March 23, 2023
Short Circuit 264 | Evicting Innocent People
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Can a city get a renter evicted for a crime they didn’t commit? Unfortunately, in cities across the country the answer is yes. On a […]
Read MoreMarch 14, 2023
Short Circuit 263 | A Three Hour Tour
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A nostalgic tale of judicial engagement where we examine whether recess is a crime and whether it’s fine for the government to follow your every […]
Read MoreMarch 08, 2023
Short Circuit 262 | Shielded
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A special Short Circuit Live at Georgetown University hosts Joanna Schwartz of UCLA to discuss her book Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable. And not […]
Read MoreMarch 02, 2023
Short Circuit 261 | Live at Southern Methodist University!
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Short Circuit speaks with the law students at SMU in our first visit to The Big D. With Anya Bidwell as your host, she introduces […]
Read MoreFebruary 23, 2023
Short Circuit 260 | Unlimited Tariff Power
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For the first time Short Circuit welcomes the Jones-Act-hating, free-trade-loving, tariff-busting, T-shirt-writing, and top-5-ranking Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute. Scott introduces us to a […]
Read MoreFebruary 16, 2023
Short Circuit 259 | The Rent Is Too Damn High
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A qualified immunity and property rights pairing this week. But first we announce the winning answer from last episode’s “decretal language” competition. Then, Patrick Jaicomo […]
Read MoreFebruary 10, 2023
Short Circuit 258 | And in en banc news
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Our newsletter begins announcements about federal en banc decisions with the phrase “And in en banc news.” And about a year ago we had an […]
Read MoreFebruary 02, 2023
Short Circuit 257 | General Google Warrants
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On this Groundhog Day special we’re sniffing out a couple eternally recurrent subjects: limits on government surveillance and limits on property rights. We’re joined by […]
Read MoreJanuary 26, 2023
Short Circuit 256 | A Magical Bag of Dope
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Could you identify a “bag of dope” through a tinted car window? A police officer in Euclid, Ohio thought he could, but it turns out […]
Read MoreJanuary 19, 2023
Short Circuit 255 | Basic Training
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We are joined by Texas “teenylaw” lawyer Kristen Vander-Plas LaFreniere. We talk about what it’s like to run a very small practice and then dig […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2023
Short Circuit 254 | Civil Rights Roundup
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In honor of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. we invited on three civil rights lawyers to talk about their latest, pathbreaking, cases and […]
Read MoreJanuary 05, 2023
Short Circuit 253 | Imaginary Lines
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Two tales of the criminal justice system this week, with the Excessive Fines Clause and the Fourth Amendment both playing a part. First, in the […]
Read MoreDecember 29, 2022
Short Circuit 252 | 13th Amendment at SCOTUS
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Not many lawyers alive today can say they’ve litigated a Thirteenth Amendment case (yes, that amendment; the one about slavery). But we at IJ have […]
Read MoreDecember 22, 2022
Short Circuit 251 | You Got Insurance?
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You got insurance is not just a question they ask at the doctor’s office. Most of the time when someone sues the government—especially a local […]
Read MoreDecember 21, 2022
12 Days of Short Circuit Christmas
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A very short episode for the Holidays. Sung by members of the Institute for Justice. Click to listen, but here are the words: On the […]
Read MoreDecember 16, 2022
Short Circuit 250 | Thanksgiving for the Arrest
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One of our oldest friends (well, not really a “friend”) is back, the rational basis test. Turns out the government can justify refusing to give […]
Read MoreDecember 08, 2022
Short Circuit 249 | Licensed to Work
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For millions of lower-income Americans, state licensing laws make finding work or opening a small business harder and more expensive—if not outright impossible. So claims […]
Read MoreDecember 02, 2022
Short Circuit 248 | “I Declare Bankruptcy”
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Money makes the world go round. And sometimes the Constitution and our civil rights laws help money out with that. We examine a couple recent […]
Read MoreNovember 23, 2022
Short Circuit 247 | Off to the Races
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Just in time for Thanksgiving we have two extremely juicy opinions (from a judicial engagement standpoint), one about the right to earn a living and […]
Read MoreNovember 18, 2022
Short Circuit 246 | The Unholy Trinity
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We’re joined by two friends from the MacArthur Justice Center, Emily Washington and Eric Foley, to tell us all about a blood-boiling case of prosecutorial […]
Read MoreNovember 07, 2022
Short Circuit 245 | A Texas-Sized “And”
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Everything’s big in Texas. Including that famous English conjunction “and.” For the first time on Short Circuit we have two IJ attorneys based in the […]
Read MoreNovember 02, 2022
Short Circuit 244 | Election Special 2022
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When Americans vote it usually means one other thing. Americans suing. And this year is no different. Diana Simpson of IJ joins us, as she […]
Read MoreOctober 28, 2022
Short Circuit 243 | Live From New York It’s Short Circuit!
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We recorded an episode live before an audience in New York City! NYC is home to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second […]
Read MoreOctober 20, 2022
Short Circuit 242 | CON Law at SCOTUS
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The Institute for Justice has asked the Supreme Court to take a case challenging Kentucky’s Certificate of Need law (aka a “CON law”—very much a […]
Read MoreOctober 13, 2022
Short Circuit 241 | Pretext for a Traffic Stop
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The Supreme Court has said that once the police find a reason to pull you over, they can pull you over—even if that’s not at […]
Read MoreOctober 07, 2022
Short Circuit 240 | Live at Columbia Law!
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Enjoy some intra-Ivy League ribbing with two Yale grads talking law and clerkships from deep inside New York’s oldest university. Short Circuit welcomes David Lat […]
Read MoreSeptember 29, 2022
Short Circuit 239 | SCOTUS Preview Live from UNC
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What’s new in OT22? Quite a bit, it turns out. This is our sixth annual Short Circuit Live Supreme Court Preview from the University of […]
Read MoreSeptember 22, 2022
Short Circuit 238 | Dude, Where’s My Passport?
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If a doctor says a prisoner needs to take his medication, and you’re a prison guard, you should give the prisoner his medication. A number […]
Read MoreSeptember 16, 2022
Short Circuit 237 | Live at the University of Montana
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It’s the first Big Sky Short Circuit! Recorded in front of students at the University of Montana School of Law, we examine three cases from […]
Read MoreSeptember 08, 2022
Short Circuit 236 | Constitutions and Common Law
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When you sue the government for violating your rights do you first need the government’s permission? Unfortunately, the answer is usually “yes.” We look at […]
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