The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

The saga of the Russian connection continued this week. Quinta Jurecic posted video of the joint statement by the SSCI’s Chairman Sen. Richard Burr and ranking member Sen. Mark Warner, in which they pledged to go wherever the intelligence may lead. She also posted the livestream of the SSCI hearing on Russian Active Measures, and she posted the Lawfare Podcast, featuring audio of HPSCI Ranking Member Rep. Adam Schiff’s remarks at the Brookings Institution last week:

Christopher Kojm and Adam Klein contrasted the 9/11 Commission investigation with the HPSCI investigation to demonstrate how bipartisanship should work on an intelligence committee, while Jack Goldsmith provided counter arguments to Susan Hennessey and Ben Wittes’s post on the need for a select committee on the Russia connection.

Quinta Jurecic and Helen Klein Murillo provided an explainer on executive privilege and the White House’s apparent efforts to prevent Sally Yates from testifying before HPSCI.

And the Rational Security gang discussed all of the above in the “We Need to Talk About Devin” Edition of the podcast, which Benjamin Wittes posted:

As the confirmation hearings for Supreme Court nominee Judge Neil Gorsuch heated up, Sarah Tate Chambers examined Judge Gorsuch’s jurisprudence on computer searches in Part II of her three-party series, and then examined his decisions on everything from Internet prescriptions to appropriate damages for disclosing computer code in Part III.

Bobby Chesney provided historical context for modern-day surveillance debates by looking back to a 1945 legal memo on Operation Shamrock. Michael Linhorst noted a rare en banc session of the FISA court and a notable FOIA decision by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Sixth Circuit.

Kenneth Anderson flagged a new law review article by Alan Z. Rozenshtein on digital communications and data storage companies as “surveillance intermediaries,” while Seamus Hughes and Alexander Meleagrou-Hitchens examined ISIS’s use of “virtual entrepreneurs.”

Joel Brenner and David Clark flagged their MIT report on protecting critical infrastructure, while Stewart Baker posted the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, featuring an interview with Michael Daniel:

Tim Maurer, Ariel Levite, and George Perkovitch proposed a global agreement against manipulating the integrity of financial data, spelled out in their new white paper. Susan and Chris Mirasola examined whether China just quietly authorized law enforcement to access data anywhere in the world.

Ron Cheng discussed Chinese cyber sovereignty and cross-border digital trade, while Jared Dummitt and Elliot Kim chronicled Chinese Premier Li Keqiang’s trip to Australia and his offer of cooperation with China as China completed installations on key reefs and islands in the South China Sea.

In the Foreign Policy Essay, Jacob Stokes and Alexander Sullivan argued that China will not fix North Korea, offering four other areas of focus instead.

Shannon Togawa Mercer commented on the UK's formal notice to the EU of its intention to leave.

Alexander Pirang asked what Germany’s Basic Law can tell us about protecting democracy in an age of rising authoritarianism.

Alex Vatanka and Michael Rubin explained how Iran and Turkey pose problems for Trump in Syria. J. Dana Stuster provided the “Middle East Ticker.”

Over at Guantanamo, Emma Kohse chronicled debates over black site closings, victim impact evidence, and international humanitarian law in the March 22 session of the military commissions, while Ben flagged a new habeas petition by Guantanamo detainee Guled Hassan Duran. Quinta flagged Military Commissions Chief Prosecutor Mark Martins’ statement for March 24, and also noted that counsel for Ali Hamza Suliman al Bahlul have filed a petition for a writ of certiorari with the Supreme Court.

Ingrid Wuerth examined international law and the Trump administration.

Peter Margulies commented on a Virginia federal district court’s clarification of the Establishment Clause in upholding President Trump’s revised refugee executive order, and commented on the Hawaii-based Judge Derrick Watson’s preliminary injunction of the travel ban executive order and its impact on separation of powers.

Quinta examined whether the Justice Department subtlely admitted doubts over Trump’s oath in its brief on appeal in International Refugee Assistance Project v. Trump.

Andrew Kent reviewed David Armitage’s book Civil Wars: A History in Ideas.

And that was the week that was.