Short Circuit

Latest Episodes:

Short Circuit 220 | Timing Is Everything May 19, 2022

Show notes

When is a case over? As you’ll learn, that depends on a lot of weird stuff. IJ attorney Will Aronin walks us through the Ninth Circuit’s recent decision on everybody’s favorite bedtime reading, Rule 68 and offers of judgment. Seriously, it’s an untapped resource of the federal courts with some counterintuitive traps for lawyers who don’t read the rules. Then Jeff Redfern of IJ tells us about the latest chapter in mask lawsuits, this time from the Eighth Circuit. The court says part of the case (all of the case?) is moot, but with the pandemic it’s hard to know with any finality. There’s an invocation of Sisyphus that might not surprise you.

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Short Circuit 219 | Threading the Federal Courts May 11, 2022

Show notes

Short Circuit is proud to present to you Professor Marin Levy of Duke University School of Law. She is a top scholar on the federal judiciary, including its history, how it has evolved, and how it actually works. Plus, she’s educated the world about the federal (and state!) courts through the magic of Twitter threads. We talk to her about what’s so interesting about the federal courts (with some “short” remarks about the “circuit” courts) and how she got started Tweeting them.

After that Kirby Thomas West of IJ tells us about a Second Circuit case where the government didn’t do enough to pass the First Amendment (at least for now) even though the plaintiff wasn’t the most sympathetic. And we go back to Marin to detail a Ninth Circuit case with an even less sympathetic party, but where the court overlooked the importance of some pretty intriguing issues, such as whether there’s a Fourth Amendment violation if the government comes in and copies all of your stuff.

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Short Circuit 218 | Because the Supreme Court Did Some Things It Did May 06, 2022

Show notes

A couple issues near-and-dear to many of your hearts this week: Money and Facebook. First, if you win a case against the government are you a “prevailing party” deserving of an attorneys fees award? North Carolina officials argued you’re not if you do so well that the law you’re challenging actually disappears. Luckily the Fourth Circuit shot that argument down. Alexa Gervasi explains. But meanwhile the Sixth Circuit shot down quite a lot of the First and Fourth Amendments when a police department took great vengeance upon a man with the audacity to . . . create a parody Facebook page. As Ari Bargil tells us, it’s a case demonstrating why everyone hates lawyers.

If you’re in Michigan, sign up now for our May 20, 2022 forum on Judicial Engagement and the Michigan Constitution!

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Short Circuit 217 | Hunting for Free Speech Truffles Apr 29, 2022

Show notes

It’s a First Amendment fiesta at Short Circuit this week! Tori Clark explains how in the Eighth Circuit it’s hard to sue the government to protect your right to free speech when the law is privately enforced. And we’re not talking about Texas here, but people not acting so nice in Minnesota. Further down the trail, things went a little berserk in Oregon, and a pro se legislator won himself another day in court in the Ninth Circuit. Sam Gedge has hunted through the briefs.

If you’re in Michigan come to our State Forum on Judicial Engagement and the Michigan Constitution! Friday, May 20, 2022 at noon. There’s also a free lunch. RSVP here.

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Episode 216 | Sovereign Immunity and NIMBY Neighbors Apr 20, 2022

Show notes

Suing the United States government is really hard. So hard that someone’s family might not get to even if the government is at fault for that person dying in a flood. Adam Shelton explains why that luckily might not be true in this case, but all too often is. Then Diana Simpson walks us through a procedural pretzel of property rights preventing people from putting up homes. She also discusses some old cases you might not know about, but really should.

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Episode 215 | You Say Habeas I Say Mandamus Apr 14, 2022

Show notes

We focus in on two Latin words this week: habeas and mandamus. Both usually mean “you lose.” But things somehow turned out differently in the Fourth Circuit and Fifth Circuit. Hear the story of a man trapped in prison for a small drug sale for almost a decade who fights his way through the state and federal courts and wins himself a new trial. IJ’s Bob Belden tells that tale. And then there’s a story about guns, the Internet, speech, the differences between Texas and New Jersey, and transfer orders. Alexa Gervasi gets us up to speed on that saga. She also previews a new IJ case about a prosecutor working for a judge he practiced before. It’s as bad as it sounds.

