We all know that guests, like fish, begin to smell after three days, But what about short-term rental ordinances? We look at a pair of regulations from New Orleans and Jersey City. One the Constitution bids farewell to, but the other still stinks. Ari Bargil explains how the Fifth Circuit found the New Orleans scheme lacking under the dormant Commerce Clause. However, Erica Smith Ewing—after explaining how Jersey mayors shake down various industry groups—tells us how the Jersey City ordinance survived a trio of challenges, but at least sparked an interesting concurrence about the future of regulatory takings law. Come for the guests, stay for the fish. And you’ll learn a smidgen about Elizabethan author John Lyly as well.

Click here for transcript.

Hignell-Stark v. City of New Orleans

Nekrilov v. City of Jersey City

John Lyly, Euphues and His England

Gideon Kanner, Making Laws & Sausages

Register for Short Circuit Live in NYC!

Do you know your Indian Law from your Tribal Law? If not, Minnesota appellate attorney Scott Flaherty joins us to discuss a recent Seventh Circuit case where a Wisconsin band of the Ojibwe vindicated their treaty rights. Indian law is notoriously complicated with a lot of unsettling history, but Scott helpfully walks us through this latest chapter. Also, pursuing his white whale of Younger abstention, Sam Gedge of IJ details a refreshing rejection of that doctrine in the Fourth Circuit. Could this harpoon hit the spot? Captain Ahab himself also makes an appearance.

Click here for transcript.

Lac Courte Oreilles Band of Lake Superior Chippewa Indians v. Evers

Jonathan R. v. Justice

Younger v. Harris

Episode on Younger v. Harris with Fred Smith

Register for Short Circuit Live in New York!

Scott Flaherty

Sam Gedge

Anthony Sanders

Property rights leads the way this week, with a little bit of intervention thrown in. Paul Avelar of IJ joins us to present a Sixth Circuit case where the owners committed the crime of landscaping their lawn without permission. He also discusses some recent goings on in the city of Nashville, Tennessee to do with home based businesses and code enforcement, including a recent ruling of the Tennessee Supreme Court. In addition, your host Anthony Sanders tells a tale of wine and intervention, also in the Sixth Circuit. Don’t worry, there wasn’t “an intervention” related to wine, but the intervenors who aren’t happy about wineries were able to intervene.

Click here for transcript.

See Short Circuit Live in New York on October 26!

Stevens v. City of Columbus

Wineries v. Township of Peninsula

Shaw v. Nashville

Code Snitching in Nashville (Radley Balko story)

We welcome Nolan Gray on this week, author of the new book Arbitrary Lines: How Zoning Broke the American City and How to Fix It. Nolan is a city planner, scholar, and writer on all things urban. And he has it out for “zoning,” that method city planners love so much where they separate land uses from each other and end up controlling the finest details of what people get up to on their own property. He joins us for a detailed journey through zoning’s history, how humans got along for so long without it, why it creates so many more problems than it solves, and why it’s become so much worse. Further, he explains why often what we think of as “zoning” is actually something else and that there are many land-use tools cities have that would work fine without it.

Click here for episode transcript.

Arbitrary Lines

Village of Euclid v. Ambler Realty Co.

Nolan Gray

California YIMBY

Anthony Sanders

A couple cases this week where federal courts, at least in part, paid attention to the right things. Joined by the leaders of IJ’s Project on Immunity and Accountability, Anya Bidwell and Patrick Jaicomo, we dig into a couple recent denials of qualified immunity. Patrick discusses a case from the Fifth Circuit where a sheriff’s deputy committed some extremely heinous acts while on a “welfare check.” There’s Fourth Amendment and due process claims, and they’re addressed in a rather unusual way. Then Anya flies us out to Honolulu for a building inspector who was very hard to please. It’s a racial discrimination appeal under a civil rights law that goes back to before the Fourteenth Amendment. But first Patrick tells us of his musical exploits on a home synthesizer.

