The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post
On Friday, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border to secure funds previously denied by Congress to build a border wall. Matthew Kahn shared the official proclamation, and Scott Anderson and Margaret Taylor examined the legal authorities cited in the declaration.
On Friday, President Donald Trump declared a national emergency on the U.S.-Mexico border to secure funds previously denied by Congress to build a border wall. Matthew Kahn shared the official proclamation, and Scott Anderson and Margaret Taylor examined the legal authorities cited in the declaration.
Josh Blackman argued that a law passed by Congress and signed by President Obama after Trump's election contributed to Trump’s ability to unilaterally reprogram money for border wall construction.
Scott Anderson and Benjamin Wittes questioned the data cited by Trump as proof of a border crisis, sharing a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request they filed in search of the data described in Trump’s rambling.
Jack Goldsmith examined what was extraordinary about the declaration—and what was not extraordinary about it.
And Bobby Chesney reflected on judicial deference on national security fact matters and what the proclamation may mean for Big Bend National Park.
In Mueller world, Goldsmith and Maddie McMahon examined newly-confirmed Attorney General William Barr’s legal commitments, or lack thereof, to publicly release Special Counsel Robert Mueller’s final report. Matthew Kahn shared an order from proceedings in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia declaring that Paul Manafort violated his plea agreement with Mueller’s prosecutors by intentionally making false statements. Mikhaila Fogel shared comment she received from the special counsel’s office spokesman, Peter Carr. And Lev Sugarman posted a gag order Judge Amy Berman Jackson placed on participants of the Roger Stone case.
Scott Anderson and Benjamin Wittes filed FOIA requests seeking the Justice Department’s responses to former Acting Attorney General Matthew Whitaker’s public comments on the Mueller investigation, along with its correspondence with Mueller’s team on the BuzzFeed News reporting about Michael Cohen. Following Whitaker’s testimony before the House Judiciary Committee last Friday, Elena Kagan shared a Lawfare Podcast Bonus Edition featuring only the testimony relevant for Lawfare listeners:
