Unpublished Opinions

With guest host Patrick Jaicomo, he and IJ’s Anya Bidwell and Diana Simpson conspire on how best to keep the competition out of their guild. Or, rather, they contemplate how their guild—the legal profession—unfairly keeps the competition out and what recent changes to accreditation policies in Texas and Florida tell us about the value of the bar exam, law school, the American Bar Association, and...

John Wrench is joined by Sam Gedge and Kirby West for a session of hot takes, hard questions, and changed minds. The trio challenge received wisdom about notorious doctrines and cases, debate how much of public interest litigation is about permanent resolution versus holding the line, and provide positions they’ve revised over the course of their careers.  Docket in St. Mary Catholic Pa...

John Wrench is joined by Diana Simpson and Patrick Jaicomo for an episode that crosses between profound and provocative. The trio reacts to the Supreme Court’s late-breaking decision in Olivier v. City of Brandon , weighing in on what it says and doesn’t say about the Heck bar. Then the conversation takes a turn toward Adams County, Ohio, where Afroman (yes, that Afroman) has just won...

John Wrench welcomes Josh Windham and Kirby Thomas West for a gameshow episode that proves Schiller’s insight that one becomes fully human through play. A series of games takes the trio through the highs and lows of legal practice, two truths and a lie about their legal careers, and some of the most famous quotes from Supreme Court opinions. The full Josh argument The Years of Lyndon Johnson...

As the year’s shortest day draws near, John Wrench is joined by Patrick Jaicomo and Anya Bidwell to discuss taking the Founders’ legacies more seriously; what’s likely to change about constitutional law in the next couple of decades; the challenge of repairing complex constitutional problems in a case-by-case judicial process; and how reporters might do more justice to the Justices.  Plain, H...

Your IJ roundtable is back with hot takes and tepid reflection. John Wrench, joined by Sam Gedge and Josh Windham, share tips on how to do law, do life, and do European-on-European colonialism. Subjects include what has shaped the way they think about the law, what they wish they knew earlier in their legal careers, the status of text, history, and tradition, and, naturally, the Dodecanese Islands...

With the new Supreme Court term underway, John Wrench welcomes Anya Bidwell and Anthony Sanders for a SCOTUS-themed romp—including which justice is the ideal dinner guest and the past case you’d most like to argue—followed by an extremely competitive lightning round of wide-ranging SCOTUS trivia.  Empirical SCOTUS on oral arguments Wilkie v. Robbins Youngstown Sheet & Tube v. Sawyer Zbig biogr...

Constitution Day might have been September 17, but Diana, Patrick, and John are still celebrating. From the insight that rights come before—not from—the government, to the evergreen challenge of constraining power, the trio admire favorite features of the U.S. Constitution, propose amendments, and discuss the dangers of viewing rights through a partisan lens.  Extreme Punishment Alien Earth Sputni...

Lots of hot takes on the Supreme Court, the Supreme Court, and even as varied a subject as the Supreme Court. With sub-categories: whether the words “privileges or immunities” in Section 1983 mean anything at all, Harvard Forwards and Conservative Warrens, and class actions. Plus, what we’re reading and why ChatGPT is very sorry for the wrongs it has inflicted upon cite checkers. Medina v. Planned...

A new edition of everyone’s favorite legal grimoire has dropped, and John Wrench convenes Sam Gedge and Diana Simpson to ask the hard questions: Is the Bluebook a sacred scroll, or an eldritch horror that feeds on the souls of each new generation of lawyers? The party ponders the secrets revealed by a Bluebook insider, including the mysterious process behind some controversial changes in the newes...

Done with oral argument at SCOTUS in Martin v. United States , Patrick Jaicomo and Anya Bidwell rejoin the rotation to yell at clouds and, along with this month’s host, give their unpublished opinions about what it’s like to argue before the Supreme Court, the presumption of regularity, universal injunctions, the moment of threat doctrine, appointed amici arguing cases, too-long briefs, and much e...

Spring hath finally shaken off the winter of Arlington’s discontent, and host John Wrench gathers IJ barristers Sam Gedge and Josh Windham for a scene that proves that all the law’s a stage. The trio ponders why powerful constitutional lines often go unspoken while villainous doctrines persist for decades. Next, they debate whether strategically timed law review articles are really amici in academ...

A flurry of ideas about the state of the law, the universe, and, well, everything. Including, at least, the impeachment of judges, how lawyers educate each other through media, corpus linguistics and AI, removals and remands in our Brave New World of Royal Canin USA v. Wullschledger, and a good walk spoiled. Royal Canin USA v. Wullschledger Laurent Sacharoff, The Broken Fourth Amendment Oath The P...

