Short Circuit

A most unusual Fourth Amendment case this week: One cop claims there was a seizure while another says there was not. They disagree because one cop is suing the other . Guess which cop wins? It’s the one with the dog—named Thor—that got a little too eager in a cemetery while in hot pursuit. But apparently didn’t “seize” the other by mistakenly tearing into his leg. Dylan Moore of IJ brings us this...

Emphasizing the justice in our name, IJ recently launched a new project to fight back against zoning laws, Zoning Justice. We’ve been challenging overreaching zoning for years, but there’s now a new emphasis on how it inhibits people from providing housing and pursuing the American Dream. Joining us to talk about this new venture are the project’s leader Ari Bargil and IJ attorney Joe Gay. Joe tel...

It’s time for Short Circuit to head for the hills. Two cases from the mountainous Tenth Circuit, one on the Fourth Amendment and another on the Bivens doctrine. First, Bob Belden of IJ saddles up for a 911 call that may have led to the wrongful arrest of a Super Bowl reveler. What is enough evidence from an anonymous tip to stop a supposedly shady suspect? Not as much as was in a parking lot full...

We join forces with the law firm of Hogan Lovells to bring you some “legal mumbo jumbo”—an episode recorded at their offices in Washington, D.C. before a gaggle of law students. Joining your guest host, IJ’s Ben Field, are IJ attorney Kirby Thomas West plus two of Hogan’s finest, appellate attorneys Sean Marotta and Danielle Desaulniers Stempel. Danielle begins things with a Fifth Circuit opinion...

This episode is a First Amendment 2-4-1. We begin with James Dickey of the Upper Midwest Law Center (and former golf pro). James tells us about a recent case he argued at the Eighth Circuit concerning the “government speech” doctrine. If a public school lets some people—but not others with a different viewpoint—come in and hang posters is that just fine because it’s the “government” speaking? In k...

The Fourth of July holds a central place in American history. The day patriots threw off the shackles of King George. Which is why it’s a little ironic that this year it’s the day the British are holding a general election to democratically chose their government. To cash in on this coincidence, this episode highlights some recent cases that reflect the heritage of 1776 and also Anglo-American rel...

Everybody knows that the government can’t take property from you just because it doesn’t like you. But what if the government says it actually wants to turn the property into a park even though everybody knows it’s because it doesn’t like you? Recently the Second Circuit said that was A-OK. We had on IJ’s Jeff Redfern, an attorney in the case, to talk about this example of eminent domain abuse and...

Is “perceived speech” protected by the First Amendment? That straightforward question goes in a very complicated direction when a truck driver is fired from his government job. Christie Hebert of IJ joins us to explain this highly confusing tale from the Tenth Circuit. Then it’s pass-the-popcorn time with some Fifth Circuit drama, served up by IJ’s Rob Johnson. We heard in a recent episode about t...

It’s a Short Circuit Live, recorded at the Institute for Justice’s annual law student conference! Patrick Jaicomo is your host, and he brings along IJ’s Michael Bindas and Katrin Marquez to dig into two very different but thought-provoking decisions for the young legal minds in the “studio” audience (and yours too, of course, dear listener). First, Michael reports on a decision from the Eleventh C...

If you’re a fan of our furry friends (actual animals, that is) then this is the episode for you. First, we start with what’s important: What horses to pick in this weeks’ Belmont Stakes, the last leg of the Triple Crown, which will run (or ran, if you listen to this episode later on) in two days. IJ’s Brian Morris lends his horse sense to this question. Then he goes back to his Kentucky roots for...

First of all: PARENTAL ADVISORY! If you have children nearby you might want to save part of this episode for later. It doesn’t happen until just after 32 minutes into the episode, but the naughty language the Seventh Circuit quotes in one of this week’s cases forces IJ’s Sam Gedge to choose between dishonest modesty and, as he puts it, revealing the un-expurgated truth. Like a gentlemen, he goes f...

How does history inform our interpretation of the Constitution? In all kinds of ways, it seems, and perhaps in too many of them. We once again look at how history and the Second Amendment are mixing together, in a case from the Eighth Circuit. The opinion lets us do a bit of digging into a less-well-known founding father, Benjamin Rush, and his enthusiastic embrace of putting people behind bars. B...

