Closing the Courthouse Doors | Season 2, Ep. 9

More from Bound By Oath by IJ

1. 

   S2 · E11 · 16 Mar 2022 · 1 hr 32 min

   State Remedies | Season 2, Ep. 11

   With the doors to federal court closing on civil rights claims, this final episode of Season 2 heads to new terrain: state court. Click here for transcript. Click here for Episode 1.

2. 

   S2 · E10 · 10 Nov 2021 · 46 min

   Prosecutors, Perjurers, and Other Non-Persons — Part 2 | Season 2, Ep. 10

   In 1983, in the case of Briscoe v. LaHue, the Supreme Court ruled that government employees who commit perjury at trial are absolutely immune from civil liability. On Part 2 of Episode 10, we dig into the Court’s reasoning and the backstory behind Briscoe. We also discuss a special category of officials whom the Supreme…

3. 

   S2 · E10 · 5 Nov 2021 · 59 min

   Prosecutors, Perjurers, and Other Non-Persons — Part 1 | Season 2, Ep. 10

   In 2005, Charles Rehberg annoyed some politically powerful people in his community of Albany, Georgia, and found himself facing serious criminal charges—charges that were completely made up by a rogue prosecutor and could only be sustained because an investigator committed perjury. In Episode 10, we explore the case of Rehberg v. Paulk, which reached the…

4. 

   S2 · E8 · 13 Aug 2021 · 1 hr 2 min

   Persons Who Are Not “Persons” | Season 2, Ep. 8

   Section 1983 says that “every person” acting under color of state law shall be liable for violating the Constitution. But in 1951, the Supreme Court began to rule that some officials weren’t “persons” within the meaning of Section 1983 and that those officials thus enjoy absolute immunity—no matter how malicious, corrupt, or unconstitutional their conduct may be. On Episode 8, we examine absolute immunity for legislators and judges. Click here for transcript. Click here for Episode 1. Available on Apple Podcasts , Spotify , Google Podcasts , TuneIn , and Stitcher .

5. 

   S2 · E7 · 21 Jun 2021 · 1 hr 2 min

   The Shooting of Bobby Moore — Part 2 | Season 2, Ep. 7

   In 1978, the Supreme Court held that individuals can sue local governments for constitutional violations in federal court. Indeed, the Court held that Congress had always intended for such suits to be available — ever since it passed the Ku Klux Klan Act of 1871. However, the standard that the Court says plaintiffs must meet to get their municipal liability claims before a jury is exceedingly high, and getting higher. On Part 2 of our episode on municipal liability under Section 1983, we find out if Sylvia Perkins mustered enough evidence of dysfunction at the Little Rock Police Department…

6. 

   S2 · E7 · 18 Jun 2021 · 45 min

   The Shooting of Bobby Moore — Part 1 | Season 2, Ep. 7

   In 2012, Little Rock police officer Josh Hastings shot and killed 15-year-old Bobby Moore and lied about how it happened. Hastings had a long history of untruthfulness and so did many of the officers who trained him and supervised him. And the Little Rock Police Department had a history of turning a blind eye to excessive force by its officers. So when Bobby’s mother sued over his death, she didn’t just sue Josh Hastings. She also sued the City of Little Rock. But could she? On this episode, the first half of a two-part exploration into municipal liability under Section 1983. Click here for…

7. 

   S4 · E4 · 4 Sep 2026 · 1 hr 11 min

   Younger abstention | Season 4, Ep. 4

   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. Younger v. Harris Click here for transcript.

8. 

   S4 · E3 · 29 Jun 2026 · 47 min

   Oath or Affirmation. (And Treason.) | Season 4, Ep. 3

   On this episode, we recover a lost part of the Fourth Amendment that the Supreme Court essentially erased in 1960. In the case of Jones v. United States , the Court ignored text, history, and tradition, and disfigured the Warrant Clause, allowing law enforcement to knock down doors based on mere hearsay and with scant consequences for lying or mistakes. Jones was wrong the day it was decided, and the Court should overturn it. Click here for transcript. Jones v. United States (1960) Mendenhall v. Denver

9. 

   S4 · E2 · 29 May 2026

   Needless Friction. And Treason.

   On this episode: the story of Pullman abstention, the first of several abstention doctrines the Supreme Court invented to let federal judges decline to decide cases that they have jurisdiction to decide. Click here for transcript. Railroad Commission of Texas v. Pullman Co.

10. 

    15 Apr 2026 · 1 hr 20 min

    Rooker and Feldman and Treason | Season 4, Ep. 1

    Next week, the Supreme Court is going to hear a huge civil rights case that no one is talking about—because the legal issue before the Court is the Rooker-Feldman doctrine, an obscure and slightly treasonous doctrine that lets federal judges throw worthy cases out of court without reaching the merits. On this episode, we examine the doctrine’s impact as well as its origins, including the life and times of the litigants for whom it is named, William Rooker and Marc Feldman. Rooker was a big shot Indiana lawyer who represented lynching victims and Klansmen. And Marc Feldman was a professor of…

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