February 04, 2022

Short Circuit 205 | Foreign Divorces

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 […]

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January 28, 2022

Short Circuit 204 | Contracts and Blood Spatters

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, […]

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January 21, 2022

Short Circuit 203 | I Have No Idea What's Going On

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 […]

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January 13, 2022

Short Circuit 202 | Rules for Traffic Stops

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 […]

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January 06, 2022

Short Circuit 201 | The Fifth Circuit: It's Complicated

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 […]

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December 17, 2021

Short Circuit 200 | Origins

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 […]

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December 09, 2021

Short Circuit 199 | The Right Not To Be Framed and It's Greek To Me

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 […]

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December 02, 2021

Short Circuit 198 | International Trade and Standing for Guns

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 […]

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November 19, 2021

Short Circuit 197 | No Vehicles in the Park Remix

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 […]

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November 12, 2021

Short Circuit 196 | 50 Years of "Our Federalism"

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 […]

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October 28, 2021

Short Circuit 195 | Pride and Prejudice in Prison

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 […]

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October 21, 2021

Short Circuit 194 | Arboreal Takings and the Sidewalks of New York

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 […]

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October 15, 2021

Short Circuit 193 | Hamilton Singing Fire in a Crowded Theater

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 […]

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October 08, 2021

Short Circuit 192 | Standing Up for a Dollar

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 […]

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October 01, 2021

Short Circuit 191: Judicial Activism for Reals

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 […]

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September 23, 2021

Short Circuit 190: A Crime a Day in Prison

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 […]

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September 17, 2021

Short Circuit 189 | Supreme Court Preview, OT 2021

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 […]

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September 02, 2021

Short Circuit 188 | Chalked Tires and the Other ACA

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

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August 26, 2021

Short Circuit 187 | How Binding Is Your Dicta?

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 […]

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August 12, 2021

Short Circuit 186 | Chillin’ With Uber

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 […]

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August 05, 2021

Short Circuit 185 | Guns and Football

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 […]

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July 28, 2021

Short Circuit 184 | California Constitutional Dreaming

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 […]

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July 23, 2021

Short Circuit 183 | Expectations of Surveillance

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 […]

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July 15, 2021

Short Circuit 182 | Putting the Protection in “Equal Protection”

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 […]

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July 08, 2021

Short Circuit 181 | Mandatory Associations

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 […]

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July 02, 2021

Short Circuit 180 | A Fifth of Qualified Immunity

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. […]

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June 24, 2021

Short Circuit 179 | Taking Bees with the Police Power

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 […]

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June 17, 2021

Short Circuit 178 | First Amendment Home Design

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 […]

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June 11, 2021

Short Circuit 177 | When Are Judges “Too Cool?”

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 […]

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June 04, 2021

Short Circuit 176 | Conjunction Junction, what’s your function?

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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