Short Circuit

Divorce can be hard on the kids. Especially when the divorce was 40 years ago, the government doesn’t believe it happened, and your U.S. citizenship […]

Sometimes when the government does bad things to you it violates the Constitution. And sometimes it just violates the contract. Jeff Rowes explains the difference, […]

Is it “on bonk” or “n bank”? IJ lawyers disagree on how to pronounce a full court of appeals considering a case. But whatever your […]

Ever wondered when the police can pull you over and what they can do once you stop? Then this episode brings news you can use […]

It’s a new year but little is new with qualified immunity in the Fifth Circuit. Or is it? Easha Anand of the MacArthur Justice Center […]

It’s our 200th episode! We’re taking this second century as an excuse to explore where Short Circuit came from and what it’s done, both the […]

In what may be the most obvious of examples of obvious constitutional violations, we discuss the right to not have the police put you in […]

Where do you go to challenge an illegal tax? Well, if that tax is a tariff your destination is the United States Court of International […]

Fans of the Hart-Fuller debate are gonna love this one. As will normal people who have no idea what that means. Legal philosopher HLA Hart […]

In addition to some other civil rights anniversaries, 2021 marks 50 years since the Supreme Court decided Younger v. Harris. There, the Court made it […]

What’s too hot a novel for a prisoner? Apparently “Pride and Prejudice: The Wild and Wanton Edition” meets that standard. The Eighth Circuit dug into […]

How can the government encourage us to keep our trees? In all kinds of ways, but not through mandating the replanting of trees regardless of […]

What did Alexander Hamilton tell the Marquis de Lafayette on July 21, 1780? Probably not that his letter would be the subject of a civil […]

It’s taken five years, but the clients of IJ senior attorney Paul Avelar can now finally get their day in court thanks to a ruling […]

Frustrated with the deeply complicated issue of homelessness on Los Angeles’s skid row, a district court took the law into its own hands and ordered […]

Mike Chase, author of “How to Become a Federal Criminal” and the man behind the @CrimeADay Twitter account, joins us to lay out the Eighth […]

For the fifth year in a row the Center for Judicial Engagement travels to the University of North Carolina School of Law to preview the […]

Ever rolled your tires to try and cover up the meter maid’s chalk mark? No, me neither . . . But even if you haven’t, […]

The Third Circuit allowed a Second Amendment case challenging Robinson Township’s new zoning ordinance to proceed. Did they town change their zoning laws just to […]

Usually a “chill” on your freedom of speech is the easiest constitutional injury to prove. But in the Tenth Circuit it seems if you speak […]

More on two of America’s favorite subjects this week. Josh House rejoins us as we analyze six separate opinions about one football coach. Josh last […]

On a special Short Circuit we look at the Constitution, and the constitutional history, of the Golden State. With two state constitutions and conventions in […]

The Supreme Court has said a “search” occurs when the police invade your “reasonable expectation of privacy.” So what is a “reasonable expectation” to be […]

Today we think of the Equal Protection Clause as requiring equal treatment of the laws. But in addition to anything else it covers, at its […]

It’s not often that we get three different appellate opinions on the same issue in one week. But recently the Fifth Circuit (twice) and the […]

The Fifth Circuit is not boring. In just one week they served up enough qualified immunity cases to fill an entire episode, and then some. […]

Something that is not the bee’s knees is when the county mosquito sprayers forget to tell you to cover up your bees so they don’t […]

If I express myself through designing a new house, is that expression protected by the First Amendment? Last week the Eleventh Circuit avoided that question […]

How many pop culture references can a judge make in an opinion before we start to cringe? “Dean” of #AppellateTwitter Raffi Melkonian joins us to […]

There’s this mysterious word in English that courts love to talk about, the Notorious A-N-D. Does it, in fact, mean “and?” Or does it mean […]