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PODCAST

Bound By Oath by IJ

Institute for Justice

Bound by Oath is a podcast series from the Center for Judicial Engagement at the Institute for Justice. It’s where the Constitution’s past catches up with the present. Article VI of the U.S. Constitution requires every judge to be “bound by Oath” to uphold “this Constitution.” But to understand if judges are following that oath, it’s important to ask, “What is in ‘this Constitution’?” Your host John Ross takes a deep dive into the Constitution’s text, history, and characters, and interviews

government

All Episodes

1:12:45

Neat Takings Tricks | Season 3, Ep. 13

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2025/06/16

The Fifth Amendment says that the government must pay just compensation when it takes private property for public use, a command that, regrettably, is often treated as a mere suggestion. On this episode, we take a look at a variety of gambits and flim-flammeries that let the government take property without paying for it.Click here for episode transcript. Agins v. Tiburon First English v. County of Los Angeles

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46:10

Trust But Verify | Season 3, Ep. 12

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2025/04/24

In 1973, federal narcotics agents raided a pair of homes in Collinsville, Illinois by mistake. They didn't find any drugs, but they did terrorize two innocent families. The incident sparked nationwide outrage, and in response Congress passed legislation crafting a legal remedy for victims of federal law enforcement abuses. Over the years, however, lower courts have chipped away at the law to the point where it has essentially been repealed: Last year, a federal appeals court rejected claims from an

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1:04:19

Everything You Eat, Drink, and Wear | Season 3, Ep. 11

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2025/01/30

Government officials must obtain a warrant before forcibly entering a home (absent consent or an emergency). That rule goes back to the Founding. But in a series of cases, culminating in Camara v. San Francisco in 1967, the Supreme Court announced an ahistorical exception, holding that the Fourth Amendment is less protective when it is a health inspector, rather than a police officer, knocking at the door.On this episode, we hear from Marshall Krause, who argued Camara on behalf of the ACLU of

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1:07:32

Special Weapons and Tactics | Season 3, Ep. 10

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2025/01/01

In 2020, a police SWAT team blew up Vicki Baker's house after a fugitive barricaded himself inside. On this episode, we ask: who pays the tab when the government damages or destroys private property for the public good — the unlucky owner or the public as a whole?Click here for episode transcript. Pumpelly v. Green Bay & Mississippi Canal Company Armstrong v. United States

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1:14:08

Punishment Without Crime | Season 3, Ep. 9

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/08/30

Civil forfeiture is a civil rights nightmare, allowing police and prosecutors to seize billions of dollars’ worth of property annually—cash, cars, houses, bank accounts, and more—without charging anyone with a crime, let alone obtaining a conviction. On this episode, we trace the rise of the modern forfeiture regime in the 1970s and 80s, and we look at forfeiture's historic roots.Click here for episode transcript. Miller v. United States The Palmyra Bennis v. Michigan

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1:05:19

Public Purpose | Season 3, Ep. 8

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/06/21

In 2005, in the case of Kelo v. New London, the Supreme Court allowed officials to seize and raze an entire neighborhood of well-maintained homes and businesses in the hopes that someone else could build fancier homes and businesses. According to the dissenters, the majority's opinion effectively deleted the provision of the U.S. Constitution requiring that takings be for a "public use." On this episode, we ask: what, if anything, is left of the prohibition on using eminent domain to take property

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The Despotic Power | Season 3, Ep. 7

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/06/07

On this episode: Berman v. Parker, the Supreme Court's decision in 1954 to abandon previous constitutional limits on the government's power to take property from Person A to give it to Person B. The decision greenlit the era of urban renewal, which saw over a thousand cities across the country seize and bulldoze entire neighborhoods en masse.Click here for episode transcript. Berman v. Parker Schneider v. D.C.

