IRS hands out some excessive fines and the Ninth Circuit’s dicta-is-law rule. Are historic restrictions on gunpowder stores “relevantly similar” to the District of Columbia’s 10-round cap…