The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Following the Supreme Court’s rulings in Trump v. Vance and Trump v. Mazars concerning subpoenas for President Trump’s financial records, Scott Anderson, Charlotte Butash, Susan Hennessey, Quinta Jurecic, Margaret Taylor and Benjamin Wittes analyzed the decisions.

Elliot Setzer shared the Court’s rulings. Julia Solomon-Strauss summarized the decision in Vance, while Rachel Bervovit and Todd Carney summarized the decision in Mazars. Jen Patja Howell shared a discussion on the Lawfare Podcast about Vance, Mazars and their implications moving forward with Benjamin Wittes, Margaret Taylor, Scott Anderson, Quinta Jurecic and Molly Reynolds:

Quinta Jurecic also shared a livestream of a conversation about the two cases on “In Lieu of Fun” with Marty Lederman, Dahlia Lithwick, Leah Litman, Margaret Taylor, Wittes, and Kate Klonick:

In the wake of President Trump's commutation Friday evening of Roger Stone's prison sentence, Jack Goldsmith and Matthew Gluck analyzed the self-interested nature of Trump's clemency actions generally. And Quinta Jurecic and Benjamin Wittes blasted the Stone commutation specifically.

Goldsmith and Nathaniel Sobel analyzed U.S. Attorney John Durham’s probe on issues related to the origins of the FBI’s Trump-Russia investigation and argued that Attorney General Bill Barr’s public commentary on the Durham investigation has already severely damaged its credibility.

Howell also shared Wittes’s discussion on the Lawfare Podcast with David Priess, Lawfare’s chief operating officer and former CIA briefer for the attorney general and director of the FBI. Priess discussed the history of the president’s daily briefing in the context of President Trump’s response to Russia’s alleged placement of bounties on coalition soldiers:

J. Dana Stuster discussed the strategy behind the Russian bounties.

Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared a discussion on the National Security Law Podcast about the implications of the Russian bounty program, the Justice Department’s case against Julian Assange, and recent Supreme Court decisions, among other topics:

Lester Munson shared an episode of Fault Lines in which he spoke with Jamil Jaffer, Dana Stroul and Loren Dealy Maher, National Security Institute (NSI) visiting fellow and former director of legislative affairs at the National Security Council, about measures the U.S. should take in response to the Russian bounties and about U.S.-German military relations:

Andrew Quilty analyzed the consequences of the Doha agreement between the United States and the Taliban.

Madifa Afzal analyzed the implications of the Afghan peace process for Pakistan’s foreign policy ambitions.

Alexander Graef discussed U.S. accusations against Russia for its violation of the Open Skies Treaty.

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring a conversation between Wittes and Christian Brose, former staff director of the Senate Armed Services Committee and current chief strategy officer of Anduril Industries. They discussed U.S.-China military relations and steps the U.S. can take to modernize its military capabilities:

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast discussing the Chinese Communist Party’s brutally repressive tactics in Hong Kong and Xinjiang:

Sherizaan Minwalla asserted that the new Justice Department and Department of Homeland Security asylum regulations would pose harm to female refugees.

Peter Margulies discussed a Ninth Circuit ruling against the third country asylum rule. The rule would deny asylum to foreign nationals who cross the U.S.-Mexico border if they failed to seek asylum in another country they passed through while traveling to the United States.

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security discussing new restrictions on immigration, Mary Trump’s new memoir and the story of “the cursed platoon,” among other things:

Setzer also shared former U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York Geoffrey Berman’s opening statement before the House Judiciary Committee at a July 9 hearing. Berman testified about his removal from the U.S. attorney position.

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an interview with Brandi Collins-Dexter, the senior campaign director at the advocacy organization Color of Change, on how misinformation regarding the pandemic spread among Black communities in the United States.

Jed Handelsman Shugerman discussed the first Congress’ “Decision of 1789,” which concerned the president’s power to remove officers. He argued that the misinterpretation of the decision has caused a misguided aggrandizement of executive removal power that relies on historical fallacies.

Mihoko Matsubara discussed Japanese initiatives to enhance cybersecurity in the automotive industry.

Elliot Setzer shared a U.N. Special Rapporteur report claiming that the January drone strike killing the Iranian General Qassem Soleimani was a violation of international law.

Matt Gluck shared U.S. District Court Judge Emmet Sullivan’s petition to the U.S. Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit for a rehearing en banc in the Michael Flynn case.

Richard Altieri, Vishnu Kannan and Laya Maheshwari contrasted Chinese and Indian media coverage of the border conflict that occurred on June 16.

Nicholas Weaver argued that the recently-announced ICE rules on visa eligibility for international students are not only cruel but also run contrary to the long-term strategic interests of the United States.

James Kraska argued that the body of international law and treaties surrounding submarine cables is inadequate to protect the critical international network of cables.

Mikhaila Fogel complimented the new show, “Space Force,” for its astute satirical representation of the U.S. military.

Setzer also shared a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on foreign Kremlin criminal activity.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast covering the EARN IT Act, a major victory by French and Dutch investigators and a bad week for TikTok, among other things:

And Setzer shared a livestream of a House Homeland Security Committee hearing on the national response to the worsening pandemic.

And that was the week that was.