Today’s Headlines and Commentary

D.C. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan ruled yesterday evening that the U.S. Postal Service must inform its employees that, contrary to a restriction imposed by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy, they should perform late and extra trips to collect mail. According to Politico, Sullivan’s ruling coincides with a record number of mail-in ballots cast during the presidential election.

The New York Times gave live updates of today’s tech hearing before the Senate Committee on Commerce, Science and Transportation, where executives from Google, Facebook and Twitter fended off Republicans’ accusations of censorship. The hearing focused on Section 230 of the Communications Decency Act—a controversial provision which allows tech companies to moderate third-party content on their platforms. The Wall Street Journal profiled Jack Dorsey, the enigmatic founder of Twitter, and Politico profiled Vijaya Gadde, Twitter’s free speech czar.

Europe is experiencing a surge in coronavirus cases, reports the Times. France, Spain, Italy and Britain have seen their highest death tolls in months, causing France to impose a tightened curfew and Germany to ban citizens from visiting restaurants, bars and sporting events nationwide. “Within weeks we will reach the limits of our health system,” German Prime Minister Angela Merkel said at a news conference. “It is completely clear that we must act, and act now to prevent a national health crisis.”

Pennsylvania Governor Tom Wolf has asked the National Guard to protect police property in Philadelphia, writes the Washington Post. Protesters injured at least 30 police officers yesterday after the police shot and killed Walter Wallace Jr., a mentally ill 27-year-old Black man who allegedly charged officers with a knife, on Monday

A Britain-based watchdog found that the U.S. has conducted 190 armed actions in Yemen since 2017, likely resulting in at least 86 civilian deaths. The watchdog’s report contradicts the Pentagon’s statements that there were no civilian deaths in Yemen in 2018 or 2019, writes the Post.
Hong Kong activist Tony Chung was reportedly arrested yesterday under the city’s restrictive national security law. CNN writes that Chung, the founder of a pro-independence student group, had been planning to claim asylum at the U.S. consulate in Hong Kong.

President Trump’s campaign website was hacked yesterday for around thirty minutes, according to BBC News. The hackers asserted that the president "is involved in the origin of the coronavirus” and offered proof in exchange for cryptocurrency donations. Yesterday’s incident comes less than a week after a Dutch ethical hacker supposedly gained access to President Trump’s Twitter account by guessing his password.

ICYMI: Yesterday on Lawfare

Ryan B. Greer discussed how to prevent election-motivated violence without causing panic.

Zahavah Levine introduced a five-part series on litigation about mail-in voting. In the first article of the series, Aviel Menter reviewed state lawsuits relating to mail-in and absentee voting.

As part of a Lawfare series on foreign influence operations, Joshua A. Tucker explained why he thinks that Russian interference in 2016 was overblown.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of The Lawfare Podcast entitled, “Tomorrow, the World.” Jack Goldsmith sat down with Stephen Wertheim, author of a new book on U.S. global supremacy, to discuss the origins and nature of American hegemony.

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