login
who are we?
contact us
qosheapp
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
The Volokh Conspiracy
Mostly law professors | Sometimes contrarian | Often libertarian | Always independent
About The Volokh Conspiracy Editorial Independence Who we are Books Volokh Daily Email Archives Search DMCA RSS
Politics
Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Smart meters, bad metaphors, and the color of state law
John Ross | 5.1.2026 3:30 PM
Please enjoy the latest edition of Short Circuit, a weekly feature written by a bunch of people at the Institute for Justice.
IJ is going to The Show for the 14th time! On Monday, the Supreme Court announced that it was granting review in the case of Sun Valley Orchards, which the Department of Labor started targeting for penalties in 2015. Represented by IJ, Sun Valley fought back, and last year the Third Circuit unanimously held that DOL's in-house courts violated the Constitution. Now the Supreme Court has a chance to extend that ruling nationwide.
New on the Short Circuit podcast: The government's power over home distilling and virtual school vaccinations.
Whistleblower goes to the media with information about misconduct by a large company. The SEC opens an investigation and asks the whistleblower for information, which he provides. The whistleblower then files an application for a monetary award, available to individuals who "voluntarily" provide "original information" to the SEC. SEC: Sorry, the disclosure wasn't made "voluntarily" because we asked you for the information after we saw the news stories. C. Circuit: Which is a fine interpretation of "voluntarily." But the SEC can also waive that requirement and needs to explain why it didn't, because it seems like a good idea here. Mainer with lymphoma sues the power company, arguing it's disability discrimination to charge him a fee to use an old-fashioned meter rather than a smart meter. The smart meter emits radio waves, and radio waves, you see, worsen his cancer. First Circuit: So about causation … Allegation: During an early COVID-era "lockdown," Columbia, S.C. cop sees a teenager strolling down a sidewalk. He takes off after the cop approaches. Cop repeatedly yells for the kid to stop and sees he has a firearm, although it's not pointed at anyone. Cop fires 9 times and it ends with a fatal forehead shot. Fourth Circuit: It's clearly established you can't use deadly force when a fleeing suspect poses no immediate threat. No qualified immunity. What does Steph Curry's career free throw percentage (91.2%) as applied to ten shots (39.8% to hit them all) have to do with a preliminary injunction? It's explained in the dissent to this Fourth Circuit (unpublished) grant of a motion for a stay of removal. The........© Reason.com
visit website