The Institute for Justice regularly records podcasts featuring interviews with IJ clients and attorneys. We discuss the principles we fight for, as we advance a rule of law under which individuals can control their destinies as free and responsible members of society. IJ also publishes an email roundup of the week’s doings in the U.S. Courts of Appeal called Short Circuit. Subscribe today.
Bound By Oath
Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires every judge to be “bound by Oath” to uphold “this Constitution.” But to understand if judges are following that oath, it’s important to ask, “What is in ‘this Constitution’?” Your host John Ross takes a deep dive into the Constitution’s text, history, and characters, and interviews historians, legal scholars, and the real people involved in historic and contemporary cases.
Short Circuit
The Supreme Court decides a few dozen cases every year; federal appellate courts decide thousands. So if you love constitutional law, the circuit courts are where it’s at. Join us as we break down some of the week’s most intriguing appellate decisions with a unique brand of insight, wit, and passion for judicial engagement and the rule of law.

Beyond the Brief
Hear about the cases, issues, and tactics advancing IJ’s fight for freedom—directly from the people on the front lines. Beyond the Brief explores the legal theories, strategies, and methods IJ uses to bring about real world change, expanding individual liberty and ending abuses of government power. Each episode gives listeners an in-depth, inside look at how—and why—we do what we do.
Unpublished Opinions
What do Institute for Justice attorneys think about the law? Listen into their roundtable conversations where they give their unrehearsed and “unpublished” opinions on matters beyond the federal courts of appeals.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.
Beyond the Brief
Rename Your Bar…or go to JAIL
Mike DiGiacomo and his siblings turned the basement of their father’s old barbershop building into a barber-themed speakeasy. But their attempt to honor their father […]
Listen NowShort Circuit
Short Circuit 432 | Moth-Eaten Precedent
A wild, and tragic, story from the Fifth Circuit with a bit of good (yet confusing) news at the end. IJ’s Diana Simpson tells us […]
Listen NowBound By Oath
Needless Friction. And Treason.
On this episode: the story of Pullman abstention, the first of several abstention doctrines the Supreme Court invented to let federal judges decline to decide […]
Listen NowUnpublished Opinions
Unpublished Opinions 24 | What If It’s Not Peyote?
John Wrench is joined by Sam Gedge and Kirby West for a session of hot takes, hard questions, and changed minds. The trio challenge received […]
Listen Now

