Unpublished Opinions

John Wrench is joined by Diana Simpson and Patrick Jaicomo to discuss the truly frightful! Like, what to make of the Supreme Court’s latest refusal to address whether the government needs to pay innocent people when it destroys or damages their property, and what can be distilled from the justices’ insistence on further “percolation” of the issue? Speaking of which, the Court will weigh in on a challenge to the federal ban on distilling spirits at home; might it rein in horrifyingly broad interpretations of the Necessary and Proper Clause? Finally, they speculate about law’s experiences with the spectral, including witness testimony about ghostly encounters and the practical challenges of selling a haunted house.

Diana’s Chicago impound case

IJ’s SWAT takings cases

McNutt at SCOTUS

John Wrench is joined by Kirby West and Josh Windham to discuss some of the major threats to liberty, including warrantless mass surveillance, the facial/as-applied distinction, and grade inflation. They begin with IJ’s recent victory—the Pennsylvania Supreme Court’s unanimous rejection of the so-called “open fields doctrine”—while puzzling over the difference between facial and as-applied relief. Mass surveillance remains a theme as they comment on growing opposition to automated licensed plate readers (ALPRs), which has stimulated everything from litigation to proposed legislation to a recent instance of “self-help.” Finally, prompted by a recent change at Yale Law School, they consider The Curve, inflated grades, and what that all means for legal education. 

Pennsylvania Open Fields case

Pennsylvania Fish Cops case

Chatrie v. U.S.

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 other related institutions. Then the crew turn to the value of liberalism in these heady days.

Story on Texas dropping the ABA

Story on Florida dropping the ABA

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 Parish v. Roy

Employment Division v. Smith

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 a defamation case brought by the sheriff’s deputies who raided his house, instilling the trio with a deep sense of civic pride. Finally, the group swings over to Judge VanDyke’s dissental in Olympic Spa v. Armstrong, the one everyone is talking about—and not because of the legal issues. 

Oliver v. City of Brandon

Lemon Pound Cake

Olympic Spa v. Armstrong (en banc denial)

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

The Eras Tour

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, Honest Men

The Santa Clause

Regime Change

Ghost on the Throne

Maigret

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.

Anti-Slavery Political Writings (ed. C. Bradley Thompson)

Death by Lightning

The Heroes

Originalism and the Illusions of Objectivity

Born Equal: Remaking America’s Constitution 1840-1920

My Thoughts Be Bloody

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 biography

The Room Where It Happened

The Meaning of Everything

The Victorian Bar

Life, Law & Liberty

Between Two Fires

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

Sputnik

Judicial Time

Discworld