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44:33

This is Mine | Season 3, Ep. 6

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/04/26

On this episode, we take a break from case law and go way back to the beginning to examine the origins and justifications of private property. Click here for episode transcript. Tyler v. Hennepin County

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1:01:58

The Blessings of Quiet Seclusion | Season 3, Ep. 5

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/04/05

On this episode we return to the subject of zoning. With the doors to federal courthouses barred shut, advocates for reforming zoning have turned to state courts and state constitutions. Most famously, in 1975, the New Jersey Supreme Court took a look at a zoning ordinance that made it illegal to build low- and moderate-income housing in the township of Mount Laurel and said in no uncertain terms: enough. But the story of the Mount Laurel doctrine, which calls for municipalities to do their fair

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53:10

A Pig in a Parlor | Season 3, Ep. 4

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/02/16

In 1926, in the case of Euclid v. Ambler, the Supreme Court upheld zoning, giving elected officials and city planners vast, new, and largely unchecked power to tell people what they can and cannot do with their own private property. On this episode: the story of the lawsuit that changed everything for American property rights plus the personalities who made it happen.Click here for episode transcript. Euclid v. Ambler (Supreme Court opinion) Ambler v. Euclid (district court

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36:44

A Lost World | Season 3, Ep. 3

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2024/01/19

On Episode 3, we journey back to a lost world: the world before zoning. And we take a look at a trio of historic property rights cases. In In re Lee Sing, San Francisco officials tried to wipe Chinatown off the map. In Buchanan v. Warley, Louisville, Ky. officials mapped out where in the city residents were allowed to live based on their race. And in Hadacheck v. Sebastian, a Los Angeles city councilman sought to use the police power to protect his real estate investments. Click here for

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1:12:06

Groping in a Fog | Season 3, Ep. 2

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2023/12/21

In 1922, Scranton, Pennsylvania was said to be on the verge of collapsing into the vast coal mines beneath the city; residents, buildings, and streets alike were being swallowed up by “suddenly yawning chasms.” State legislators responded by unanimously passing a law meant to save the region, where about a million people lived, from total desolation. But when the law reached the Supreme Court, the justices struck it down, ruling that it would be an unconstitutional “regulatory taking” to force coal

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1:06:18

Mr. Thornton’s Woods | Season 3, Ep. 1

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2023/12/08

In 1984, the Supreme Court ruled that the Fourth Amendment's protections against warrantless searches do not apply to "open fields." Which means that government agents can jump over fences, ignore No Trespassing signs, and roam private land at will. There are no limits. On this episode, we talk to Richard and Linda Thornton, whose property in rural Maine was at the center of the case. And we ask: Can the Founders really have thought the Constitution did not protect private woods, fields, farms, and

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3:28

Season 3 Teaser

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2023/11/20

Season 3 of Bound By Oath is coming soon! Click here for transcript.

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1:31:38

State Remedies | SEASON 2, EP. 11

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2022/03/16

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.

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45:49

Prosecutors, Perjurers, and Other Non-Persons — Part...

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2021/11/10

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 Court has said are not entitled to absolute immunity, but to whom lower courts have granted immunity anyway. Click here for transcript. Click here for Episode 1. Click for Apple

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58:45

Prosecutors, Perjurers, and Other Non-Persons — Part...

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2021/11/05

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 Supreme Court in 2012. On Part 1 of Episode 10: the doctrine of absolute prosecutorial immunity, where it came from, and why the Supreme Court

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56:51

Closing the Courthouse Doors | Season 2, Ep. 9

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2021/09/02

On this episode, we take stock of developments in the courts and in Congress since this season began. There's an update on the first case we talked about this season, Brownback v. King. We talk about exciting new cases that the Supreme Court is being asked to take up. Plus, some recent decisions in the lower courts that mean that federal officials are functionally—if not by name—entitled to absolute immunity from constitutional claims in D.C., Texas, Louisiana, Mississippi, Arkansas, Minnesota,

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1:02:25

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

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2021/08/13

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

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1:01:34

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

Bound By Oath by IJ ·

2021/06/21

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

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