A First Amendment Approach to Regulating AI Model Weights
It is unclear whether AI model weights are speech. But any regime that licenses them should be built with First Amendment protections regardless.
Can the Attorney General Remove Assistant U.S. Attorneys at Will?
Judge Furman holds that the attorney general cannot fire an assistant U.S. attorney without cause, and that Article II does not change that.
The U.S.-Taiwan ART’s Export Control Puzzle
What does “alignment” require?
How Judge Reyes Became the Lorax
A case about a golf course turns into a tale about the rule of law.
Can Hungary Derussify Its Electric Power Sector?
Natural gas gets the headlines, but Russian nuclear fuel powers nearly half the country’s grid.
A Rejoinder to Healey and Snyder: Engaging on Stability
Responding to a recent piece by Jay Healey and Jack Snyder on cyber persistence theory.
Keep Lawfare Paywall Free
Donate today!Highlights
-
A First Amendment Approach to Regulating AI Model Weights
It is unclear whether AI model weights are speech. But any regime that licenses them should be built with First Amendment protections regardless. -
Can the Attorney General Remove Assistant U.S. Attorneys at Will?
Judge Furman holds that the attorney general cannot fire an assistant U.S. attorney without cause, and that Article II does not change that. -
The U.S.-Taiwan ART’s Export Control Puzzle
What does “alignment” require? -
How Judge Reyes Became the Lorax
A case about a golf course turns into a tale about the rule of law. -
Can Hungary Derussify Its Electric Power Sector?
Natural gas gets the headlines, but Russian nuclear fuel powers nearly half the country’s grid. -
A Rejoinder to Healey and Snyder: Engaging on Stability
Responding to a recent piece by Jay Healey and Jack Snyder on cyber persistence theory. -
Chemical Security Is National Security
The United States has halted funding for finding and destroying chemical weapons, putting critical work at risk. -
The Week That Was
Your weekly summary of everything on the site. -
Israel’s Destruction of Gaza and the Moral Decline of Zionism
A review of Omer Bartov, “Israel: What Went Wrong?” (Farrar, Straus and Giroux, 2026) -
Comey Tries to 86 the Seashells Case: Part I
As comical as the prosecution’s case appears, it may well go to trial. -
Comey Tries to 86 the Seashells Case: Part II
Two pending motions could expose the government’s investigation to scrutiny well before trial -
OpenAI's Kazoo-Grade Spying Incident
The latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, now on Lawfare. -
The Insiders Know How Covert Foreign Malign Influence Works. You Should Too.
Americans are the targets of covert foreign malign influence. Helping them understand how it works should be part of how we defend the country. -
The Unhidden Hand
How Russia’s Greatest Returns From 2016 Came From the President It Helped Elect -
Technology, War, and the Limits of Innovation Power in the Middle East
Israel and Iran, in different ways, have each used innovation power to win on the battlefield. But neither has won the war.
.jpg?sfvrsn=104df884_5)
-(1).jpg?sfvrsn=af0bd5fc_5)
Featured Podcast
Live Coverage
For real-time updates of Lawfare’s coverage of the Trump administration’s legal challenges, follow on Bluesky or below:
What's Old Is New Again
With every new administration comes new promises and new actions on national security. But what’s “new” has often been proposed or even tried before—which means there’s a good chance Lawfare has already analyzed some of the legal and policy implications they present. So we’re making that past content readily accessible as it becomes newly relevant.
-
An Explainer on the Espionage Act and the Third-Party Leak Prosecutions
The press scandals keep on coming for the Obama Administration. -
What Does the 60-Day Rule Require?
It’s past time for the Justice Department to respond to the inspector general’s 2018 request to clarify the meaning of the 60-day rule on electoral interference. -
The Trump Admin’s Embrace of Ideological Exclusion and Deportation
The targets, rhetoric, and legal justifications of ideological exclusion and deportation may change over time, but the motivation—suppressing dissent—remains the same.
Documents
-
White House Releases Executive Order Declaring a National Emergency Regarding the Electrical Grid
-
White House Releases National Security Science & Technology Strategy
-
Justice Department Releases Opinion on Military Arrests Near Borders
-
White House Releases Executive Orders on Quantum Computing
-
White House Releases Executive Order on AI
-
Former Cuban President Raúl Castro Indicted
-
Trump Administration Releases 2026 Counterterrorism Strategy
-
Southern Poverty Law Center Indicted on Federal Fraud Charges
The Lawfare Podcast 
-
Lawfare Daily: FCC’s Bad Labs Rulemaking with FCC’s Andy Hendrickson and Alice Jou
How are devices in the U.S. tested and certified for use in labs? -
Lawfare Daily: Escalate to What End? Trump's Plan for the Iran War After the Midterms
Discussing the Iran war eight months in. -
Lawfare Daily: The Trials of the Trump Administration, October 23
Listen to the October 23 livestream as a podcast.
Other Lawfare Podcasts
Other Podcasts
Videos & Webinars
-(2)-(2)-(1).jpg?sfvrsn=21cee67a_7)
Lawfare Live: The Trials of the Trump Administration, October 23
Join the Lawfare team at 4 pm ET for a discussion of the litigation surrounding the Trump administration.
Explore
Congress
Armed Conflict
The Lawfare Institute:
Hard National Security Choices
Lawfare is a non-profit multimedia publication dedicated to “Hard National Security Choices.” We provide non-partisan, timely analysis of thorny legal and policy issues through our written, audio, and other content—all of which you can find here.
