April 27, 2023
Short Circuit 269 | The British Constitution
It’s Special Short Circuit time. And this time that means we don’t just investigate a special legal issue, we journey to a special place (well, […]
Listen NowApril 20, 2023
Short Circuit 268 | God and Man at Harvard and Yale
Who ever said insurance isn’t interesting? Certainly not the Eleventh Circuit, and certainly not IJ’s Ben Field. He tells us a harrowing story of a […]
Listen NowApril 13, 2023
Short Circuit 267 | Take It
Just compensation is a pretty basic part of the Constitution. Which is why this week’s panel is a little confused how the State of Minnesota […]
Listen NowApril 06, 2023
Short Circuit 266 | School Choice Special
On a special Short Circuit IJ’s Marie Miller sits down with a trio of school choice experts to provide an overview on where school choice […]
Listen NowMarch 30, 2023
Short Circuit 265 | Time Travel
Wouldn’t it be fun to own a time machine? If you said yes then you’re a lot like the Fifth Circuit. Last week its full […]
Listen NowMarch 23, 2023
Short Circuit 264 | Evicting Innocent People
Can a city get a renter evicted for a crime they didn’t commit? Unfortunately, in cities across the country the answer is yes. On a […]
Listen NowMarch 14, 2023
Short Circuit 263 | A Three Hour Tour
A nostalgic tale of judicial engagement where we examine whether recess is a crime and whether it’s fine for the government to follow your every […]
Listen NowMarch 08, 2023
Short Circuit 262 | Shielded
A special Short Circuit Live at Georgetown University hosts Joanna Schwartz of UCLA to discuss her book Shielded: How the Police Became Untouchable. And not […]
Listen NowMarch 02, 2023
Short Circuit 261 | Live at Southern Methodist University!
Short Circuit speaks with the law students at SMU in our first visit to The Big D. With Anya Bidwell as your host, she introduces […]
Listen NowFebruary 23, 2023
Short Circuit 260 | Unlimited Tariff Power
For the first time Short Circuit welcomes the Jones-Act-hating, free-trade-loving, tariff-busting, T-shirt-writing, and top-5-ranking Scott Lincicome of the Cato Institute. Scott introduces us to a […]
Listen NowFebruary 16, 2023
Short Circuit 259 | The Rent Is Too Damn High
A qualified immunity and property rights pairing this week. But first we announce the winning answer from last episode’s “decretal language” competition. Then, Patrick Jaicomo […]
Listen NowFebruary 10, 2023
Short Circuit 258 | And in en banc news
Our newsletter begins announcements about federal en banc decisions with the phrase “And in en banc news.” And about a year ago we had an […]
Listen NowFebruary 02, 2023
Short Circuit 257 | General Google Warrants
On this Groundhog Day special we’re sniffing out a couple eternally recurrent subjects: limits on government surveillance and limits on property rights. We’re joined by […]
Listen NowJanuary 26, 2023
Short Circuit 256 | A Magical Bag of Dope
Could you identify a “bag of dope” through a tinted car window? A police officer in Euclid, Ohio thought he could, but it turns out […]
Listen NowJanuary 19, 2023
Short Circuit 255 | Basic Training
We are joined by Texas “teenylaw” lawyer Kristen Vander-Plas LaFreniere. We talk about what it’s like to run a very small practice and then dig […]
Listen NowJanuary 13, 2023
Short Circuit 254 | Civil Rights Roundup
In honor of the birthday of Martin Luther King, Jr. we invited on three civil rights lawyers to talk about their latest, pathbreaking, cases and […]
Listen NowJanuary 05, 2023
Short Circuit 253 | Imaginary Lines
Two tales of the criminal justice system this week, with the Excessive Fines Clause and the Fourth Amendment both playing a part. First, in the […]
Listen NowDecember 29, 2022
Short Circuit 252 | 13th Amendment at SCOTUS
Not many lawyers alive today can say they’ve litigated a Thirteenth Amendment case (yes, that amendment; the one about slavery). But we at IJ have […]
Listen NowDecember 22, 2022
Short Circuit 251 | You Got Insurance?
You got insurance is not just a question they ask at the doctor’s office. Most of the time when someone sues the government—especially a local […]
Listen NowDecember 21, 2022
12 Days of Short Circuit Christmas
A very short episode for the Holidays. Sung by members of the Institute for Justice. Click to listen, but here are the words: On the […]
Listen NowDecember 16, 2022
Short Circuit 250 | Thanksgiving for the Arrest
One of our oldest friends (well, not really a “friend”) is back, the rational basis test. Turns out the government can justify refusing to give […]
Listen NowDecember 08, 2022
Short Circuit 249 | Licensed to Work
For millions of lower-income Americans, state licensing laws make finding work or opening a small business harder and more expensive—if not outright impossible. So claims […]
Listen NowDecember 02, 2022
Short Circuit 248 | “I Declare Bankruptcy”
Money makes the world go round. And sometimes the Constitution and our civil rights laws help money out with that. We examine a couple recent […]
Listen NowNovember 23, 2022
Short Circuit 247 | Off to the Races
Just in time for Thanksgiving we have two extremely juicy opinions (from a judicial engagement standpoint), one about the right to earn a living and […]
Listen NowNovember 18, 2022
Short Circuit 246 | The Unholy Trinity
We’re joined by two friends from the MacArthur Justice Center, Emily Washington and Eric Foley, to tell us all about a blood-boiling case of prosecutorial […]
Listen NowNovember 07, 2022
Short Circuit 245 | A Texas-Sized “And”
Everything’s big in Texas. Including that famous English conjunction “and.” For the first time on Short Circuit we have two IJ attorneys based in the […]
Listen NowNovember 02, 2022
Short Circuit 244 | Election Special 2022
When Americans vote it usually means one other thing. Americans suing. And this year is no different. Diana Simpson of IJ joins us, as she […]
Listen NowOctober 28, 2022
Short Circuit 243 | Live From New York It’s Short Circuit!
We recorded an episode live before an audience in New York City! NYC is home to the United States Court of Appeals for the Second […]
Listen NowOctober 20, 2022
Short Circuit 242 | CON Law at SCOTUS
The Institute for Justice has asked the Supreme Court to take a case challenging Kentucky’s Certificate of Need law (aka a “CON law”—very much a […]
Listen NowOctober 13, 2022
Short Circuit 241 | Pretext for a Traffic Stop
The Supreme Court has said that once the police find a reason to pull you over, they can pull you over—even if that’s not at […]
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