Short Circuit

Is it "on bonk" or "n bank"? IJ lawyers disagree on how to pronounce a full court of appeals considering a case. But whatever your Latin/Old French skills, the en banc Fifth Circuit said some things about the Dallas County jail that even your crack team of experts can't understand. But Sam Gedge does his best to explain what might be going on, and how the court needlessly addressed his favorite topic, Younger abstention. But before that Bob Belden tells a story of a renegade sheriff sticking unauthorized anti-Halloween signs in rehabilitated sex offenders' yards.

RSVP for our live event on the Georgia Constitution on February 4, 2022, https://ij.org/event/center-for-judicial-engagement-forum-on-the-georgia-constitution/

McClendon v. Long, https://media.ca11.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/files/202110092.pdf

Daves v. Dallas County, https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/18/18-11368-CV2.pdf

Rival "How to Pronounce 'En Banc'" Videos: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vQexSbL8iDQ, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fsnW2JDc0G8

Sam Gedge, https://ij.org/staff/sam-gedge/

Bob Belden, https://ij.org/staff/bob-belden/

Anthony Sanders, https://ij.org/staff/asanders/

Ever wondered when the police can pull you over and what they can do once you stop? Then this episode brings news you can use through a couple recent traffic stop cases. Wesley Hottot reports on the Eighth Circuit's blessing of a stop supposedly brought on by some pretty smelly weed (although not everyone is convinced of the story). Then, your host Anthony Sanders tells us of a new development in Oregon where its high court has rejected the "automobile exception" to the requirement to get a warrant before a search. Also, please keep your nominations for the most beautiful federal circuit courtroom rolling in. Our listeners have demonstrated there's some architecturally fierce, yet lovely, competition out there.

United States v. Shumaker, https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/21/12/203467P.pdf

Oregon v. McCarthy, https://cdm17027.contentdm.oclc.org/digital/collection/p17027coll3/id/9463/rec/2

Post on Oregon v. McCarthy, https://ij.org/cje-post/state-con-law-case-of-the-week-oregon-stops/

IJ's Project on the Fourth Amendment, https://ij.org/issues/ijs-project-on-the-4th-amendment/

Wesley Hottot, https://ij.org/staff/whottot/

Anthony Sanders, https://ij.org/staff/asanders/

It's a new year but little is new with qualified immunity in the Fifth Circuit. Or is it? Easha Anand of the MacArthur Justice Center joins us to discuss a recent denial of qualified immunity in a police brutality case. IJ's Anya Bidwell joins in and reports on a couple other developments that demonstrate perhaps there's some "split second" thinking going on among those judges.

Further, we ask our listeners to send in your nominations for the "most beautiful" U.S. Court of Appeals courtrooms. Got a favorite? Let us know! Either send us an email or find us on Twitter.

Also, apply to be an IJ summer fellow! The deadline is January 14, 2022, https://ij.org/opportunities/students/

Timpa v. Dillard, https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/20-10876/20-10876-2021-12-15.pdf?ts=1639614617

Villarreal v. City of Laredo, https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-40359-CV0.pdf

Harmon v. City of Arlington, http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-10830-CV0.pdf

IJ's Gonzalez v. City of Castle Hills, https://new.ij.org/case/castle-hills-retaliation/

Easha Anand, https://www.macarthurjustice.org/team_member/easha-anand/

Anya Bidwell, https://ij.org/staff/anya-bidwell/

Anthony Sanders, https://ij.org/staff/asanders/

It's a new year but little is new with qualified immunity in the Fifth Circuit. Or is it? Easha Anand of the MacArthur Justice Center joins us to discuss a recent denial of qualified immunity in a police brutality case. IJ's Anya Bidwell joins in and reports on a couple other developments that demonstrate perhaps there's some "split second" thinking going on among those judges.

Further, we ask our listeners to send in your nominations for the "most beautiful" U.S. Court of Appeals courtrooms. Got a favorite? Let us know! Either send us an email or find us on Twitter.

