The National Security Law Podcast: Caging a Tiger

Robert Chesney, Steve Vladeck
Thursday, March 22, 2018, 4:50 PM

With apologies for short show notes, here are the headlines for this week’s National Security Law Podcast:

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With apologies for short show notes, here are the headlines for this week’s National Security Law Podcast:

  1. The McCabe firing.
  2. The prospect of legislation permitting judicial review of any decision to fire Mueller.
  3. An update of the declaration of Secretary Mattis explaining why he removed the GTMO military commission’s Convening Authority and his legal adviser.
  4. A decision by the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court of Review recognizing standing for ACLU and MFIA to press their claim for First Amendment-based access to FISC opinions.
  5. A decision by the Fifth Circuit rejecting the existence of a Bivens cause of action in Hernandez v. Mesa (the cross-border shooting case on remand from SCOTUS).
  6. A recap of the issues in al Alwi, argued yesterday before the D.C. Circuit (raising questions about the enforceability of a PRB determination that a GTMO detainee should be transferred to Saudi Arabia, and about the continuing existence of detention authority in light of evolving circumstances in Afghanistan).
  7. The demise, for now at least, of S.J. Res. 54 (calling for withdrawal of US support for Saudi-led military operations in Yemen).
  8. The Cambridge Analytica/Facebook data privacy mess. (Excellent post by Andrew Woods on this here.)
  9. The RICO indictment of Phantom Secure for conspiring to support criminal activity through provision of secure communication services—and what this might portend for the Going Dark debate. (Bobby’s post on this here.)

And, what you really wanted to know: just what will Bobby and Steve be working on this summer, once classes are over!


Robert (Bobby) Chesney is the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law, where he also holds the James A. Baker III Chair in the Rule of Law and World Affairs at UT. He is known internationally for his scholarship relating both to cybersecurity and national security. He is a co-founder of Lawfare, the nation’s leading online source for analysis of national security legal issues, and he co-hosts the popular show The National Security Law Podcast.
Steve Vladeck is a professor of law at the University of Texas School of Law. A 2004 graduate of Yale Law School, Steve clerked for Judge Marsha Berzon on the Ninth Circuit and Judge Rosemary Barkett on the Eleventh Circuit. In addition to serving as a senior editor of the Journal of National Security Law & Policy, Steve is also the co-editor of Aspen Publishers’ leading National Security Law and Counterterrorism Law casebooks.

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