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our legal history documentary podcast Bound By Oath, now in its third season, and our monthly roundtable podcast Unpublished Opinions.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.
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Bound By Oath
Trust But Verify | Season 3, Ep. 12

In 1973, federal narcotics agents raided a pair of homes in Collinsville, Illinois by mistake. They didn’t find any drugs, but they did terrorize two […]
Listen NowShort Circuit
Short Circuit 376 | Murder Mysteries

Two federal appellate opinions involving a murder and whether justice was served. First, IJ’s Dan Alban reports on a Sixth Circuit case where a man […]
Listen NowUnpublished Opinions
Unpublished Opinions 14 | On the Garamond Question

Spring hath finally shaken off the winter of Arlington’s discontent, and host John Wrench gathers IJ barristers Sam Gedge and Josh Windham for a scene […]
Listen NowRecent Newsletters

Unaccompanied kids, implied causes of action, and filming the police.
New cert petition: Humboldt County, Calif. fines people millions of dollars for things they didn’t do because it doesn’t care if they are innocent. For instance, it fined IJ clients Corrine and Douglas Thomas…