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 set of judges trotted out their own Delorean and ran it at 88 miles an hour while issuing an order denying an en banc motion. We’re calling this “time travel” because unlike a normal denial of en banc the court did so after it already had over three months ago and the losing side (represented by IJ!) had already filed a cert petition with the Supreme Court. IJ’s Bob McNamara comes on to discuss this bending of the space-time continuum, but also the bending of long-established property rights principles. The case concerns a takings claim against the State of Texas where the state is trying to get away with not paying property owners for flooding their land. And if the Fifth Circuit’s ruling stands it’ll get away with it now and into the future. Continuing on the time traveling theme, your host then tells a tale straight out of a Donna Tartt novel (well, a combination of two of them): A six-thousand-year-old idol that’s sold on the New York art market and is of . . . uncertain provenance.
Devillier v. Texas (cert petition)
Devillier v. Texas (2d denial of en banc)
Recent Episodes
Short Circuit 445 | Crazytown
Time for The Big One. So many have so many takes on the Ninth Circuit that, as part of our #12Months12Circuits series, we at IJ […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 444 | Recording the Police with Facebook Immunity
Another circuit recognizes a there’s a First Amendment right to record the police. In this case, a “First Amendment auditor” stood on a public sidewalk […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 443 | Irreparable Speech Harms
In our #12Months12Circuits series a nation turns its lonely eyes to the heartland. The true middle of America. The Eighth Circuit. We’re joined by true […]
Listen NowShort Circuit 442 | Free Speech Died Here, Ask Me How
Tragedy and comedy, from the Fifth Circuit and then from the Tenth. First, Patrick Jaicomo of IJ describes how the police in Laredo, Texas mistakenly […]
Listen Now