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Episode 214 | Short Circuit Live returns to the D.C. Circuit Apr 08, 2022

Show notes

Short Circuit Live returns with an all-star all-D.C. Circuit panel! IJ attorney Anya Bidwell hosts a discussion with three Supreme Court lawyers (and former D.C. Circuit clerks), Lisa Blatt, Kelsi Brown Corkran, and Paul Clement. They reminisce about their days clerking for D.C. Circuit judges and analyze three recent circuit opinions on liability under terrorism laws, executive privilege, and no-fly lists.

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Short Circuit 213 | Antitrust Smiles and Judgment Frowns Mar 31, 2022

Show notes

Some property owners sued an arm of the State of Louisiana for damages and won a $10 million judgment. Wow, that's real money! Except, because the lawsuit was in state court they can't collect on it unless the legislature gives it to them. Which it doesn't want to do. So the money isn't so real after all. They then went to federal court, but the Fifth Circuit gave them some bad news. IJ's Jeff Redfern explains. When we move to the Ninth Circuit, however, it's all smiles. The court said an antitrust case could move forward against members of the California Dental Board. Your host Anthony Sanders gives the latest in turning the antitrust laws on the most anticompetitive of them all, the regulators.

Ariyan, Inc. v. Sewerage & Water Board of New Orleans, https://www.ca5.uscourts.gov/opinions/pub/21/21-30335-CV0.pdf

SmileDirectClub, LLC v. Tippins, https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/17/20-55735.pdf

Bound By Oath podcast, https://shortcircuit.org/center-for-judicial-engagement/sc/14th-at-150-podcast/

Remedying the Loss of a Right, https://ij.org/cje-post/remedying-the-loss-of-a-right/

Jeff Redfern, https://ij.org/staff/jeffrey-redfern/

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

Short Circuit 212 | Lehto’s Law Mar 24, 2022

Show notes

Michigan lawyer and YouTube legal sensation Steve Lehto joins us this week. We talk a bit about his career as a broadcaster, consumer protection lawyer, and host of an internet show with 300,000 subscribers. Then we get into some language he never got to “play on the radio.” All because a few police officers threw a man out of a $3 county fair for wearing a t-shirt with a famous saying of the group NWA. Or at least that’s what the Sixth Circuit said in denying the officers qualified immunity. Also, our old friend Rob Peccola comes back with the latest in the landlord wars in Minneapolis, and how the Eighth Circuit didn’t see no takings.

Register for Short Circuit Live! Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., https://ij.org/event/scl/

Steve’s YouTube page, https://www.youtube.com/c/stevelehto

Wood v. Eubanks, https://www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf/22a0025p-06.pdf

301 LLC v. City of Minneapolis, https://ecf.ca8.uscourts.gov/opndir/22/03/203493P.pdf

Yim v. City of Seattle, https://www.courts.wa.gov/opinions/pdf/968179.pdf (Seattle “first-in-time rule”)

Law Office of Steve Lehto, http://lehtoslaw.com/

Rob Peccola, https://ij.org/staff/rpeccola/

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

Short Circuit 211 | Cohen the Police Mar 17, 2022

Show notes

Like owls? We've got owls. Two of them. But they don't like each other. Ben Field explains how the Ninth Circuit adjudicated with this Parliament of owls, and how a 12 gauge shotgun is involved. In addition, Evan Lisull tells a story of "chalking," the police, and the First Amendment. Both from another Ninth Circuit case, but also from his own brush with the law. Throw in some qualified immunity and admin law, and you've got a very festive St. Patrick's Day episode (minus anything Irish).

Register for Short Circuit Live! Wednesday, April 6, 2022 at the National Press Club in Washington, D.C., https://ij.org/event/scl/

Friends of Animals v. U.S. Fish & Wildlife Service, https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/04/21-35062.pdf

Ballentine v. Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department, https://cdn.ca9.uscourts.gov/datastore/opinions/2022/03/08/20-16805.pdf

Rivas-Villegas v. Cortesluna (case questioning circuits clearly establishing law), https://www.supremecourt.gov/opinions/21pdf/20-1539_09m1.pdf

Ben Field, https://ij.org/staff/ben-field/

Evan Lisull, https://ij.org/staff/evan-lisull/

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