The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Benjamin Wittes and Steve Vladeck analyzed a Department of Homeland Security document provided to Lawfare that indicates that members of the intelligence community are being asked to monitor and gather information about certain protest activities. Jen Patja Howell shared a discussion about the document on the Lawfare Podcast. Wittes and Vladeck were joined by Carrie Cordero, Paul Rosenzweig, and David Priess to speak about the document and its implications:

Jacob Schulz shared a letter from Rep. Adam Schiff to the Department of Homeland Security inquiring about the reports of “expanded intelligence activities” in response to domestic protests.

Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast discussing the deployment of Department of Homeland Security officers in Portland:

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security on the unidentified federal officers in Portland and U.S. response to Chinese espionage, among other things:

Andrew Crespo argued that senior-level comments denying that "arrests" were taking place in Portland suggest that the deputy head of the Federal Protective Service "does not know where the basic and essential legal lines are that mark the bounds of his agency’s lawful authority."

Chas Kissick, Elliot Setzer and Jacob Schulz discussed the status of digital contact tracing around the world.

Setzer also shared a U.K. intelligence oversight report that accused the British government of failing to investigate Russian interference in the Scottish independence and Brexit referendums in 2014 and 2016 respectively.

David Simon, Veronica Glick, Joshua Silverstein and Gabriel Perlman analyzed the legal issues raised by the U.S. Cyberspace Solarium Commission Report.

Setzer also shared a livestream of a House Foreign Affairs Subcommittee hearing on State Department action related to the coronavirus pandemic.

Charles A. Stevenson argued that Congress’s inaction at the start of the Korean War set a precedent that was followed by a weakening claim to its war power authority. Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring a discussion of the Korean War with Katharine Moon, a professor of political science at Wellesley College and a non-resident senior fellow at the Brookings Institution Center for East Asia Policy Studies; Matthew Waxman, a professor at Columbia University Law School; and Lawfare’s Scott Anderson. They discussed the current international law status in the Korean conflict and the war’s influence on war powers discussions:

Tia Sewell summarized the Uighur group complaint filed to the International Criminal Court on July 6, which accused Chinese leadership of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Jordan Schneider shared a discussion on the ChinaTalk podcast with Eddie Fishman, who formerly worked on President Obama’s State Department’s Policy Planning Staff, about Fishman’s recent articles concerning sanctions and the international order:

Anna Meier discussed the legal and political significance of terrorist designations.

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast on the European Court of Justice’s Schrems II decision and its implications for the future of transatlantic data transfers:

Stewart Baker proposed several ways the U.S. can respond to the Schrems II ruling, which invalidates the EU-U.S. Privacy Shield agreement. Baker also shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast discussing Schrems II, biometrics and Twitter’s security, among other things:

Evelyn Douek discussed Twitter’s recent action against QAnon accounts and how it compares to other platforms content moderation decisions.

Richard Altieri and Benjamin Della Rocca discussed the Trump administration’s statements on TikTok, U.S. sanctions against Chinese officials and major tech platforms’s decisions to stop complying with the Hong Kong government’s data requests.

Nathaniel Sobel analyzed the recent arguments in lower court proceedings of Trump v. Vance following the Supreme Court’s rejection of absolute presidential immunity.

Daphna Renan discussed what the Trump v. Mazars and Trump v. Vance decisions reveal about the Supreme Court’s attempts to grapple with the duality of the presidency.

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

Chas Kissick shared a Justice Department indictment against two Chinese citizens for their alleged involvement in a hacking campaign that targeted COVID-19 research.

Matt Gluck shared an order from Military Commision Judge Col. Douglas K. Watkins granting one year of credit towards the sentence of Majid Khan, a detainee at Guantanamo Bay.

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an interview with Hany Farid, a professor at UC Berkeley, on deep fakes, doctored photos and disinformation:

Setzer shared a livestream of the House Foreign Affairs Committee hearing on the Trump administration’s 2021 foreign assistance budget request.

Lester Munson shared an episode of Fault Lines featuring an interview with Dr. Chris Ford, assistant secretary of state for international security and nonproliferation at the State Department, on the future of arms control in the United States.

Bob Bauer and Jack Goldsmith discussed Rep. Adam Schiff’s bill which seeks to narrow the president’s pardon power.

Scott Anderson and Benjamin Wittes shared their FOIA complaint, which seeks data about the independence of the intelligence community.

Chas Kissick shared a Justice Department indictment of four researchers who allegedly concealed their connections to China’s People’s Liberation Army (PLA) on their Visa applications.

Howell also shared an episode of ChinaTalk on the Lawfare Podcast with Jordan Schneider and Yuen Yuen Ang, associate professor of political science at the University of Michigan, about her new book, “China’s Gilded Age: The Paradox of Economic Boom and Vast Corruption.” They compared U.S. history and China in 2020.

Vera Mironova discussed the flaws of Iraq’s justice system for Islamic State combatants.

Andrew Kent discussed Congress’s power to regulate the president’s authority.

David Priess shared an update to the Associate Editor opening at Lawfare.

And that was the week that was.