Short Circuit

The first two items in the Bill of Rights get top billing. Does a nine-year-old felony conviction for tax fraud justify continuing to deny someone their Second Amendment right to keep and bear arms? That’s something the Third Circuit addressed, with a spirited dissent. Patrick Jaicomo discusses this case about the Second in the Third. Meanwhile, the Fifth Circuit recognizes that new law has come to light regarding the First Amendment, and that changes everything for Dr. Ron Hines, in his quest to bring telemedicine to our animal friends. Without the aid of a fifth, Ari Bargil gives us the history of quite a bit of speech and rational basis action over the last few years in Circuit Number Five.

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Short-Circuit-155-Edited.pdf

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

Class action expert Ted Frank joins to discuss a Ninth Circuit case where the court didn’t think giving class members crummy coupons warranted almost $15 million in attorneys fees. IJ Senior Attorney Jeff Rowes then gets some religion about land use and how the Alabama Constitution protects Buddhists in starting a meditation center.

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

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Short-Circuit-Episode-154-Edited.pdf

Ever seen The Wire? Do you think those cops could have seriously used a team of drones taking photos of Stringer Bell for 12 hours a day? Turns out so does the city of Baltimore itself, whose drone surveillance program was reviewed (yet upheld) by the Fourth Circuit last week. Also, the team discusses what the Washington State Constitution has to do with privileges or immunities in the dairy industry.

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

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/11/Short-Circuit-Episode-153-Edited.pdf

Dan Alban, https://ij.org/staff/dalban/

What is with up with the torrent of election law cases coming out these days? IJ’s Diana Simpson and Anthony Sanders are here to give you the scoop. Actually, quite a few scoops, served up in the circuit courts of appeals the last few weeks, and even a couple Supreme Court cases, and a state supreme court case, thrown in. Cut down on just a smidgen of election confusion while time for that is running short.

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

Diana Simpson, https://ij.org/staff/diana-simpson/

Wise v. Circosta, https://www.ca4.uscourts.gov/Opinions/202104R1.P.pdf

We don’t recommend converting apartments into condos in San Francisco. But if you do, it might be hard to bring a takings claim, as we find out why from a recent denial of en banc review in the Ninth Circuit. Meanwhile, the question at the D.C. Circuit is whether butterflies mix with walls. Specifically, The Wall. Turns out, the National Butterfly Center is an open field, so the Fourth Amendment doesn’t have much of a butterfly effect. But the butterflies do have a due process claim, at least for butterfly procedures. Also, next week stay tuned for our election law extravaganza.

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

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Short-Circuit-Episode-151-Edited.pdf

On October 16, 2020 the Center for Judicial Engagement is hosting a special online event, our forum on judicial engagement and the Pennsylvania Constitution. Register today at the link below to join in the state constitutional fun! (Plus free CLE for PA bar members.) In the meantime, we discuss a few recent Pennsylvania cases as the warm-up act for the forum next week. Recent cases on economic liberty and separation of powers under the Pennsylvania Constitution get co-equal time, and we also hypothecate (but only hypothecate) on whether a governor can veto a legislature’s attempt to appoint Presidential electors.

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shor…uit/id309062019

October 16, 2020 Pennsylvania Constitution State Forum registration, https://ij.org/event/145311-2/

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/short-circuit-150.pdf

For the fourth year in a row, the Institute for Justice has teamed up with the University of North Carolina Federalist Society Chapter to preview cases for the Supreme Court’s upcoming term. IJ’s Justin Pearson and Erica Smith join with UNC Professor Andy Hessick to share their wisdom on what’s interesting, and what may get even more interesting, in the months to come.

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shor…uit/id309062019

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/short-circuit-149.pdf

In a special Short Circuit, Harvard Law Professor Molly Brady joins us to talk about an untold story from the rise of zoning law. A lot of the blame for our affordable housing crisis is often placed on the case Euclid v. Ambler Realty, where the Supreme court declared zoning (which includes prohibiting apartments) constitutional. But zoning was not the first try at limiting multifamily housing in certain neighborhoods. Professor Brady discusses how property covenants and nuisance law were employed to limit the availability of housing, and how when that didn’t work planners turned to the heavy hand of zoning. Along the way we discuss property deeds, spontaneous order, immigration, and the ever-beloved Coase Theorem.

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shor…uit/id309062019

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Episode-148-Transcript.pdf

Will former White House Counsel Don McGahn ever testify to the House Judiciary Committee? That partly depends on how you squint when reading the Declaratory Judgment Act. University of Texas law professor (and Twitter Laureate of federal jurisdiction) Steve Vladeck checks off the justiciability boxes and tells us it didn’t use to be so complicated. Meanwhile, cities continue to hate billboards, and the Supreme Court continues to not speak as clearly as it could, even in cases involving content-based restrictions on speech. Bob McNamara explains why you have to read a sign to see if it’s “on premises.”

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shor…uit/id309062019

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Short-Circuit-147-Transcript.pdf

Rejoining us after a very long break is Rob Johnson, who has some things to say about the Anti-Riot Act and a case finding part of it overbroad and unconstitutional. The case comes out of a prosecution of some racist rioters who attended a Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017. Also, Rob Frommer tells us a tale about a woman who spent a decade in prison for a crime she did not commit, and that there was plenty of evidence she did not commit before she was imprisoned. Despite all this, prosecutorial and qualified immunity do their best to bar her access to justice. Plus, learn a bit about what happened when the Hanoverians took over from the Stuarts.

iTunes: podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/shor…uit/id309062019

Transcript: https://ij.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/09/Short-Circuit-146-transcript-1.pdf