The Week That Was

James Pearce shared a non-comprehensive list of questions that Ed Martin—the interim United States attorney for the District of the District of Columbia and nominee for the post—should have to answer about his plans for the office. Pearce highlighted Martin’s comments about prosecuting unethical conduct, his suggestion to “rewrite” the Lewis list, his praise for President Donald Trump’s pardons of two officers convicted of murder, and more.

Samuel Estreicher and Andrew Babbitt explained how President Donald Trump’s imposition of tariffs under the International Emergency Economic Powers Act bypasses typical tariff authorities and why Congress is limited in its ability to control the president’s power.

Roger Parloff reported on new filings in J.G.G. v. Trump alleging that a number of individuals deported under the Alien Enemies Act and currently imprisoned in El Salvador had no connection to Tren de Aragua, and in some cases, had pending asylum applications.

Sarah Harrison explained how Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth’s planned reform of the Judge Advocate General’s Corps may result in broad consequences for military operations and personnel discipline, including increased law of war violations, decreased regard for civilian protection, and more.

On April 4 at 4 p.m. ET, Scott R. Anderson spoke to Anna Bower, Roger Parloff, Pearce, and Steve Vladeck about the status of the civil litigation against President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including how the Supreme Court is handling the cases, deportations under the Alien Enemies Act, and more.

On Rational Security, Anderson sat down with Natalie Orpett and Eric Ciaramella to talk through the week’s big national security news, including an apparent halt to negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Greenland, President Donald Trump’s comments about seeking a third term, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Atul Gawande joined Orpett to discuss the end of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Global Health, the consequences of destroying the agency, why public health is so important to U.S. national security, and more.

Benjamin Wittes outlined the Trump administration’s use of immigration laws to justify hundreds of visa revocations and its detention of foreign students. Wittes emphasized the administration’s efforts to persecute and silence those with a dissenting view of Trump’s policies.

Michael Galdo described the investigative tools and agency resources available to the Department of Justice following the administration’s designation of cartels as foreign terrorist organizations (FTOs) and other policy changes. Galdo outlined how the department may deploy these tools against cartels, including prosecuting individuals for “Material Support” of cartels, targeting cartels’ many sources of profit, and more.

Wittes considered what the Trump administration has actually liberated Americans from, such as jobs, lower prices, international alliances, and more.

Caroline Cornett shared an executive order imposing a 10 percent tariff on all U.S. imports and additional reciprocal tariffs on approximately 56 nations and the European Union.

On Lawfare Daily, in a recording of a live conversation on March 21, Wittes sat down with Parloff, Anderson, Pearce, and David D. Cole to discuss the status of the civil litigation against President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including the deportation of individuals under the Alien Enemies Act, the detention of Mahmoud Khalil and others, the targeting of law firms, and more.

On Escalation, Anastasiia Lapatina and Tyler McBrien covered the infamous 2019 phone call between U.S. President Donald Trump and Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, the scandal that followed, how it affects congressional support for Ukraine to this day, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Lawfare featured the first episode of Escalation, in which co-hosts McBrien and Lapatina discussed the end of the Cold War and the U.S. fears about the dangers Ukrainian independence could bring.

Bryce Klehm highlighted the U.S.’s various failures in upholding the Special Immigrant Visa program—which provided visas to Afghan locals who worked for the U.S. during the war in Afghanistan. Klehm explained how the U.S. betrayal of its Afghan allies represents the strategic narcissism largely governing U.S. foreign policy.

In the latest installment of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Zachary Kallenborn called for increased use of post-hoc verification to determine how lethal autonomous weapons are used. He argued that verification will deter future transgressions and improve the international community's ability to punish those who violate restrictions.

Marko Milanovic outlined six takeaways from the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC)’s draft policy on cyber-enabled crimes, which details how the Office will apply the Rome Statute when cyber is used to facilitate or commission crimes in its jurisdiction. Milanovic highlighted practical challenges to implementing the policy and emphasized the need for capacity-building and training within the Office.

On Lawfare Daily, Adam Thierer joined Kevin Frazier to review public comments submitted to the Office of Science and Technology regarding the Trump administration’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) Action Plan. Frazier and Thierer also discussed recent developments in the AI regulatory landscape, including a major veto by Governor Youngkin in Virginia.

In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discussed reports that North Korean cyber workers are expanding their operations into the EU, intelligence that adversarial nations likely gathered from the Trump administration’s use of Signal, the EU’s €1.3 billion investment into critical technologies, and more.

David Eaves and Hillary Hartley reflected on the legacy of recently dismantled 18F, a team of technologists housed within the Government Services Administration who worked with agencies to make government services accessible and available online. Eaves and Hartley offered lessons informed by 18F’s success in building sustainable, reusable tools and products, and reflected on where the program fell short.

On Lawfare Daily, Hartley and Eaves joined Frazier to discuss the recent closure of 18F.

Christina Knight argued that the U.S. must work with international allies and partners to regulate and adopt AI if the U.S. is to maintain global leadership in AI. Knight highlighted how the alternative of Chinese dominance threatens information integrity, data privacy, and more.

And George Croner argued that U.S. District Judge LeShann DeArcy Hall’s opinion in U.S. v. Hasbajrami wrongly relied on law enforcement analytic frameworks to evaluate the querying of the Section 702 database. Croner explained that Hall’s opinion—which concludes that using a U.S. person query term to query the database of communications lawfully acquired under Section 702 violates the Fourth Amendment—will significantly harm national security anti-terrorism and cybersecurity efforts.

And that was the week that was.