Short Circuit

Who knew that is was so easy to defeat qualified immunity when you sue an elevator inspector? Wesley Hottot of IJ joins us this week to spread the good news of a much more reasonable qualified immunity opinion in the Sixth Circuit than we are used to. But what about all those terrible opinions we’ve talked about in previous episodes? To figure that out maybe you’re going to have to take the stairs...

Short Circuit is delighted to welcome one of the “Founding Fathers” of #AppellateTwitter to our virtual studio, Sean Marotta. Sean tells the story of how it all began at a Washington, D.C. BBQ joint (leading to The Tweet from The Dean, Raffi Melkonian) and then switches to a story of discovery abuse in the Eleventh Circuit. The court tells us that the rules of civil procedure apply to the federal...

We all know about the separation of powers. But this week IJ attorney Jaba Tsitsuashvili introduces us to something else: the concentration of powers. It’s pretty much what it sounds like, and it happens when people have to depend on legislatures to protect constitutional rights. That’s what unfortunately happened recently at the Iowa Supreme Court. Anya Bidwell gives us the details on that story....

IJ attorney Paul Avelar seizes the means of production (and the Short Circuit microphone) and hosts this week’s episode, live from IJ’s annual Law Student Conference. He’s joined by IJ attorneys Arif Panju and Ari Bargil, who come on to demonstrate that they are, in fact, different people. Arif first details a recent IJ appellate victory in the Sixth Circuit, where Judge Sutton once again explaine...

June 4, 2023 marks exactly 100 years since the Supreme Court handed down its opinion in Meyer v. Nebraska , where the Court ruled that it is unconstitutional for states to forbid the teaching of foreign languages. The case was a momentous decision both at the time and for the future. It lead to developments in many different areas of constitutional law, including free speech, religion, educational...

Today we’re digging into the Fourteenth Amendment. No, not the part we usually talk about, Section 1, with its privileges or immunities, equal protection, and all that. Not even Section 4 (debt ceiling?) or Section 3 (rebellion stuff). No, we’re digging into a super interesting case involving Section 2, the part that lowers a state’s Congressional representation if it abridges th...

If a sitting senator threatened you with censorship, would it matter what jacket she’s wearing? Although not an issue we discuss this week, it’s related to both of our cases. First, Justin Pearson tells us of a Ninth Circuit case considering whether a letter from Senator Elizabeth Warren crossed the constitutional line by discussing actions that could be taken against Amazon for selling a certain...

Cars and free speech, what could be a more American combination? This week we’re playing a double-sided session that you can enjoy while honking your horn or writing your Facebook post. That’s because our two cases examine the free-speech implications of both of those activities. First, if you honk in support of a protest, is that protected by the First Amendment? We drive out to sunny California...

IJ attorney Josh Windham seizes the microphone and turns it around on your regular host, Anthony Sanders. Josh interviews Anthony about his new book, which comes out on May 9, 2023, Baby Ninth Amendments: How Americans Embraced Unenumerated Rights and Why It Matters . The book is part history, part legal theory, and part advocacy. It tells the story of how Americans took the words of the Ninth Ame...

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, at least that’s what Shakespeare and John of Gaunt might say). This week we focus on the British Constitution, how it’s (quite) different from the United States Constitution, how it’s constituted, how it works, and how it’s been changing recently. Two scho...

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 church—a church of all places!—which weathers two acts of God (hurricanes) while taking insurance contracts and kicking insurances claims (actually, the insurance company kicked the claims). Ben weaves together the competing views of contract interpret...

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 thought it could just take a bunch of insulin without paying for it. IJ attorney Joe Gay joins us to explain what the Eighth Circuit had to say not just about just compensation but where a property owner goes to get it. Then IJ’s Anna Goodman tells another Ei...

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 is today. Nicole Garnett and Rick Garnett, both professors at Notre Dame Law School, join IJ’s Michael Bindas to discuss the history of school choice, answer common objections to school choice programs, and walk through some of the litigation that has culminated...

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...

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 special Short Circuit we dig into this outrageous, and immensely underreported, issue. Professor Katy Ramsey Mason of the University of Memphis joins us to discuss crime free rental ordinances, laws that allow cities for force landlords to evict tenants after anyone i...

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 move out on the water. First, Keith Neely of IJ joins us for the first time to discuss a Fourth Circuit opinion about a vague law that explicitly makes it illegal to be obnoxious. Then it’s his colleague Trace Mitchell’s turn with a Fifth Circuit tour of...

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 only that, but after hearing her introduce the book itself we do a full Short Circuit looking at a number of recent cases in light of it. Anya Bidwell and Professor Schwartz are joined by professors Seth Stoughton, Carlos Manuel Vazquez, and...

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 us to Texas lawyers Zack Faircloth, Will Langley, and Don Tittle. They dig into recent cases on the Second Amendment, “premature bankruptcy,” vaping regulation, and (of course) qualified immunity. With more than one matter that seems to be on track for the Supreme Court...

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 rare breed at Short Circuit, the Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit. That’s because the court just issued (another) opinion upholding some of the dumbest steel tariffs of recent years (and that’s...

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 explains why in the Fourth Circuit it can be unconstitutional for the police to prevent you from livestreaming an encounter, but you can’t sue them about it. Then Suranjan Sen walks us through a couple challenges to New York...

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 argument on the podcast on how to pronounce that fancy French-sounding phrase. Today we bring back the guests from that episode—Sam Gedge and Bob Belden—to settle the issue, once and for all. Along the way you’ll learn about how we have the Germans to thank for...

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 IJ’s Seth Young and also are very pleased to announce we once again have on Mike Chase, author of How to Become a Federal Criminal . Mike gives an overview of a case pending in the Fourth Circuit that could have major ramifications...

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 the effort wasn’t close enough for government work. Under the Fourth Amendment, at least. IJ’s Rob Frommer joins us to tell the latest Sixth Circuit tale of cops not bothering to get a warrant. Then Suranjan Sen of IJ takes us to the Eighth Circuit where the police di...

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 into the latest from the circuits. Kristen presents a religious victory over the Marines in the D.C. Circuit and gives a bit of background about what that service thinks of the Navy. If you’ve made it through basic training this is the episode for you. The...

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 the challenges they face in bringing justice for all. Anya Bidwell of IJ welcomes her colleague Marie Miller, as well as Mark Silverstein, Legal Director of the ACLU-Colorado, and Sam Thypin-Bermeo a civil rights lawyer in Miami. Each discusses a recently...