The National Security Law Podcast: The ‘State of the Uniom’ is Ex-Strava-gant!
You might not have wanted to watch the State of the Union, but don’t miss this episode of the podcast! This week we cover:
Published by The Lawfare Institute
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You might not have wanted to watch the State of the Union, but don’t miss this episode of the podcast! This week we cover:
- The missing Russia sanctions? A statute enacted last summer appears at first blush to require the Trump administration to sanction people doing significant business with Russian military and intelligence entities, starting this week. It didn’t happen, and some are alarmed. What did this statute actually require? We’ll explore the situation, walking you through the statutory carve-outs.
- The #releasethememo story evolves: Alas, this bizarre topic from last week has not gone away, and with HPSCI now voting to release it seems we are headed still further into the woods. We review the context, explain how this relates to a mounting effort to delegitimize Deputy Attorney General Rod Rosenstein, and why #releasethememo should also entail #releasethedissent.
- Would it be constitutional to empower courts to oversee decisions to remove the special counsel? Revelations that White House counsel Don McGahn threatened to resign rather than convey President Trump’s directive to fire Special Counsel Robert Mueller last summer have drawn renewed attention to two pending bills that would subject such decisions–which according to Justice Department regulations must be made based only on a showing of good cause–to judicial review. Would such a law be constitutional? Asking for a friend…
- About that GTMO closure executive order: Several times over the past year, reports circulated that the White House was prepared to issue a GTMO executive order repealing the 2009 Obama order directing GTMO’s closure. It may finally happen this afternoon, in the run up to tonight’s SOTU. Tune in for our predictions as to what it might entail.
- The location of the hidden rebel base: Anyone who watched the Last Jedi should know that sometimes it is possible to track the movement of the military in unexpected ways. Still, who would have guessed your jogging app would be the cause? We note the way Strava-gate might inflect perceptions about larger issues involving metadata and third-party data (where is that Carpenter decision, anyway?).
That’s more than enough, but if you want to hear thinly-reasoned takes on the Grammy’s, by all means listen until the end! You go, Gary Clark Jr.!
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.