John Wrench of IJ returns as your host for some courthouse conversations with his colleagues Diana Simpson and Josh Windham. They spill out their opinions on what can be weird about state court legal practice, the pros and cons of stare decisis, what you should know about public interest law before you try and practice it, and why maybe you shouldn’t eat as many Oreos. Cuddihy’s The Fourth Amendme...

In our first episode of 2025 we “livecast” a Supreme Court opinion whose release happened to cross into our pre-scheduled recording slot—the ruling in the TikTok case. Our comments’ relevance and timeliness may vary. The crew starts off, though, with a dive into the courts and court technology. Issues such as electronic filing, how the public accesses documents, and how we all access opinions. We...

John Wrench of IJ takes the reins and the show quickly descends into law review comedy hour with footnotes of puns dominating the discourse. If you have to drop a footnote, perhaps you shouldn’t make the pun in the first place? The panel then moves on to hear from Anya Bidell and . . . Justice Scalia? Yes! We play some of Nino’s greatest hits, or at least from the reading of his concurrence in NLR...

Unpublished Opinions 9 | We Should Get a Cape It’s time for our panel to wig out. For some. Others are not exactly excited about judges (or advocates) wearing wigs. Before that, though, your chatty gaggle of IJ attorneys—namely, Patrick Jaicomo (not Jacobin), Josh Windham, and Anthony Sanders—weigh the benefits of social media in promoting public interest law. This includes Josh disclosing th...

It’s our first “breakout” episode where we have our own feed and webpage—plus our own logo. And that means its time to get into the legal weeds. Sam Gedge, John Wrench, and Anthony Sanders of the Institute for Justice muse about citation proprieties, pleading proprieties, causes of action, special masters at SCOTUS, riparian rights in space, dropping judges’ names, and withholding from that last A...

Another episode of that podcast that’s not Short Circuit but features Institute for Justice attorneys talking about the law. Anya Bidwell rejoins the panel while she waits for the opinion in her Supreme Court case, Gonzalez v. Trevino . She says a few things about the Court’s recent ruling in NRA v. Vullo , a different First Amendment retaliation case. Multifactor tests are balanced as well. Then,...

It’s been a while but we’re back with an episode of Unpublished Opinions. Herein IJ attorneys Anya Bidwell, Patrick Jaicomo, and your host talk about . . . Anya’s recent Supreme Court oral argument, how SCOTUS is surprisingly a friendlier place to argue than many other courts, the recent FTC rule about non-competes, why we still have a “Lawyers’ Edition” for SCOTUS cases, how perhaps lawyers can l...

It’s the latest episode of Unpublished Opinions, a Short Circuit podcast (but not actually Short Circuit). This is the podcast where Institute for Justice attorneys talk about the legal world beyond the federal courts of appeals. Diana Simpson and Josh Windham drop in to dialogue and diatribe about quite a few subjects you may—or may not—have your own opinions about. These include legal fictions,...

Quite a bit to talk about today on Unpublished Opinions, the podcast where Institute for Justice attorneys muse on legal things other than the federal courts of appeals. Diana Simpson and Sam Gedge come on to give their takes on a whole list of topics: Supreme Court leaks, AI-writing briefs and plagiarism, sua sponte judges, footnotes, and not italicizing the “v” in a casename. It’s all there. It’...

It’s another edition of the podcast where we talk about things other than the federal courts of appeals. Patrick Jaicomo and Sam Gedge clamber in to pick apart the recent trend of calling Attorney Generals and Solicitor Generals “generals.” It’s a pretty new phenomenon, it turns out. But is it wrong? We sort through the pros and cons. There’s also discussion of judicial robes and ex-officials clin...

It’s the second episode of Unpublished Opinions, a Short Circuit podcast. This time we’re once again joined by Institute for Justice attorney Anya Bidwell, but also welcome along her colleague Josh Windham. We start things rolling and see where their legal minds go. And that begins with cameras in the courtroom, something that divides the panel quite sharply. Would the Supreme Court change if came...

Welcome to Short Circuit’s new podcast! In this free ranging side of the Center for Justice Engagement we welcome two Institute for Justice attorneys, Anya Bidwell and Patrick Jaicomo, to discuss what’s on their legal minds. Although we won’t be doing this every podcast, given its name we can’t help but begin by ranting about unpublished opinions. Why are they “unpublished” again? And perhaps that...