We focus in on two Latin words this week: habeas and mandamus. Both usually mean “you lose.” But things somehow turned out differently in the Fourth Circuit and Fifth Circuit. Hear the story of a man trapped in prison for a small drug sale for almost a decade who fights his way through the state and federal courts and wins himself a new trial. IJ’s Bob Belden tells that tale. And then there’s a story about guns, the Internet, speech, the differences between Texas and New Jersey, and transfer orders. Alexa Gervasi gets us up to speed on that saga. She also previews a new IJ case about a prosecutor working for a judge he practiced before. It’s as bad as it sounds.
Click here for transcript.
Resources
Wilson v. Midland County (IJ’s prosecutor case)
Recent Episodes
September 28, 2023
Short Circuit 291 | Stanford’s Supreme Court Clinic

We visit some friends of the Institute for Justice at the Supreme Court Litigation Clinic at Stanford Law School. The clinic allows law students to […]
Read MoreSeptember 26, 2023
Unpublished Opinions 2 | Justice Holmes Love Letters

It’s the second episode of Unpublished Opinions, a Short Circuit podcast. This time we’re once again joined by Institute for Justice attorney Anya Bidwell, but […]
Read MoreSeptember 21, 2023
Short Circuit 290 | Supreme Court Preview at UNC!

For the 7th year in a row Short Circuit travels to the University of North Carolina School of Law to preview the upcoming Supreme Court […]
Read MoreSeptember 15, 2023
Short Circuit 289 | Property Rights FTW

We celebrate, and dig into, two victories for property rights this week—both in IJ cases! First, IJ’s Wesley Hottot discusses the Sixth Circuit’s opinion in […]
Read More