The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

As the networks called the presidential election Saturday for former Vice President Joe Biden, Quinta Jurecic, Alan Z. Rozenshtein and Benjamin Wittes reflected on the meaning of the election results for the rule of law and the prospects for reform of the presidency. Scott R. Anderson, Susan Hennessey, Rohini Kurup, David Priess, and Jacob Schulz argued that the election, despite fears of a meltdown because of disinformation and foreign interference, went remarkably well.  

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an interview with Dan Byman, foreign policy editor of Lawfare and Brookings senior fellow, and Colin Clarke, senior research fellow at the Soufan Center, on violence at polls during the U.S. election: 

Quinta Jurecic discussed the Mueller investigation and two important recent books about the probe.

Brian Greer detailed steps that Congress and ordinary citizens should take now to deter the Trump administration from destroying archival evidence of potential wrongdoing.

Howell shared an episode of Rational Security, the “Still Counting” edition, in which the Lawfare team discusses President Trump’s false declarations of victory and baseless claims of a fraudulent election:

Benjamin Wittes presented potential problems of a lame-duck Trump presidency—including a contested election, transition sabotage, and exercises of executive authority—if he were to lose the election.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast titled “Almost Done…” in which Benjamin Wittes, David Priess, Scott R. Anderson and Alan Rozenshtein discussed the direction of the election on Thursday evening:

Lawrence Lessig and Jason Harrow argued that state legislatures can’t ignore the popular vote when appointing electors. 

Lindsay P. Cohn and Steve Vladeck explained that in the context of elections, Congress has clarified that otherwise broad executive branch military authorities are not available.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an interview with leaders of the Stanford-MIT Healthy Elections Project. Nathaniel Persily, Charles Stewart III, Zahavah Levine and Chelsey Davidson discuss the health of the American election:

Elizabeth McElvein and Benjamin Wittes analyzed Federal Election Commission filings from the past four presidential cycles and found no evidence of a Trump-era politicization of the intelligence community.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring an all-Lawfare crew of Scott Anderson, David Priess, Jacob Schulz, Quinta Jurecic, Susan Hennessey and Benjamin Wittes to discuss the state of the election and the predicted challenges for the next few weeks and months:

Lestor Munson shared the latest episode of Fault Lines, “Election Spectacular” edition:

Abby Lemert and Eleanor Runde summarized key developments in U.S.-China technology policy and national security news in this week’s edition of SinoTech.

Anna Salvatore interviewed journalist Arzu Geybulla about the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh and discussed how to end it.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast featuring a deep dive into the implications of Schrems II, election security threats and social media content moderation, among other things: 

Stephen Bates argued that the pessimistic ideas of famed theologian Reinhold Niebuhr continue to hold true in today’s United States.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast featuring a conversation with Adam Tooze, a professor at Columbia University and an economic historian, on the evolution of world order since the 20th century:

Doowan Lee and DeVan Shannon examined how the U.S. can build a sustainable and cost-effective counterterrorism strategy that also functions in support of great power competition.

Jeremy K. Davis explored the impact of neutrality in customary international law on U.S. defense cooperation.

And on Lawfare Live, a team of Lawfare editors took audience questions live on the election, the transition, and the expected and ongoing legal challenges:

And that was the week that was.