About 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 plus a weekly podcast focusing on two or three of those cases. Today, Short Circuit’s newsletter and podcast are still going strong, plus a bi-weekly video version of the podcast, and we also have a documentary podcast on legal history, Bound By Oath, and a monthly roundtable with wide-ranging legal conversation, Unpublished Opinions. Learn more about each of these below, and see what others are saying about Short Circuit.

short circuit Newsletter 

Each week, IJ scours the federal court dockets for the most interesting and important appeals court opinions addressing individual liberty. Every Friday afternoon, we share short, easy-to-understand descriptions of the most interesting federal appellate cases in our newsletter.

Among the newsletter’s more than 5,000 subscribers are some of the leading thinkers of our day, including judges, columnists, reporters, lawyers and top law professors—not to mention law students and others interested in following the goings-on of the federal courts.

Why does Short Circuit focus on the opinions of the federal courts of appeal? Each year, the Supreme Court decides about 80 cases. Compare that to the thousands of rulings issued by the federal appeals courts every year. For the overwhelming majority of litigants in federal courts, the lower federal appeals courts are the final stop in their cases.

Short Circuit fans keep coming back for more because they trust that IJ staff will review these federal appeals court opinion and report on the 20 or so most important cases of the week with engaging, efficient summaries. Every year Short Circuit summarizes more than one thousand federal appeals court opinions.

Keeping current on our courts does not have to be time consuming and it does not have to be boring: It just requires Short Circuit. 

Short Circuit Podcast

Liven up your commute by subscribing to our weekly podcast, where IJ lawyers and guests break down the latest developments in the federal circuit courts. IJ’s Short Circuit podcast features rapid-fire commentary and legal analysis of several noteworthy cases. Most episodes are hosted by IJ’s Director of the Center for Judicial Engagement Anthony Sanders, and all episodes feature IJ lawyers and other guests talking about interesting and important legal developments in the federal courts. Some episodes are recorded before live audiences at law schools and other locations around the country. Subscribe wherever you get your podcasts. For our video episodes on YouTube click here.

Bound By Oath Podcast

Our podcast series taking a deeper dive into different angles of the Constitution and legal history. Season 1 focused on the 14th Amendment. Season 2 on immunity and accountability. Season 3 on property rights. Your guide on this adventure is Short Circuit’s Editor, John Ross.

Unpublished Opinions

What do Institute for Justice attorneys think about the law? Listen into their roundtable conversations where they give their unvarnished and “unpublished” opinions on matters beyond the federal courts of appeals. From the latest Supreme Court cases to legal history to trial tactics, IJ attorneys have much to share and (politely, but spiritedly) disagree with each other about.