The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Benjamin Wittes analyzed Judge David Carter’s March 28 opinion on Donald Trump and John Eastman in Eastman v. Thompson and pondered how the most devastating legal opinion ever written about an American president may not trigger a federal criminal investigation.

Katherine Pompilio announced next week’s Lawfare Live, which will feature a conversation between Wittes and Senior Editor Roger Parloff about the ongoing prosecutions of Capitol riot defendants.

Quinta Jurecic and Andrew Kent questioned the lack of reforms of executive power in the post-Trump era. 

Natalie K. Orpett published a tribute to former U.S. Secretary of State Madeleine Albright. 

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast, in which they sat down with Assistant Attorney General Matt Olsen to talk about the Justice Department’s National Security Division:

Andrew Mines argued that there is a growing problem of extremism in the U.S. military. 

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Juliette Kayyem and David Priess discussed Kayyem’s new book, “The Devil Never Sleeps: Learning to Live in an Age of Disasters.” They talked about the traditional focus of the disaster framework; the paradox of preparedness; and a variety of disasters and what we can learn from them:

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Wittes sat down with Polina Ivanova—a Moscow correspondent for the Financial Times—to talk through the Russian military press conference that took place on last week in which the Ministry of Defense seemed to walk back Russia's war aims in the Ukraine conflict:

Howell shared another episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Jacob Schulz sat down with Daniel Byman to discuss foreign fighters in Ukraine. They talked through the history of foreign fighters in different conflicts, how to think about the inflows into Ukraine and what the downsides might be of the phenomenon of foreign fighters traveling to Ukraine:

Howell shared an additional episode of the Lawfare Podcast, in which Wittes sat down with Andrea Chalupa to discuss her film, “Mr. Jones” which is about Gareth Jones, a journalist who uncovered the genocide perpetrated by Stalin against Ukrainians in the early 1930s:

Laura Thornton explained how democracies can respond to the Russian invasion of Ukraine.

Inga Kristina Trauthig explained how chat and encrypted messaging apps provide new ways to distribute information and disinformation in Ukraine and Russia.

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security in which Alan Rozenshtein, Jurecic and Scott R. Anderson were joined by Wittes to discuss the week’s big national security news such as President Biden’s remarks calling for the removal of Putin:

Elena Chachko explained why it is time for governments and platforms to build better long-term institutions and procedures for integrating tech giants into security and geopolitical policymaking.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Evelyn Douek and Jurecic spoke with Ellen Judson about the new U.K. Online Safety Bill:

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast in which Baker, Michael Ellis, Paul Rosenzweig, Nick Weaver and Alex Stamos discuss topics ranging from the European Digital Markets Act to whether Elon Musk and Grimes could be prosecuted for computer crimes:

Priess shared an episode of the Chatter podcast in which Shane Harris spoke with Lucianne Walkowicz about the ethics of space exploration:

Mark Montgomery discussed how Congress’s new appropriations bill only addresses only half of the federal government’s cybersecurity mandate.

Alvaro Marañon posted an indictment charging a National Security Agency employee for allegedly using his personal email to send highly classified information to an individual.

Shalini Bhargava Ray analyzed a ruling by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia Circuit in a challenge to a policy of expelling asylum-seekers at the border based on an obscure public health law.

Raquel Leslie and Brian Liu discussed how layoffs in China's tech sector are stoking fears of unemployment.

Jordan Schneider shared an episode of ChinaTalk which featured a discussion with Brian Hioe about Taiwanese indie music and what it can tell us about Taiwanese politics and culture:

And Schneider shared another episode of ChinaTalk in which he was joined by CSIS's Bonny Lin to discuss how Beijing is responding to the war in Ukraine:

And that was the week that was.