Eric Columbus explained how the Trump administration’s poor drafting and shifting application of the Jan. 6 pardons are now critical pieces for the defense in the case of Brian Cole Jr., who is being prosecuted for allegedly planting pipe bombs in front of the Democratic and Republican National Committee headquarters in 2021.
On Lawfare Daily, Troy Edwards, Michael Feinberg, Roger Parloff, and James Pearce joined Benjamin Wittes to discuss the Department of Justice’s motion to drop the Oath Keepers and Proud Boys seditious conspiracy cases, the last remaining criminal matter from the prosecutions of Jan. 6 Capitol insurrectionists.
On Lawfare Live, Wittes sat down with Anna Bower, Columbus, and Parloff to unpack the D.C. Circuit’s blocking of Judge James Boasberg’s contempt inquiry in an Alien Enemies Act case, a nationwide warrant for an ICE agent over alleged actions taken during Operation Metro Surge, the firing of six immigration judges, and more.
On Lawfare Daily, Wittes sat down with Molly Roberts, Columbus, and Parloff to discuss the D.C. Circuit’s denial of Anthropic’s motion to stay its supply chain designation, Judge Paul Friedman’s rejection of the Pentagon’s revised press rules, Judge Leo Sorokin’s rejection of the Justice Department’s attempt to obtain Massachusetts voter records, and more.
Bower shared the $1.25 million settlement agreement between the U.S. government and former national security adviser Michael T. Flynn to resolve a lawsuit in which Flynn claimed he was maliciously prosecuted for allegedly lying to federal investigators.
Bruce A. Green and Rebecca Roiphe unpacked the Justice Department’s proposed regulation directing state disciplinary authorities to delay investigations into allegations of misconduct by federal government lawyers until the Justice Department conducts its own review.
Akshaya Kumar argued that the strike on a primary school in Minab, Iran—likely caused by U.S. forces—could constitute a war crime even if the strike did not deliberately target the school because the U.S. may not have taken adequate precautions to avoid civilian harm.
In the latest edition of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, R. Daniel Kelemen explained how the electoral defeat of Hungarian politician Viktor Orbán reveals both the vulnerabilities of electoral autocracy and the conditions under which it can be overturned. Kelemen contended that this outcome will have broader implications for the European Union, Russia, and aspiring autocracies.
Oleksandr Matviienko examined how Ukraine’s highly restrictive and bureaucratic arms export system has prevented it from capitalizing on global demand—particularly for cost-effective drone technologies—despite strong interest from partners in the Gulf and the West.
On Lawfare Daily, Feinberg sat down with Frank Dikötter to discuss the latter’s new book, “Red Dawn Over China: How Communism Conquered a Quarter of Humanity,” and unpack the early years of the Chinese communist movement, the American reaction to its successes, how the current understanding of the era differs from prior assumptions, and more.
Ben Diamond examined how President Trump has more frequently and broadly invoked the International Emergency Economic Powers Act compared to previous administrations. Diamond argued that the judiciary is best positioned to constrain presidential abuse of emergency powers.
On Lawfare No Bull, Marissa Wang shared the audio from the oral arguments at the Supreme Court in the case of Trump v. Barbara, which centered on a 14th Amendment challenge to the president’s executive order attempting to end birthright citizenship.
As part of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Joseph Stabile examined the CIA’s intelligence assessment of the role of women in white supremacist violence, one of the many reports agency leadership has retracted for not meeting the CIA’s analytical standards. Stabile argued that the assessment’s withdrawal has less to do with a failed quality assurance test and more to do with a seemingly ongoing effort on the part of the intelligence community to appease the Trump administration’s political agenda.
Wendy Wagner reviewed Michael E. Mann & Peter J. Hotez’s new book, “Science Under Siege: How to Fight the Five Most Powerful Forces That Threaten Our World,” a narrative of the threats and fear campaigns used to discredit scientists and their work. Wagner described how these coordinated attacks on public science are a systemic threat to scientific research and knowledge production that must be confronted before it is too late.
Ajay K. Mehrotra reviewed Andrea Campbell’s new book, “Taxation and Resentment: Race, Party, and Class in American Tax Attitudes,” on the American public’s opinion on taxes and its impact on U.S. tax policies. Mehrotra unpacked how Campbell addresses provocative questions on taxation, her predictions on the future of tax policy, the implications of her findings, and more.
Nikolas Guggenberger argued that the United States’s increasingly restrictive attitude toward data exports is a sign of geostrategic weakness. Guggenberger explained how this defensive approach implies a lack of confidence in U.S. technological dominance, reveals a self-perception of vulnerability, and suggests a lack of control over platforms and tech infrastructure.
On Lawfare Daily, Benjamin McKenzie joined Feinberg to discuss McKenzie’s new documentary, “Everyone Is Lying to You for Money,” a deep dive into the cryptocurrency industry, and what the years-long research project has taught him of cryptocurrency’s literal and figurative value.
Joshua Villanueva analyzed how platforms like X complicate immunity protections derived from Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act of 1996 by both distributing potentially false third-party content and generating responses to “verify” its authenticity through its artificial intelligence (AI) powered Grok-on-X tool.
In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren unpacked the national security and privacy risks of geolocation data through an American adtech surveillance system, how threat actors are leveraging AI tools to accelerate criminal activities, and more.
On Lawfare Daily, Kate Klonick sat down with Ronan Farrow and Andrew Marantz to discuss the pair’s recent article on Sam Altman and the path he is forging as CEO of OpenAI. Their conversation covered the concerns of fraud and safety issues at the AI company, the national security issues in OpenAI’s “country plan,” and more.
Ben Harack argued that privacy-preserving data verification techniques could transform how policymakers approach AI governance, encouraging countries and AI firms to partake in mutual inspections—without the risk of sharing sensitive information with a competitor.
On Scaling Laws, Miles Brundage joined Alan Z. Rozenshtein to unpack the weaknesses of current state AI regulations, the limitations of safety benchmarks in AI testing, market-based mechanisms that are driving the adoption of audit processes, and more.
And that was the week that was.
