The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Scott R. Anderson, Quinta Jurecic, Rohini Kurup, Natalie K. Orpett and Alan Z. Rozenshtein outlined what to make of the recent seditious conspiracy indictment of 11 Oath Keepers for their role in the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol. 

Claudia Swain announced this week’s Lawfare Live, which featured a discussion between Jurecic, Jacob Schulz, Rozenshtein and Roger Parloff about the recent events regarding the Oathkeepers and the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Parloff also explored if the sentences of Jan. 6 Capitol riot defendants may reflect political biases on the part of the judges handling these cases.

Jon Lewis and Seamus Hughes discussed what the prosecution of Stewart Rhodes might mean for the future of the Oath Keepers and the broader anti-government movement.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Jurecic spoke with Mike Stern, a former senior counsel to the House of Representatives, and Lawfare senior editor and Brookings Senior Fellow Molly Reynolds about questions of law and norms raised by the latest turns in the Jan. 6 select committee’s investigation: What happens when Congress investigates its own members?

Chuck Rosenberg reflected on the not-so-peaceful transfer of power from former President Donald Trump to President Joe Biden and the implications it had on our democracy.

Rohini Kurup posted the indictment of a Texas man charged with threatening Georgia election and other government officials.

Elizabeth McElvein and Benjamin Wittes analyzed how the Supreme Court’s denial of a motion by former President Trump to block the National Archives from turning classified White House materials to the Jan. 6 committee affects the law of executive privilege. 

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Natalie Orpett talked with Lawfare editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes, Lawfare senior editor Scott R. Anderson and Professor Jonathan Shaub of the University of Kentucky College of Law. They discussed the dispute between Trump and the Jan. 6 committee, the central issue of executive privilege and what it all means for the committee’s investigation:

Tanner Larkin analyzed the D.C. Circuit Opinion in Atchley v. AstraZeneca.

Robert Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast in which they discussed and debated the week’s top national security news stories including the oral argument in Thompson v. Trump and international and domestic law questions that might arise if Russia invades Ukraine: 

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Benjamin Wittes sat down on Lawfare Live with Alina Polyakova of the Center for European Policy Analysis; Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (ret.), the Pritzker Military Fellow at Lawfare; Ambassador William Courtney, who served as ambassador to Kazakhstan; and Dmitri Alperovitch, founder of the Silverado Policy Accelerator. They discussed the recent developments in Kazakhstan, the failure of the diplomatic process in Geneva and the impending war in Ukraine:

J. Andres Gannon, Erik Gartzke, Jon Lindsay and Peter Schram explored how the escalation of Russia’s gray zone conflict in Ukraine demonstrates the limits of and ineffectiveness of gray zone warfare.

Katherine Pompilio posted the indictment of four Belarusian government officials charged with conspiracy to commit aircraft piracy.

Peter Margulies explored how a grant of certiorari from the Supreme Court would set the stage for clarification of the uncertainty caused by the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fifth Circuit’s rejection of the Biden administration’s latest attempt to end the “Remain in Mexico” program.

Stewart Baker shared an episode of The Cyberlaw Podcast in which he discussed topics ranging from antitrust litigation in relation to Facebook and Google, to looming dangers hinted at by the recent cyberattacks on Ukrainian government computers:

Maggie Smith explored how vulnerabilities in public data supply chains have the potential to impact the information available to decision-makers in times of national and international crises and normal operations.

Nick Beecroft analyzed insurance exclusions for cyber-war and nation state cyber operations.

Alvaro Marañon posted a national security memorandum signed by Biden to bolster the cybersecurity of the national security, Department of Defense and intelligence community systems.

Heidi Tworek and Alicia Wanless discussed transparency reporting as a way to regulate digital platforms. 

Brian Liu and Raquel Leslie outlined China’s plans for the development of the digital economy.

David Priess shared an episode of Chatter in which he spoke with multi-media artist Laurie Anderson about the ways that her art and storytelling have intersected with national security:

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Evelyn Douek, Quinta Jurecic and Substack’s general counsel, Tim Hwang, discussed the debate about the online advertising industry:

She also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Bryce Klehm sat down with Hal Brands, the Henry A. Kissinger Distinguished Professor of Global Affairs at the Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies, to discuss the origins of containment, the rise of Sovietology in academia and what the Biden administration could learn from the Cold War:

Howell also shared an episode of Rational Security in which Anderson, Jurecic, and Rozenshtein were joined by Swain, Lawfare's new director of digital media, to discuss the week’s biggest national security news:

And that was the week that was.