Podcasts Archive
Short Circuit 173 | Public Accommodations and High Speed Snaps
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. […]
Listen NowThese Laws Let Your Competitors Decide When Your Business is “Needed”
What are “Certificates of Need,” and who should get to decide whether an entrepreneur can try out a business idea?
When IJ client Abdallah Batayneh tried to open a resort shuttle service in rural Colorado, his application was denied by a state regulatory agency at […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 172 | Confronting Cook County Corruption
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 […]
Listen NowLaw for Non-Lawyers - Standards of Review (A Deep Dive Best of)
Why do property, economic, and other vital liberties get only “rational basis” review?
What does it mean when courts apply “strict scrutiny” in their review of a law? Why do property, economic, and other vital liberties get only […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 171 | Should Originalists Party Like It’s 1868, not 1791?
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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 170 | A Hot Mess and Seven Magic Words
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 […]
Listen NowBitcoin and the Constitution: Is Code Speech?
And Can the 4th Amendment Keep the Government Out of Your Crypto?
Although Bitcoin and other cryptocurrencies are hitting the mainstream, the way the law will treat them is still undeveloped. In this episode, we talk about […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 169 | The Duct Tape of Federal Law
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 […]
Listen NowPierson to Pearson | Season 2, Ep. 6
In 1967, the Supreme Court invented qualified immunity. And in 1982, the Court transformed the doctrine into the one we have today. On this episode, […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 168 | Suspicious Handshakes and Football Prayers
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 […]
Listen Now“Predictive Policing” Algorithm Creates a Dystopian Nightmare for Residents of This Florida Town
How One Sheriff’s Office Harasses and Arrests Citizens It Suspects of Future Crimes
When the Institute for Justice filed suit against the so-called predictive policing program in Pasco County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office issued a statement saying that […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 167 | Section 230 and a Drones Search
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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 166 | To En Banc or Not to En Banc
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 […]
Listen NowTalking to a Client in the Wrong Location Makes This Counselor a Criminal
Restrictions on teletherapy hurt people and violate the First Amendment
Elizabeth Brokamp is a professional counselor who just wants to help people at a time when many Americans need it more than ever. But if […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 165 | Orphaned Precedent
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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 164 | Bad Cop Records and Suspicionless Searches
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. […]
Listen NowUnder Color of Law | Season 2, Ep. 5
In Chicago in 1958, over a dozen police officers barged into the home of a sleeping family with guns drawn. They didn’t have a warrant, […]
Listen NowUses (and Misuses) of Amicus Briefs | (A Deep Dive Best Of)
The Whys, Whens, and Hows of Being a Friend of the Court
IJ Senior Attorneys Robert McNamara and Paul Sherman discuss amicus briefs: what they are, where they came from, and how IJ—and others—use them for maximum […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 163 | The Law of Johnny 5 Is Alive
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, […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 162 | I Will Get Credit When I Crush You
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 […]
Listen NowCensorship, Dangerous Speech, and Monopolies
Why a modern day Fairness Doctrine isn’t the solution, what Section 230 really does, and what the current debate has to do with free speech, property rights, and even shopping malls in the 1980s
Big technology companies like Google, Twitter, and Facebook have come under scrutiny for the ways they are—and are not—controlling speech on their platforms. In today’s […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 161 | A Honkload of Stateless Cocaine
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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 160 | The Dominion of Giuliani and Citizenship Receptions
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 […]
Listen NowSecurity Guards Assault Innocent Vet at the VA—and Claim Immunity
An outrageous decision from the 5th Circuit threatens his rights—and those of everyone in three states
What should have been a routine dental appointment at his local VA took a frightening turn for 70-year-old Jose Oliva when security guards tackled him […]
Listen NowOutrage Legislation | Season 2, Ep. 4
Section 1983 is one of the most important civil rights laws on the books; tens of thousands of plaintiffs file Section 1983 cases each year […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 159: The Sub-Rational Basis Test
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 […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 158 | Privileges or Immunities and Consent Decrees
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. […]
Listen NowThis Is What Happens When States Abolish Civil Forfeiture
Research shows that policing for profit is a big problem—but it’s one that states can fix
In 2015, New Mexico abolished a controversial practice known as civil forfeiture. Critics of the reform claimed it would be a gift to criminals, increasing […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 157 | State Constitutionalists Are the Veterinarians of Law
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 […]
Listen NowQualified Immunity: Are Government Officials Above the Law? (A Deep Dive Best Of)
How Government Officials Can Blow Up Your House with Grenades—and Get Away With It by Claiming Immunity
Over the past several months, a national spotlight has been on the doctrine of qualified immunity. Although much of the recent focus has been on […]
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