The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Anna Bower, Matt Gluck, Quinta Jurecic, Natalie Orpett, and Benjamin Wittes analyzed Jack Smith’s superseding indictment of former President Trump in the Jan. 6 case following the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision, and considered what the new indictment reveals about Smith’s planned path forward.

On Lawfare Daily, Wittes spoke with Bower, Jurecic, and Roger Parloff about Special Counsel Jack Smith’s superseding indictment against former President Donald Trump in the Jan. 6 prosecution, how it differs from the original indictment, and more.

On Aug. 28 at 4 p.m. ET, Bower, Jurecic, and Parloff  joined Wittes for a livestream discussion of Jack Smith’s superseding indictment of Trump in the Jan. 6 case, among other Trump-related litigation updates.

Gluck shared Special Counsel Jack Smith's superseding indictment in the Jan. 6 case against former President Donald Trump.

Paul Rosenzweig highlighted the dissonance between the D.C. Bar’s disciplinary recommendation to suspend Jeffrey Clark’s law license, and the Supreme Court’s presidential immunity decision in Trump v. United States.

Paul Smith argued that the Supreme Court cannot be trusted to make credible rulings on 2024 presidential election cases, primarily in light of the Court’s decision on presidential immunity.

Renee DiResta discussed Iran’s hack-and-leak strategy deployed against the Trump campaign. She explained how Iran’s efforts to interfere in U.S. elections has evolved in the age of social media, and emphasized the news media’s efforts to cover hacked materials in an ethical way.

In this week’s edition of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Emily Harding outlined Iran’s various efforts to interfere in U.S. elections, and offered recommendations for the United States to defend against and deter Iran’s attempts to undermine American democracy.

Justin Sherman discussed the National Public Data hack—which compromised the information of “hundreds of millions of people” in the United States, Canada, and the U.K.—and four important takeaways it raised for lawmakers and the national security community.

Jim Dempsey kicked off his two-part series on cybersecurity initiatives taken during the Biden and Trump administrations. Dempsey discussed executive orders by Trump and Biden aimed at protecting against the distribution of citizens’ sensitive data, as well as data limits imposed by the Committee on Foreign Investment in the United States’ process, the evolution of the TikTok ban, and congressional regulation of data brokers.

In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discussed the detention of Telegram founder and CEO Pavel Durov in France, the platform’s unwillingness to properly moderate content, the purchase of Tinder ads by the U.S. military to warn Iran against attacking Israel, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Kevin Frazier sat down with Elliot Jones, a senior researcher at the Ada Lovelace Institute, to discuss a report he co-authored on the current state of efforts to test AI systems and the importance of robust AI assessments.

Zachary Arnold and Helen Toner argued that disagreement between AI “ethicists” and “doomers” over immediate problems versus existential fears diminishes their ability to work together on AI regulation. The authors suggested that, to counter the influence of Big Tech, the two camps need to cooperate to advance practical policies such as AI measurement, transparency and disclosure, and clear allocation of liability.

On Lawfare Daily, Eugenia Lostri sat down with Esteban Carisimo to talk about digital repression in Venezuela’s recent presidential election. They discussed how internet censorship has impacted the post-election protests, how Venezuela's infrastructure compares to other countries in the region, what the path to recovery looks like, and more.

Liron A. Libman addressed the Iranian claim to self-defense following the July 31 killing of Hamas leader, Ismail Haniyeh, in Iran. Libman argued that an Iranian attack on Israel would be illegal under Article 51 of the UN Charter because Haniyeh’s death does not constitute an armed attack, nor can it be attributed to Israel. Iranian threats also do not meet the requirements of necessity and proportionality. Libman rejected the notion that such an attack could be justified as part of an ongoing war under the law of armed conflict and warned of the potential for escalation.

Gabor Rona argued that the purchase and sale of real estate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories violates international law and multiple United Nations resolutions, and also might constitute a war crime under the Rome Statute.

Saeed Bagheri examined the July 22, 2024 special agreement between the Yemeni government and the Houthis, a Shiite Islamist non-state armed group (NSAG). He discussed how agreements between states and NSAGs can codify humanitarian protections past the end of non-international armed conflicts (NSACs), but also raised questions of the legal validity and enforceability of such agreements.

On Lawfare Daily, Tyler McBrien spoke with Vanda Felbab-Brown, senior fellow in foreign policy at the Brookings Institution, about recent fighting in Northern Mali and what it means for Russian and Russian-affiliated mercenaries operating in Africa.

Also on Lawfare Daily, McBrien sat down with Sherri Goodman, the Secretary General of the International Military Council on Climate & Security and the first Deputy Undersecretary of Defense (Environmental Security), to discuss her new book “Threat Multiplier: Climate, Military Leadership, and the Fight for Global Security.” They discussed Sherri’s career, her role in bringing climate security to the attention of military leaders, the pillars of climate action, and more.

As a part of our Lawfare Live series, we are pleased to announce the launch of a new series investigating the 2024 candidates’ positions on a variety of national security issues. Entitled Lawfare Live: National Security and the 2024 Election, the series will consist of biweekly live stream discussions of where the candidates stand on key issues like election management, U.S. aid to Ukraine, the Israel-Gaza War, tensions between the U.S. and China, and more. The first event, Lawfare Live: National Security and the 2024 Election, Armed Conflict, will be Tuesday, Sept. 10 at 3 p.m. ET.

Lawfare is now accepting applications for our student contributor program, which gives current law students and other graduate students in relevant fields the opportunity to submit Lawfare articles and provide research support on issues at the nexus of national security, law, and policy. The deadline to apply is Sept. 13, 2024.

To support Lawfare’s coverage of the Trump Trials—a first-of-its-kind project dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of the ongoing criminal proceedings against former President Donald Trump in Washington, Florida, New York, and Georgia—please consider making a contribution here. Lawfare’s talented correspondents and analysts discuss the latest developments in the cases, explain the complex legal issues they raise, and consider what might come next in a wide range of content, including written analysis, podcasts, live and recorded virtual events, primary source document repositories, and infographics.

And that was the week that was.