Beyond the Brief
Hear about the cases, issues, and tactics advancing IJ’s fight for freedom—directly from the people on the front lines. Beyond the Brief explores the legal theories, strategies, and methods IJ uses to bring about real world change, expanding individual liberty and ending abuses of government power. Each episode gives listeners an in-depth, inside look at how—and why—we do what we do.
Episodes
December 18, 2025 • 38 mins
Brian Moore and Cristal Starling both lost their money to civil forfeiture, despite neither being charged with a crime. Both of them challenged those forfeitures and both of them got their money back. But only one is being made whole. We’re here with IJ senior attorneys Dan Alban and Paul Sherman to discuss two cases under the Civil Asset Forfeiture Reform Act---a law that’s supposed to protect innocent victims of wrongful forfeitu...
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December 2, 2025 • 24 mins
When Khalilah Few wanted to expand her natural hair salon business, she found a long-empty store front in Clayton County, Georgia, and spent her life savings renovating it. But she soon discovered that Clayton County singles out hair salons and barbershops for special restrictions. Because there are three other salons within several miles, the county told Khaliah she couldn’t open.
Today we talk with IJ senior attorneys Renée...
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October 31, 2025 • 32 mins
When you get in your car, you might be tracked by a network of AI-powered surveillance cameras. These cameras upload their information to a central database, where government officials around the country can see a detailed record of your movements.
But we're fighting back against mass surveillance. Today we’re joined by IJ attorney Michael Soyfer and Communications Project Manager Dan King to discuss IJ’s new Plate Privacy Proj...
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October 9, 2025 • 26 mins
When the government, or even a private company, takes your land using eminent domain, the law promises you just compensation. But what about the thousands of dollars you spent on legal fees fighting for your fair share? For a group of North Dakotans facing off against a natural gas company, the answer could be: Tough luck.
Today we're joined by IJ Deputy Litigation Director Bob McNamara, and IJ attorney Matt Liles.
We’ll di...
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September 18, 2025 • 28 mins
Can the government take a $95,000 plane because a passenger used it to transport a six pack of Budweiser? The Alaska Supreme Court says yes but the U.S. Constitution says no.
Today we chat with IJ attorneys Sam Gedge and Kirby West to discuss an outrageous new case from the Last Frontier and how forfeiture interacts with excessive fines, free speech, and more.
https://youtu.be/KL3UlAt2XSk
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August 25, 2025 • 44 mins
In this episode, we bring you the disturbing story of St. Paul police officer Heather Weyker, whose lies led to the wrongful prosecution of dozens of people—and put an innocent teenage refugee in jail for two years. Will she ever be held accountable?
Today we’re joined by IJ senior attorney Patrick Jaicomo, one of the leaders of IJ's Project on Immunity and Accountability.
We’re discussing Patrick’s lawsuit against Officer...
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July 28, 2025 • 33 mins
Dalton Boley thought he found a refuge for him and his children in 10 acres of woods by his Alabama home. That is, until government officials started showing up on the land without a warrant.I'm Kim Norberg of the nonprofit civil liberties law firm the Institute for Justice, joined by co-host Keith Neely, and today we’re discussing the Open Fields Doctrine and what IJ is doing to close this 4th Amendment loophole. We’re joined by I...
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July 3, 2025 • 28 mins
You shouldn’t need a law degree to start a barber shop, but entrepreneurs across the country face steep fees, delays, and confusing requirements before they ever even open. That’s why, in addition to suing cities when they violate people’s rights, IJ works with cities to make it cheaper, faster, and simpler to start a small business.
Today we’re joined by Assistant Director of IJ’s Activism Team Jennifer McDonald, and Senior Po...
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June 20, 2025 • 35 mins
The Constitution requires a warrant before police can search you or your property. But what if that warrant is based on third-hand information? That’s what happened to IJ client Michael Mendenhall, and it happens across America every day.
We recently spoke with IJ attorneys Patrick Jaicomo and Jared McClain to discuss how warrants are often just rubber stamps, and what IJ is doing to fix that.
https://youtu.be/0hTQIAsDHX0
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May 16, 2025 • 26 mins
A new financial surveillance dragnet is sweeping up ordinary cash transactions at small businesses near the US-Mexico border. The federal government has placed onerous new requirements on businesses that help people without bank accounts cash checks or send money to family members. It’s demanding reports on all transactions involving at least $200 in cash, subjecting innocent people to warrantless surveillance and burying small bus...
