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Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
The Volokh Conspiracy
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Short Circuit: An inexhaustive weekly compendium of rulings from the federal courts of appeal
Fancy timepieces, traitors, and lengthy footnotes.
John Ross | 9.4.2026 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.
New on the Bound by Oath podcast: In 1966, Los Angeles officials tried to put a man in prison for handing out leaflets in protest of a fatal police shooting. Today, we know the case as Younger v. Harris, which kicked off the doctrine of Younger abstention, the bane of many a civil rights plaintiff. On this episode, we examine the origins, the impact, and the relentless expansion of the doctrine.
New on the Short Circuit podcast: You have a First Amendment right to record the police! And a Fourth Amendment right to not show ID! But if you exercise those rights, it's OK if you're arrested.
Infantryman Robert "Bowe" Bergdahl left his post in Afghanistan in June 2009 and was promptly captured by allies of the Taliban. After five years of captivity and torture, he was released in a prisoner swap. At court-martial, he pleaded guilty and was dishonorably discharged. Unknown to him, the judge presiding over his court-martial was seeking a job in the Trump DOJ and had submitted as his writing sample an order holding that then-candidate Trump's comments that Bergdahl was a "traitor" who "deserved the death penalty" did not constitute "unlawful command influence." Bergdahl files suit in federal court to vacate the conviction. D.C. Circuit: But we don't have jurisdiction over that sort of thing. Convinced that the president is the antichrist, man fires multiple rounds from an AK-47 at the White House. No one is hurt; he pleads guilty to injuring a dwelling. Crime of violence? D.C. Circuit: Crime of violence. Because we love you, we do research: This First Circuit opinion is, in fact, the first time a decision in the Federal Reporter has promised to "fill in the deets[.]" Puerto Rican "nonbinary persons" challenge the commonwealth's denial of their request to........© Reason.com
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