Also, apply to be an IJ summer fellow! The deadline is January 14, 2022, https://ij.org/opportunities/students/

Timpa v. Dillard, https://cases.justia.com/federal/appellate-courts/ca5/20-10876/20-10876-2021-12-15.pdf?ts=1639614617

Villarreal v. City of Laredo, https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-40359-CV0.pdf

Harmon v. City of Arlington, http://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/20/20-10830-CV0.pdf

IJ's Gonzalez v. City of Castle Hills, https://new.ij.org/case/castle-hills-retaliation/

Easha Anand, https://www.macarthurjustice.org/team_member/easha-anand/

Anya Bidwell, https://ij.org/staff/anya-bidwell/

Anthony Sanders, https://ij.org/staff/asanders/

It's our 200th episode! We're taking this second century as an excuse to explore where Short Circuit came from and what it's done, both the podcast and the newsletter. We start things off at the very beginning with Short Circuit's editor and the podcast's original host John Ross. Then it's a blast-from-the-past with Clark Neily and Evan Bernick. We close things off with guest host Paul Sherman and Short Circuit Live host Anya Bidwell. You've heard how Spiderman and Batman came to be, but do you know what traumatic event led to Short Circuit? Ok, there's no radiation or mugging, but you will learn how reading way too many qualified immunity opinions can radicalize your worldview. Enjoy!

Also, a quick update to the episode. None of us really remembered where the idea for the podcast actually came from, but further deep (and actual) research has revealed it was our sound engineer and producer Mark. Thank you!

https://ij.org/staff/jross/

In what may be the most obvious of examples of obvious constitutional violations, we discuss the right to not have the police put you in prison. Alexa Gervasi of IJ explains how this was too much even for qualified immunity to defeat, at least in the Third Circuit. And IJ’s Ryan Wilson explains why a case involving a Greek boat accident can go forward in Boston. No, the captain’s name was not Odysseus.

Dave Kennedy Fellowship, https://ij.org/opportunities/students

Where do you go to challenge an illegal tax? Well, if that tax is a tariff your destination is the United States Court of International Trade. Learn all about this corner of the Article III judiciary, and how tariffs for once took a beating before it, from Eric Boehm, a reporter at Reason. Also, we return to a frequent subject on Short Circuit, the Pennsylvania Supreme Court, with IJ's Josh Windham. That court just made it a little easier to challenge restrictions on gun rights, although it really shouldn't have been that hard in the first place.

Solar Energy Industries Assoc. v. U.S., https://www.cit.uscourts.gov/sites/cit/files/21-154.pdf

Fans of the Hart-Fuller debate are gonna love this one. As will normal people who have no idea what that means. Legal philosopher HLA Hart asked whether a rule saying “no vehicles in the park” included bicycles, toy cars and airplanes. But now the D.C. Circuit has been asked, what about trailers? D.C. Circuit guru and IJ attorney Jeff Redfern explains what’s a vehicle and what isn’t according to that court’s recent opinion on fuel efficiency standards. Meanwhile out West, it’s hard to get on the ballot in Big Sky Country. IJ election expert Paul Sherman walks us through how the Ninth Circuit found Montana’s rather bizarre system of ballot access partly constitutional, but partly not. Our apologies, but there’s some math.

Truck Trailer Manufacturers Assoc. v. EPA, https://www.cadc.uscourts.gov/internet/opinions.nsf/233083B9809082A28525878B0053FE5B/$file/16-1430-1922005.pdf

In addition to some other civil rights anniversaries, 2021 marks 50 years since the Supreme Court decided Younger v. Harris. There, the Court made it extremely hard for federal courts to stop an unconstitutional state prosecution. This “Younger abstention” doctrine has been with us ever since. Professor Fred Smith of Emory Law joins us to discuss what Younger’s impact has been and how it has especially made it difficult to fight state court systems that have become de facto debtors’ prisons. Additionally, we hear from Sam Gedge of IJ who gives us some of the background on the case and perspective on litigating civil rights cases with it looming in the background. We close with an investigation on where the heck the term “Our Federalism” (which Younger relies upon without citation) came from. Hint: Its first name is Felix.

Younger v. Harris, https://supreme.justia.com/cases/federal/us/401/37/

iTunes: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/short-circuit/id309062019