May 21, 2021
Short Circuit 174 | The Right to “Bear” Arms
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Second Amendment scholar David Kopel sits down with us to set the stage for a big issue we’ll hear a lot about over the next […]
Read MoreMay 13, 2021
Short Circuit 173 | Public Accommodations and High Speed Snaps
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Legal raconteur and writer David Lat joins us for some underneath-their-robes hijinks. David talks a bit about his new venture and his battle with COVID-19. […]
Read MoreApril 30, 2021
Short Circuit 172 | Confronting Cook County Corruption
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What does Sir Walter Raleigh have to do with a Tennessee murder trial? You’ll learn from Rob Johnson, as he confronts his witness with a […]
Read MoreApril 22, 2021
Short Circuit 171 | Should Originalists Party Like It’s 1868, not 1791?
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On a special Short Circuit, professors Christopher Green and Evan Bernick join your host Anthony Sanders to examine one of the great questions of the […]
Read MoreApril 15, 2021
Short Circuit 170 | A Hot Mess and Seven Magic Words
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What can a court say in 325 pages? So much that we don’t have much of a clue. Diana Simpson slices and dices the Fifth […]
Read MoreApril 09, 2021
Short Circuit 169 | The Duct Tape of Federal Law
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If you’re not a major party candidate it can be really hard to get on the ballot. So hard it’s sometimes unconstitutional. Paul Sherman explains […]
Read MoreApril 01, 2021
Short Circuit 168 | Suspicious Handshakes and Football Prayers
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Can the police stop and frisk your person based on their “training and experience?” Not if that training and experience is simply that drug dealers […]
Read MoreMarch 26, 2021
Short Circuit 167 | Section 230 and a Drones Search
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We get a little high-tech this week. Techdirt founder Mike Masnick joins us to explain how Section 230 actually works, and how it was somewhat […]
Read MoreMarch 18, 2021
Short Circuit 166 | To En Banc or Not to En Banc
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The 10th Circuit just can’t make up its mind. You might say it doesn’t know a hawk from a handsaw. Listen to a tale from […]
Read MoreMarch 09, 2021
Short Circuit 165 | Orphaned Precedent
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How much power does the CDC have during the pandemic? Surprisingly, that was not the issue before a district court considering the constitutionality of the […]
Read MoreMarch 03, 2021
Short Circuit 164 | Bad Cop Records and Suspicionless Searches
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New York police disciplinary records were a black box, until the state changed the law. Then the union sued to keep the lid on—but lost. […]
Read MoreFebruary 19, 2021
Short Circuit 163 | The Law of Johnny 5 Is Alive
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For once living up to the 1980s-movie-sense of our name, we’re talking about robots. How should the law treat robots? What do we analogize to, […]
Read MoreFebruary 12, 2021
Short Circuit 162 | I Will Get Credit When I Crush You
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If you’re the State, what do you get when you put money owed to a prisoner in a special account, and then take most of […]
Read MoreFebruary 04, 2021
Short Circuit 161 | A Honkload of Stateless Cocaine
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A triad of important things in life are tweets, stateless vessels, and fonts. IJ attorneys Tatiana Pino and Patrick Jaicomo join your host Anthony Sanders […]
Read MoreJanuary 29, 2021
Short Circuit 160 | The Dominion of Giuliani and Citizenship Receptions
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Even though ex-President Trump is off of Twitter, his tweets are still abundant in federal legal filings. IJ Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes explains the First […]
Read MoreJanuary 22, 2021
Short Circuit 159: The Sub-Rational Basis Test
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When a judge asks you a question, it’s best to give an answer. We briefly discuss an oral argument that IJ Senior Attorney Rob Frommer […]
Read MoreJanuary 14, 2021
Short Circuit 158 | Privileges or Immunities and Consent Decrees
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The Fourteenth Amendment’s Privileges or Immunities Clause resurfaces in the Seventh Circuit, where the State of Indiana treated some newcomers differently from some long-time residents. […]
Read MoreJanuary 07, 2021
Short Circuit 157 | State Constitutionalists Are the Veterinarians of Law
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How do you put together a campaign of litigation under various state constitutions across the country? And how to you get state courts to take […]
Read MoreDecember 23, 2020
Short Circuit 156 | The Navigable Waters, Recording Cops, and People in Church
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Is it time for the Supreme Court to spread some privileges or immunities cheer? Michael Bindas discusses a cert petition pending at SCOTUS on navigating […]
Read MoreDecember 10, 2020
Short Circuit 155 | Only 160 Felonies
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The first two items in the Bill of Rights get top billing. Does a nine-year-old felony conviction for tax fraud justify continuing to deny someone […]
Read MoreNovember 30, 2020
Short Circuit 154 | Class action coupons and a building for Buddhists
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Class action expert Ted Frank joins to discuss a Ninth Circuit case where the court didn’t think giving class members crummy coupons warranted almost $15 […]
Read MoreNovember 12, 2020
Short Circuit 153 | The Wire and Dairy Cows
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Ever seen The Wire? Do you think those cops could have seriously used a team of drones taking photos of Stringer Bell for 12 hours […]
Read MoreOctober 29, 2020
Short Circuit 152: Election Law 2020 Special
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What is with up with the torrent of election law cases coming out these days? IJ’s Diana Simpson and Anthony Sanders are here to give […]
Read MoreOctober 22, 2020
Short Circuit 151 | Lifetime Leases and Butterflies on Walls
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We don’t recommend converting apartments into condos in San Francisco. But if you do, it might be hard to bring a takings claim, as we […]
Read MoreOctober 08, 2020
Short Circuit 150 | Vacation rentals, COVID orders, and Electoral College studies
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On October 16, 2020 the Center for Judicial Engagement is hosting a special online event, our forum on judicial engagement and the Pennsylvania Constitution. Register […]
Read MoreOctober 02, 2020
Short Circuit 149 | Supreme Court Preview for Tar Heels
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For the fourth year in a row, the Institute for Justice has teamed up with the University of North Carolina Federalist Society Chapter to preview […]
Read MoreSeptember 17, 2020
Short Circuit 148 | Are Apartments a Nuisance? Private Property and the Rise of Zoning
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In a special Short Circuit, Harvard Law Professor Molly Brady joins us to talk about an untold story from the rise of zoning law. A […]
Read MoreSeptember 10, 2020
Short Circuit 147 | Off-premises signs and an on-premises subpoena
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Will former White House Counsel Don McGahn ever testify to the House Judiciary Committee? That partly depends on how you squint when reading the Declaratory […]
Read MoreSeptember 04, 2020
Short Circuit 146 (9/4/20)
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Rejoining us after a very long break is Rob Johnson, who has some things to say about the Anti-Riot Act and a case finding part […]
Read MoreAugust 27, 2020
Short Circuit 145 | Dude, where’s my car? And, campaigning to disclose
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Can a city hold on to your car for three years for no reason? Unfortunately, the Sixth Circuit seems to think the answer is “yes,” […]
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