Short Circuit Podcast

We welcome on Sam MacRoberts of the Kansas Justice Institute for an inspection of the Fourth Amendment. Sam is the General Counsel and Litigation Director […]

[Note: This episode was down for a couple days but has been reposted. It originally dropped on March 6, 2026.] If you’ve ever wondered if […]

Litigation is a risky business. Borrowing tens of millions of dollars to win a lawsuit is even more risky. And it turns out makes settling […]

In Colorado marijuana is legal under state law. In Kansas it is not. This had led Kansan police officers to stop a lot of cars […]

An all-star conversation among Stanford professors, recorded live before Stanford students, about originalism and how it interacts with recent cases from the federal courts of […]

If you own rights to movies or shows and would prefer them to not end up on YouTube for free this is an episode for […]

IJ’s John Wrench journeys to New Orleans to chat with some legal scholars on their recent work on all kinds of IJ-adjacent questions, especially as […]

Lovers of municipal crime and corruption—and internal affairs departments not doing their jobs—may enjoy the stories this week from Detroit and Baltimore. First, Kirby Thomas […]

When you pay your bail money it’s a good practice to get a receipt. A woman in Mississippi found that out the hard way when […]

What does qualified immunity have to do with Joan of Arc? Released on the anniversary of the start of her trial, this episode examines that […]

IJ’s Anya Bidwell interviews two civil rights lawyers for a wide-ranging conversation about what it’s like to litigate on behalf of people behind bars. She […]

In the early days of the COVID pandemic, a county in Florida thought it was a good idea to keep people off of the beach. […]

Starting with a few lines from Shakespeare’s As You Like It, we are joined by two gentlemen of the stage, James Joseph, the first Assistant […]

The U.S. government seized over $600,000 from a business, tried to forfeit the money, never filed criminal charges against anyone, and then three years later […]

What happens if you sue your employer and your boss’s boss is a federal judge? It’s kind of complicated. Aliza Shatzman of the Legal Accountability […]

Can a city require you to get a permit if you’re having a few people over to pray? In an Ohio town it was a […]

In a special episode, IJ’s Anya Bidwell interviews Matteo Godi of USC Law about his new article “Section 1983: A Strict Liability Statutory Tort.” Professor […]

We’re joined by Reb Masel, a California lawyer who tries to keep the law fun while educating the public about how it works. She’s apparently […]

The balance between free speech, campus order, and fighting antisemitism has been a major flashpoint the last couple of years and it just hit the […]

If you think you’ve worked in a bad job you might want to first hear the first case we have this week, brought to you […]

It’s Short Circuit Live from Antonin Scalia Law School at George Mason University with a D.C. Circuit special! We review opinions from a court that […]

“Religion” and “fact checks” don’t normally go together. But an employer did so when some employees tried to obtain a religious accommodation from a COVID […]

Dropping on First Monday, the Supreme Court’s first day of the October 2025 term, it’s our annual Supreme Court preview, recorded live at the University […]

Two opinions that dig into history, one on voting rights the other on gun rights, and both from the Fourth Circuit. First, Dan Nelson of […]

It’s a Short Circuit Live from YIMBYTown! We travel to the Yes-In-My-Back-Yard conference, held this year in New Haven, Connecticut. Our guests discuss recent cases […]

It’s a free speech episode with two rulings for the First Amendment. Paul Sherman of IJ details a victory that the Institute for Justice litigated […]

Your right to remain silent just got a little stronger in the Pine Tree State. We welcome on Carol Garvan of the Maine ACLU to […]

Arbitration may not sound like the most exciting subject, but it recently made for an exciting story at the Second Circuit. Former Miami Dolphins coach […]

Short Circuit traveled to Chicago for a live recording on the eve of the Seventh Circuit’s biannual Judicial Conference. In front of a crowd of […]

The Constitution separates “the judicial power” from “executive power.” Well, that’s the theory at least. A mixing of these powers led to some massive fines […]