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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
Armed canvassers, extrajudicial killings, and guns on the metro.
John Ross | 7.10.2026 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 Beyond the Brief podcast: In the 1970s, the Supreme Court upheld requirements that banks report their clients' cash transactions of $70k (adjusting for inflation) or more. Fast forward to today, and the feds are demanding disclosure of transactions of just $200. Yowza! Are there any constitutional limits on financial surveillance?
New on the Short Circuit podcast: Two Sixth Circuit First Amendment cases that go together "like cocaine and waffles." With a special appearance by Captain Justice, Guardian of the Realm and Leader of the Resistance. [link forthcoming]
D.C. Circuit: "Heavy is the crime when a government official trades on his office for personal gain." And separately, this "expediter" who facilitated bribes from nightclub owners to a D.C. tax official, and whose sentencing-guideline recommendation more than doubled after he declined a plea deal, didn't pay a "trial penalty." (He'll serve a below-guidelines nine years and change.) After a brief tour through some of the D.C. Circuit's standing case law, gun owners challenging D.C.'s ban on carrying on Metro get standing by virtue of alleging they paid more money by taking alternative forms of transportation. (Your summarist is puzzled why circuit precedent seems to require pleading such ancillary costs when the plaintiffs are the people being directly regulated by a law they say is unconstitutional.) Now-former CEO accused of sexual misconduct sues accuser, who testified to Congress about her experiences and who had won an arbitration against him. Unfortunately for him, not only does the D.C. Circuit reject his defamation and related claims based on the common-law privilege for legislative testimony, all the statements at issue are now also in F.4th. At murder trial, the judge frames the jury's choice as letting a dying loved one die (acquit) or greenlighting their last-chance surgery (convict). Third Circuit (unpublished): That's unconstitutional, but what with the defendant's statement to police ("They shot at me first so I did what I had to do") and the two shots in the victim's back, a proper instruction wouldn't have changed the verdict. Denial of habeas affirmed. Pretrial detainee at the Aiken County, S.C. jail develops a "grapefruit sized" lump on her head and files a series of grievances ("HUGE ABSCESS," "KEEPS GETTING BIGGER," "PLEASE HELP ME") that result in not much action. Eventually, she's hospitalized with a bone infection and severe sepsis, and part of her skull is removed. Fourth Circuit: No QI. Responding to anonymous tip about drug dealing, North Carolina officers bring their patrol vehicles to an abrupt stop in front of........© Reason.com
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