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May 2, 2025 • 39 mins
You might think constitutional lawsuits work like this: Find an unconstitutional law, challenge it in court, and if the law is truly unconstitutional, the court will strike it down. But in reality, a web of legal doctrines and ingrained attitudes mean judges have enormous leeway to avoid ruling against the government.
On this episode, we talk with IJ attorneys Josh Windham and John Wrench on judicial deference and why courts pr...
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April 17, 2025 • 35 mins
In 2017, FBI agents, with guns drawn and a flashbang grenade, burst into the Atlanta home of Trina Martin, her then seven-year-old son Gabe, and her then partner Toi. Turns out, they had the wrong address. In April, Trina’s yearslong fight for accountability is heading to the U.S. Supreme Court.
Today we chat with IJ client Trina Martin and IJ attorney Patrick Jaicomo about wrong house raids, what it’s like have the Supreme Cou...
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April 4, 2025 • 41 mins
First enacted to ensure southern states respected the rights of newly freed slaves, the 14th Amendment is indispensable to modern civil rights litigation. But what does the amendment say and how does IJ use it to challenge everything from harassment by police to undue burdens on hair braiders?
Today we’ll discuss all that and more with IJ attorneys Bob McNamara and John Wrench.
https://youtu.be/xPPU9ZKWd0Q
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March 13, 2025 • 42 mins
$29,000 for overgrown grass. $16,000 for cracks in the driveway. $100,000 for parking incorrectly on your own property. These are some of the outrageous fines IJ’s clients have faced, often for harmless violations. The prohibition on excessive fines is one of our oldest rights, but governments, from small towns to federal agencies like the IRS, still issue ruinous fines and courts still rubberstamp these fines.
IJ attorneys Sam...
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February 28, 2025 • 20 mins
For centuries, people have helped their neighbors by providing food, shelter, and more to people in need. But all too often, the creativity and generosity of ordinary people conflicts with government regulations. That’s why IJ defends those providing private solutions to public problems. I'm Kim Norberg of the nonprofit civil liberties law firm the Institute for Justice, with IJ senior attorney Jeff Rowes.
https://youtu.be/aJ...
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February 13, 2025 • 38 mins
In Pasco County, Florida, the Sheriff’s Office thought it had a great idea: make lists of who might commit crimes in the future and hound them and their families until they end up in jail or move away. Under Pasco’s so-called intelligence-led policing program, hundreds of people, many of them minors, were deemed “prolific offenders” based on a crude algorithm and subjected to relentless night-time visits, citations for minor code i...
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January 31, 2025 • 46 mins
In 2005, the U.S. Supreme Court issued one of its most reviled decisions in modern history, in Kelo v. City of New London. By a vote of 5-4, the Court said governments could use eminent domain to take private property and give it to private developers who might pay more in taxes. As Justice Sandra Day O’Connor said in her dissent, “The specter of condemnation hangs over all property. Nothing is to prevent the State from replacing a...
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January 16, 2025 • 43 mins
We all want to feel secure in our homes, and if the reckless or abusive acts of government officials violate that security, we expect to be able to hold them accountable. IJ recently launched two cases in Georgia to uphold that principle; one in which a town bulldozed a home without warning or compensation and another where FBI agents violently raided the wrong house.
Today we are joined by IJ attorneys Dylan Moore and Patrick ...
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January 2, 2025 • 37 mins
On Christmas Eve 2022, Jennifer Heath Box got off a cruise ship in Florida, excited to return home to Texas and spend Christmas with her children before her son was deployed. Instead, police arrested her as she got off the ship, and she spent Christmas in jail, where guards pumped death metal music and freezing air into the cells.
All because police were looking for a woman who didn’t look like Jennifer, was half her age, and d...
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December 16, 2024 • 36 mins
Not long ago, if police wanted to know where someone drove, they would have to follow that person for days, taking significant resources. But new technology allows the government to track everyone nearly all the time and to access that information without a warrant. As this technology spreads around the country, people are fighting back for the Fourth Amendment.
Today we have with us IJ attorneys Robert Frommer and Michael Soy...
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