February 04, 2022
Short Circuit 205 | Foreign Divorces
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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 […]
Read MoreJanuary 28, 2022
Short Circuit 204 | Contracts and Blood Spatters
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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, […]
Read MoreJanuary 21, 2022
Short Circuit 203 | I Have No Idea What's Going On
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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 […]
Read MoreJanuary 13, 2022
Short Circuit 202 | Rules for Traffic Stops
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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 […]
Read MoreJanuary 06, 2022
Short Circuit 201 | The Fifth Circuit: It's Complicated
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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 […]
Read MoreDecember 17, 2021
Short Circuit 200 | Origins
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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 […]
Read MoreDecember 09, 2021
Short Circuit 199 | The Right Not To Be Framed and It's Greek To Me
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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 […]
Read MoreDecember 02, 2021
Short Circuit 198 | International Trade and Standing for Guns
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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 […]
Read MoreNovember 19, 2021
Short Circuit 197 | No Vehicles in the Park Remix
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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 […]
Read MoreNovember 12, 2021
Short Circuit 196 | 50 Years of "Our Federalism"
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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 […]
Read MoreOctober 28, 2021
Short Circuit 195 | Pride and Prejudice in Prison
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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 […]
Read MoreOctober 21, 2021
Short Circuit 194 | Arboreal Takings and the Sidewalks of New York
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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 […]
Read MoreOctober 15, 2021
Short Circuit 193 | Hamilton Singing Fire in a Crowded Theater
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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 […]
Read MoreOctober 08, 2021
Short Circuit 192 | Standing Up for a Dollar
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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 […]
Read MoreOctober 01, 2021
Short Circuit 191: Judicial Activism for Reals
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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 […]
Read MoreSeptember 23, 2021
Short Circuit 190: A Crime a Day in Prison
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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 […]
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2021
Short Circuit 189 | Supreme Court Preview, OT 2021
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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 […]
Read MoreSeptember 02, 2021
Short Circuit 188 | Chalked Tires and the Other ACA
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Ever rolled your tires to try and cover up the meter maid’s chalk mark? No, me neither . . . But even if you haven’t, […]
Read MoreAugust 26, 2021
Short Circuit 187 | How Binding Is Your Dicta?
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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 […]
Read MoreAugust 12, 2021
Short Circuit 186 | Chillin’ With Uber
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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 […]
Read MoreAugust 05, 2021
Short Circuit 185 | Guns and Football
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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 […]
Read MoreJuly 28, 2021
Short Circuit 184 | California Constitutional Dreaming
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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 […]
Read MoreJuly 23, 2021
Short Circuit 183 | Expectations of Surveillance
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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 […]
Read MoreJuly 15, 2021
Short Circuit 182 | Putting the Protection in “Equal Protection”
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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 […]
Read MoreJuly 08, 2021
Short Circuit 181 | Mandatory Associations
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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 […]
Read MoreJuly 02, 2021
Short Circuit 180 | A Fifth of Qualified Immunity
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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. […]
Read MoreJune 24, 2021
Short Circuit 179 | Taking Bees with the Police Power
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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 […]
Read MoreJune 17, 2021
Short Circuit 178 | First Amendment Home Design
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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 […]
Read MoreJune 11, 2021
Short Circuit 177 | When Are Judges “Too Cool?”
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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 […]
Read MoreJune 04, 2021
Short Circuit 176 | Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?
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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 […]
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