Stories we hope our listeners can relate to this week: borrowing cars and lousy neighbors. First, from the Sixth Circuit, IJ’s Rob Frommer details how a man sitting in the passenger seat of a running car somehow lost his Fourth Amendment standing. And went to prison. And then in the Second Circuit your host explores what can be done when your neighbor is an embassy. It’s an all-too-familiar tale of a building project gone awry but with a twist of sovereign immunity.  

Click here for transcript.

Register for the May 10 open fields conference!

U.S. v. Rogers

Harvey v. Sierra Leone

Neighbors 1980’s opening song

Fawlty Towers—The Builders

Recent Episodes

Short Circuit 453 | 100 Years of Zoning

With a live audience in Cambridge, Massachusetts, we mark (not celebrate) the 100th anniversary of Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty, where the Supreme Court […]

Listen Now

Short Circuit 452 | Election Law Special!

Vote early. But maybe don’t vote often? That’s the bottom line from Short Circuit’s biannual election special. With the 2026 General Election only days away, […]

Listen Now

Short Circuit 451 | Tales from the Tenth

Short Circuit visited the Tenth Circuit Bench and Bar Conference in Colorado Springs. Between gin and tonics at the Broadmoor hotel we heard from a […]

Listen Now