Can the government force you to only exercise a constitutional right once a month? Could it do that with speech? Or practicing religion? How about […]

Is speaking to a yoga class speech? The Ninth Circuit recently proclaimed that the answer to that question is actually “yes.” But before you turn […]

You shouldn’t need a law degree to start a barber shop, but entrepreneurs across the country face steep fees, delays, and confusing requirements before they […]

A new edition of everyone’s favorite legal grimoire has dropped, and John Wrench convenes Sam Gedge and Diana Simpson to ask the hard questions: Is […]

Who doesn’t love a nice beard? It seems the firefighters in Atlantic City. One of their employees wants to wear a beard because of his […]

We at the Institute for Justice are increasingly involved with combatting retaliation against free speech. Which is why we were highly interested to hear from […]

The Constitution requires a warrant before police can search you or your property. But what if that warrant is based on third-hand information? That’s what […]

The Fifth Amendment says that the government must pay just compensation when it takes private property for public use, a command that, regrettably, is often […]

Is making someone file a form “in the public interest”? The Fifth Circuit took a look at that age-old question in a recent case regarding […]

With the recent major tariff rulings we had to pull in a major tariff expert, Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute. Scott digs into the […]

Fans of truckers should enjoy this episode, although they may grow angry hearing about a truck stop that never was to be. Tahmineh Dehbozorgi of […]

Done with oral argument at SCOTUS in Martin v. United States, Patrick Jaicomo and Anya Bidwell rejoin the rotation to yell at clouds and, along […]

Sometimes a short ride goes a long way. Casey Mattox of Stand Together comes on to tell us how a dirt biker in Nevada may […]

Two federal appellate opinions involving a murder and whether justice was served. First, IJ’s Dan Alban reports on a Sixth Circuit case where a man […]

A new financial surveillance dragnet is sweeping up ordinary cash transactions at small businesses near the US-Mexico border. The federal government has placed onerous new requirements on […]

Constitutional rights protect everyone, even people we might not be terribly fond of. This week we discuss two defendants who perhaps don’t deserve a lot […]

You might think constitutional lawsuits work like this: Find an unconstitutional law, challenge it in court, and if the law is truly unconstitutional, the court […]

All kinds of constitutional goodies this week, from sovereign immunity to the First Amendment right to dance. But we begin with our annual Kentucky Derby […]

Spring hath finally shaken off the winter of Arlington’s discontent, and host John Wrench gathers IJ barristers Sam Gedge and Josh Windham for a scene […]

Short Circuit went mile high for a live show before the students at Sturm College of Law at the University of Denver. The focus was […]

In 1973, federal narcotics agents raided a pair of homes in Collinsville, Illinois by mistake. They didn’t find any drugs, but they did terrorize two […]

An old friend returns to Short Circuit, but it’s not a guest. It’s a case, Villarreal v. City of Laredo, where police retaliated against a […]

In 2017, FBI agents, with guns drawn and a flashbang grenade, burst into the Atlanta home of Trina Martin, her then seven-year-old son Gabe, and […]

Last week the Short Circuit staff celebrated ten years of our inexhaustive coverage of the federal courts of appeals. At the Studio Theatre in Washington, […]

Bad news for our AI listeners this week. The D.C. Circuit ruled that you cannot be the “author” of a copyrighted work. Only humans get […]

First enacted to ensure southern states respected the rights of newly freed slaves, the 14th Amendment is indispensable to modern civil rights litigation. But what […]

Most weeks we summarize two, sometimes three, cases from the federal courts of appeals. This week we provide to you free of charge (as always) […]

Is stretching out one’s middle finger at the police protected by the First Amendment? And whether it is or not, can the police trump up […]

A flurry of ideas about the state of the law, the universe, and, well, everything. Including, at least, the impeachment of judges, how lawyers educate […]

Often in old constitutional cases you see judges of yonder years invoking this mysterious substance called “the police power.” It’s something that has fallen out […]