Click here for transcript.

Tyson v. County of Sabine

Toshikawa v. Seguirant

Register for Short Circuit Live in NYC on October 26!

Cert petition in Minnesota CSI (IJ case)

Anya & Patrick’s article on Recalibrating Qualified Immunity

Anya Bidwell

Patrick Jaicomo

Anthony Sanders

Georgia criminal defense attorney Andrew Fleischman joins us to talk about a unicorn. Yes, the Eleventh Circuit recently found a state prosecutor was not absolutely immune from a civil rights lawsuit, where a witness was arrested for not testifying . . . after he actually showed up to testify. This kind of case is extremely rare, and Andrew discusses how rare, and what its effect might be in a place like the Fulton County prosecutor’s office. Then it’s off to the Fifth Circuit where Alexa Gervasi of IJ discusses an absolutely tragic case where a prisoner dies and the guards are notgranted qualified immunity. Not quite a unicorn, but also a rare beast.

Also, speaking of Fulton County, STICK AROUND TO THE END. Andrew educates us on why if the Fulton County District Attorney prosecutes former President Trump the case could be removed to federal court. And, he gives a prediction about whether that will happen.

Click here for transcript.

Kassa v. Fulton County

Moore v. LaSalle Management Co.

Bound By Oath episode on prosecutorial immunity (with Lara Bazelon)

Removal statute for federal officials prosecuted in state court

The First Amendment protects your right to record the police. Yes, we already knew that, said the Tenth Circuit. Um, you did? Dan Alban presents a case where an officer blatantly tried to stop a vblogger from recording him by threatening to run him over, and where the court did a few interesting gymnastics in order to say what always should have been obvious. Quality immunity hijinks ensue, but with a happy ending. Then Jeff Rowes takes us to prison in the Fifth Circuit. Was a lawsuit there moot? Not this time, but concurring judge Jim Ho explains that courts say the M-word all too often.

Click here for transcript.

Irizarry v. Yehia

Tucker v. Gaddis

Alexa Gervasi & Anya Bidwell oped

Sledge Hammer! intro

A town made it illegal to hold a sign. Anywhere. Really, just holding a sign is illegal. Sound like a First Amendment violation? That’s what we thought. And that’s what David Markese of the American Liberties Institute thought too. David joins us to discuss a recent Eleventh Circuit ruling in favor of his client after they took the town of Fort Myers Beach to court. Then it’s off to Texas to settle the great question, how the heck do you pronounce amicus curiae? After settling that once and for all IJ’s Dan Rankin explains that Tyson Foods can’t move a COVID-19 case to federal court just because it might have feared it was under arrest.

Click here for transcript.

Glenn v. Tyson Foods, Inc.

LaCroix v. Town of Fort Myers Beach

Background on Universal/Nationwide Injunctions

David Markese

Dan Rankin

Anthony Sanders

Ever worked in a salt mine? It seems some non-union employees hadn’t either when their boss joked that they might be sent to one. That wasn’t funny to someone completely unconnected to the employer, who filed an unfair labor practice. Jared McClain joins us to discuss this funny case from the Third Circuit. And get a refresher on the open fields doctrine–and how it doesn’t apply to seizures–from John Wrench as he tells us about a few not-very-well-looked-after cows.

Click here for transcript.

Recorded live at UCLA, we’re introducing a new study from the Institute for Justice: Constitutional G.P.A., is your Government Preventing Accountability? The study grades each state on how its citizens are able–or all too often, are not able–to hold government officials accountable when their rights are violated. It’s also a research tool you can use yourself. Hosted by IJ attorney Anya Bidwell we hear about three recent cases through the prism of the study. They are presented by UCLA law professor (and Chief Conspirator at the Volokh Conspiracy) Eugene Volokh, President of the National Police Accountability Project Julia Yoo, and California civil rights attorney Nicholas Yoka.

Feel free to follow along with us by checking out the interactive study here.

Click here for transcript.