The Week That Was

Natalie Orpett and James Pearce detailed the substantial legal risks attached to the deals that some law firms have struck with the Trump administration, including criminal liability for bribery and ethics violations, civil claims from clients, and more.

On May 16 at 4 p.m. ET, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Scott R. Anderson, Anna Bower, Roger Parloff, and Pearce to discuss the status of the civil litigation against President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including the dismantling of federal agencies and freezing of federal funds.

Kathleen Claussen and Timothy Meyer explained why courts are likely to reject the Trump administration’s attempt to extend the executive branch’s “foreign affairs function” to any issues involving cross-border exchange, which would insulate governmental cross-border regulatory activity from the Administrative Procedure Act and judicial review.

Vanessa Williamson and Ellis Chen discussed how the Trump administration’s undermining of the Internal Revenue Service through workforce cuts, weaker prosecution of white collar crime, elimination of data security and privacy protections, and more will reduce the United States’s tax revenue and speed democratic erosion.

Wittes responded to a statement by three Yale professors who study fascism, in which they explained that they are taking jobs in Canada in light of the U.S. political environment. Wittes argued that people in positions of influence and power—such as tenured professors at elite institutions—have an obligation to lead rather than flee.

On Lawfare Daily, Wittes sat down with Bower, Quinta Jurecic, Parloff, Pearce, and Preston Marquis to discuss the status of the civil litigation against Trump’s executive actions, including the order for the release of Rümeysa Öztürk, litigation over ideological deportations, legal challenges to the funding freeze targeting Radio Free Europe/Radio Liberty, and more.

Ilya Somin discussed Trump’s unprecedented assertion of emergency powers under the Alien Enemies Act (AEA) and the International Emergency Economic Powers Act. Somin argued that these declarations violate civil liberties and called on Congress to place limits on presidentially declared emergencies to curb Trump’s abuse of power.

Lee Kovarsky and D. Theodore Rave explained the issues with a Northern District of Texas judge’s decision to deny class certification in a lawsuit challenging Trump’s invocation of the AEA, as well as how the Trump administration may take advantage of the ruling to deport AEA detainees.

Katherine Hawkins detailed how Trump’s aggressive immigration agenda has increasingly utilized incommunicado detention—which cuts detainees off from communication and prevents them from invoking their rights—to deport migrants. Hawkins emphasized the need for judicial and congressional action to stop this trend and ensure the administration adheres to legal standards.

Marquis broke down a district court judge’s ruling dismissing most of the government’s jurisdictional challenges in AAUP v. Rubio—a lawsuit alleging the Trump administration’s ideological deportation policy chills political speech—thereby setting the stage for the case to go to trial in July.

On Rational Security, Anderson sat down with Orpett, Tyler McBrien, and Daniel Byman to discuss the week’s big national security news, including the ongoing hostilities between India and Pakistan, the recently announced ceasefire with the Houthis, reports that the Qatar royal family will gift Trump a luxury jet, and more. 

Wittes discussed his concerns over reports that the Trump administration will receive a luxury Boeing 747-8 jumbo jet from the royal family of Qatar, noting issues with a non-competitive bidding process, counterintelligence, and more. 

On Lawfare Daily, Joel Braunold joined Anderson to discuss the state of the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Trump’s recent trip to the Middle East, changes to Syria sanctions, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Anastasiia Lapatina spoke to Mykola Bielieskov about Trump’s failure to end Russia’s war in Ukraine, what it will take for Russia to stop the war, and more.

In the latest installment of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Evan Braden Montgomery and Toshi Yoshihara discussed coercive strategies—such as blockades, subversion, nuclear intimidation, and more—that China may use to undermine support for Taiwan. Montgomery and Yoshihara emphasized that the U.S. must broaden its preparations beyond invasion and account for a range of coercive tactics.

On Lawfare Daily, Byman spoke to Montgomery and Yoshihara about their recent Lawfare piece on how China may use coercive strategies to intimidate Taiwan, why Beijing may prefer not to invade, what a coercive approach would mean for Taiwan’s allies, and more.

Madiha Afzal highlighted the consequences of the Trump administration’s policies for Afghanistan, particularly the U.S. withdrawal of support for humanitarian and development assistance and the reversal of a Biden-era effort to grant temporary protected status to Afghan refugees.

Katie Kedian discussed the upcoming election in Romania, which has generated controversy due to the Romanian Supreme Court’s decision to annul the results of the first round of voting due to concerns about Russian interference. Kedian warned that the Trump administration’s dismantling of mechanisms to combat foreign interference is weakening the U.S. electoral landscape.

Kevin Frazier considered how OpenAI's proposed changes to its corporate structure may contradict its mission of ensuring the safe and equitable distribution of artificial intelligence (AI) technology. Frazier highlighted current corporate governance frameworks’ inability to keep pace with AI's rapid advancements and called for a federal charter system to reduce reliance on patchwork state AI laws.

In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discussed vulnerable proprietary cryptosystems on Chinese mobile apps, the recently disbanded Cyber Safety Review Board, a French government agency’s report on Russian influence operations, and more.

Cullen O'Keefe and Ketan Ramakrishnan discussed the evolution of AI agents and the importance of designing Law-Following AIs rather than “AI henchmen,” whose programmed loyalty could lead them to carry out unlawful orders. O’Keefe and Ramakrishnan proposed a research agenda to inform the development of AI agents and ensure that AI agents, particularly those in government, be law-following.

On Lawfare Daily, O’Keefe joined Frazier and Renee DiResta to discuss the concept of LFAIs, how to ensure AI agents operate safely and align with our societal values, and more.

And Paul M. Barrett reviewed Sarah Wynn-Williams’s “Careless People: A Cautionary Tale of Power, Greed, and Lost Idealism.” Barrett highlighted how Wynn-Williams draws on her personal experiences at Meta and with its high ranking executives to provide a detailed account of the company, from Facebook’s role in the ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya people in Myanmar to the events that led to her firing in 2017.

And that was the week that was.