The Week that Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

First off, in anticipation of President Obama’s decision this week to take on the immigration issue, Ben examined the central question in the standoff between him and Congress: how much discretion does he have to decline, as a matter of policy, the deportation of millions of people? Paul also posted his own thoughts on the matter and pointed out that the footnotes in this week's OLC opinion are significant in their own right. In other news, Wells shared the Chief Prosecutor’s statement in this week’s hearing in Al-Hadi. He later posted links to Lawfare’s roundups from the motions hearings on November 17th and 18th. Jane noted that the DC Circuit denied a rehearing en banc in Allaithi v. Rumsfeld. Ben shared some interesting comments by Judges Brett Kavanaugh and John D. Bates on the role of blogs---and Lawfare---in the judiciary’s handling of national security cases. Alex Ely pointed out that the much-watched Dhiab case is not the only contemporary “saga” concerning force-feeding: the US Navy is currently deciding the fate of a nurse who refused to perform force-feeding procedures on Guantanamo detainees. Echoing Carol Rosenberg of the Miami Herald, I noted that five Guantanamo detainees were transferred to Europe this week. Ben shared the audio files of the American Bar Association’s “24th Annual Review of the Field of National Security Law CLE Conference.” Wells noted that the leadership of the Senate Select Committee on Intelligence is not happy with proposed changes to the current CIA e-mail destruction policy. Tara Hofbauer pointed out that the Office of the Director of National Intelligence has released the transcript from the 2008 Protect America Act litigation. Ben found it “a little perplexing” that Glenn Greenwald only shrugged when the Senate killed surveillance reform this week. Wells shared the news that the National Transportation Safety Board overturned the administrative law judge ruling in the Pirker drone case. In the 43rd iteration of the Steptoe Cyberlaw Podcast, Stewart Baker brought us, among other features, an interview with Ambassador Daniel Sepulveda, the man tasked with managing the US relationship with the International Telecommunications Union. Paul noted that the Congress is finally working to ensure ICANN’s accountability. The most recent legislation, the Defending Internet Freedom Act 2014, is especially significant in light of the fact that the US will hand over contractual control of the Internet Assigned Numbers Authority to the group next year. In this week’s Foreign Policy Essay, Daniel Byman, research director of the Center for Middle East Policy at the Brookings Institution, and Jeremy Shapiro, fellow in the Brookings foreign policy program, examine how the West can better respond to the foreign fighter threat. The Lawfare Podcast has reached a milestone: 100 episodes! To commemorate the occasion, we decided to circle back to our very first episode and feature an interview with Daily Beast columnist Shane Harris on his new book, @War. For this week’s Throwback Thursday, Cody and I analyzed the implications of the 1994 Budapest Memorandum on the current crisis in eastern Ukraine. I noted that the US Navy has a scary new death ray: the 30-kilowatt class Laser Weapon System. Ben shared a video by Bruce Riedel that outlines the origins of the Islamic State. I identified a few congressional hearings this week that focused on the Islamic State and the Iranian nuclear negotiations. Ben once again reminded the readership to contribute to Lawfare. He also shared a survey on live Lawfare events and webcasts. Take the poll and let us know what you think! And that was the week that was.