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 […]
Listen NowJune 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 […]
Listen NowJune 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 […]
Listen NowJune 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 […]
Listen NowMay 28, 2021
Short Circuit 175 | Tax Takings and Reservation Creation
Can the county foreclose on your house because you haven’t paid your taxes, and then just keep the rest of your equity? In Ohio, yeah, […]
Listen NowMay 21, 2021
Short Circuit 174 | The Right to “Bear” Arms
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 […]
Listen NowMay 13, 2021
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 NowApril 30, 2021
Short 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 NowApril 22, 2021
Short 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 NowApril 15, 2021
Short 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 NowApril 09, 2021
Short 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 NowApril 01, 2021
Short 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 NowMarch 26, 2021
Short 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 NowMarch 18, 2021
Short 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 NowMarch 09, 2021
Short 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 NowMarch 03, 2021
Short 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 NowFebruary 19, 2021
Short 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 NowFebruary 12, 2021
Short 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 NowFebruary 04, 2021
Short 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 NowJanuary 29, 2021
Short 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 NowJanuary 22, 2021
Short 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 NowJanuary 14, 2021
Short 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 NowJanuary 07, 2021
Short 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 NowDecember 23, 2020
Short Circuit 156 | The Navigable Waters, Recording Cops, and People in Church
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 […]
Listen NowDecember 10, 2020
Short Circuit 155 | Only 160 Felonies
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 […]
Listen NowNovember 30, 2020
Short Circuit 154 | Class action coupons and a building for Buddhists
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 […]
Listen NowNovember 12, 2020
Short Circuit 153 | The Wire and Dairy Cows
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 […]
Listen NowOctober 29, 2020
Short Circuit 152: Election Law 2020 Special
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 […]
Listen NowOctober 22, 2020
Short Circuit 151 | Lifetime Leases and Butterflies on Walls
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 […]
Listen NowOctober 08, 2020
Short Circuit 150 | Vacation rentals, COVID orders, and Electoral College studies
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 […]
Listen Now