We take a break from the federal courts of appeals and look into a brave new world—or is it an Orwellian one? Our thoughts—our inner mental processes—are the one aspect of our lives that is completely private. Right? Well, emerging technology is making that not so true anymore. IJ’s Anya Bidwell welcomes Professor Nita Farahany of Duke University to Short Circuit to discuss her recent book The Bat...

We’re gonna read you the Riot Act. Again. An old friend of Short Circuit returns, the Anti-Riot Act. Perhaps (?) named in homage to its 18th century predecessor, the Congressional statute received a facial test at the Seventh Circuit, and IJ’s Kirby Thomas West tells us how it fared in the face of a guy who requested that everyone bring their family and a brick to a “riot.” He did not do so well i...

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 o...

We can neither confirm nor deny the existence of this podcast. But if we could we’d tell you all about the CIA’s involvement in a prison at Guantanamo Bay. At least that’s what some Freedom of Information Act litigation is trying to figure out in a case at the D.C. Circuit. Michel Paradis, a national security lawyer and expert on much else, joins us to share his impressions of a recent oral argume...

We revisit an issue that’s really coming into focus: cameras on poles and how they stand up to the Fourth Amendment. Mike Greenberg of IJ comes by to tell the story of a veteran who received disability benefits when, it seems, he wasn’t exactly disabled. Things get interesting when the feds put a camera on a pole (on a school) and point it at his house 24/7 for months. Is that a search? The Tenth...

Two wild stories this week, one biblical and one of a more secular nature—but still wild. Jeff Redfern of IJ tells of a Texan judicial shootout in a fight between credit card companies and the Consumer Finance Protection Bureau. The companies got tired of waiting for the trial court to rule on an emergency motion so they appealed it—but around the same time the trial court transferred the case to...

An all Seventh Circuit, all Chicago episode. IJ attorney Andrew Ward drops in to tell a tale of online support for terrorists. Or at least FBI agents posing as terrorists. This recent case does not weigh in on, but raises the issue, of whether computer code is speech. Then we turn to the nitty gritty of unions, small employers, pension plans, and legalized cartels. Things are a bit topsy turvy in...

The Short Circuit roadshow comes to UVA in Charlottesville, Virginia, where we finally focus on the Fourth Circuit. Fresh off her Supreme Court argument last week in Gonzales v. Trevino , Anya Bidwell turns back to the federal courts of appeals with some local guests. They are Professors Rachel Bayefsky and Lawrence Solum of UVA and Greg Cui of MacArthur Justice (and UVA). They discuss recent Four...

Is qualified immunity a narrow doctrine focused on protecting the police when they make “split second decisions”? If you listen to its defenders you would get that impression. The reality is far, far different. And IJ now has the stats to back that up. In this special episode, we welcome on IJ’s Bob McNamara and data scientist Jason Tiezzi to discuss a new report Unaccountable: How Qualified Immun...

A bit of a free speech derby this week, one opinion about free speech itself and another about how to just get to the First Amendment in the first place. We start in Florida with something that’s becoming a theme on the show: The Eleventh Circuit ruling that a law championed by the state’s governor and passed by the state legislature violates the First Amendment. The opinion concerns part of the “...

Everyone says we need more housing, right? Not all local governments agree. Maybe they’re fine with more housing over there but not where developers actually want to build it. Justin Pearson of IJ joins us to tell a story of local shenanigans in his home town in New York state where a long saga to build some homes ended in a glorious flame-out of judicial abdication. There’s regulatory takings, zo...

A special episode on artificial intelligence and the law, including how we find the law. Ed Walters, a pioneer in bringing AI to legal research, joins us to separate the artificial wheat from the chaff. He explains that a lot of the recent news about the failures of AI models have been due to using the wrong models for the wrong things, not the models themselves. He walks us through a near future...

An electric episode where we just might short the circuits. That’s because we dive into some capital “D” Drama at the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission. Amid fighting and commissioner turnover related to renewable energy prices and an election, FERC makes a consequential decision without first going to the full board. And later the Sixth Circuit catches that hand in the judicial cookie jar. Dan...