The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Roger Parloff analyzed a U.S. district court judge’s dismissal of the felony charge that has become the single most important weapon in the government’s arsenal in Capitol insurrection cases.

Chris Carpenter analyzed the increase in the use of digital evidence in the prosecutions of the Jan. 6 rioters. 

Benjamin Wittes posted the second episode of The Aftermath, which covers the early phases of the criminal investigation launched by the FBI even as the perpetrators of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot were heading home:

Katherine Pompilio announced this week’s Lawfare Live, which featured a Q&A with Wittes, Natalie Orpett and Rohini Kurup about the second episode of The Aftermath.

Jen Patja Howell shared an episode of Rational Security in which Alan Z. Rozenshtein, Quinta Jurecic and Scott R. Anderson discussed a new filing by the Jan. 6 committee and support the U.S. and its allies should provide to the Ukrainian government:

Rozenshtein hypothesized about how the Ukraine-Russia conflict would have played out had Donald Trump still been president of the United States.  

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Wittes talks with Kateryna—a Ukrainian law student—about life as a Russian-speaking Ukrainian in Kharkiv before and after the Russian invasion, about getting out of Ukraine, and about being a refugee law student in an adjacent country:

Howell also shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Anderson sat down with Michael Kofman to get a sense of the state of the conflict in Ukraine and where it might be headed. They talked about what's gone wrong for Russia so far, how Western assistance is empowering the Ukrainians and how both sides are likely to adapt as the conflict enters its next stage.

Pompilio posted the criminal complaint that charged a Russian-American woman with acting illegally as a Russian agent in the U.S. for at least 10 years.

Pompilio also announced next week’s Lawfare Live, in which Anderson will answer questions about everything you wanted to know about sanctions but were afraid to ask. 

Ingrid Wuerth examined whether foreign sovereign immunity applies to sanctions on central banks. 

Michael C. Petra discussed whether neutral states can seize belligerent merchant vessels on the high seas and retain their neutral status during armed conflict. 

Jordan Schneider shared an episode of ChinaTalk in which he and Matej Šimalčík discuss if the war in Ukraine will accelerate changes in opinion towards China:

Schneider also shared another episode of ChinaTalk in which he and Una Aleksandra Bērziņa-Čerenkova discuss the Latvian perspective on the Russian invasion of Ukraine:

David Priess shared an episode of the Chatter podcast in which he sat down with former Estonian President Toomas Ilves to discuss his parents' experience fleeing wartime Estonia, the 2007 cyberattacks on Estonia, and why the new Russian invasion of Ukraine has (so far) lacked a major cyber warfare element:

Jaime Lopez and Brady Worthington examined the extent and limits of the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over the conflict in Ukraine. 

Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck shared an episode of the National Security Law Podcast in which they discuss and debate topics ranging from the International Criminal Court’s jurisdiction over war crimes on Ukraine’s territory to the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s hearing on the 2001 Authorization for the Use of Military Force:

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast in which Evelyn Douek and Jurecic spoke with Alex Stamos about how various platforms, from Twitter to TikTok and Telegram, are moderating the content coming out of Russia and Ukraine right now:

Paul Rosenzweig discussed if there is a way to improve content moderation on platforms. 

Stewart Baker shared an episode of the Cyberlaw Podcast in which Gus Horwitz and Mark MacCarthy review the tech boycott that has seen companies like Apple, Samsung, Microsoft and Adobe pull their service from Russia:

Matthew H. Murray explained how divestment from Russia by foreign business could increase pressure on Vladimir Putin. 

MacCarthy analyzed the Open App Markets Bill that was just approved by the Senate Judiciary Committee. 

Alvaro Marañon posted President Biden’s executive order on ensuring responsible development of digital assets. 

Nicol Turner Lee shared an episode of  TechTank in which Lee and Renee Cummings discuss whether civil rights and algorithmic systems coexist and, if so, what roles do government agencies and industries play in ensuring fairness, diversity, and inclusion:

Chesney posted a registration link to the U.S. Cyber Command’s Annual Legal Conference. 

Mary Brooks and Rosenzweig announced the White Hat Cyber Forecasting Challenge. 

Marañon also posted the indictment of Ukrainian national Yaroslav Vasinskyi—a key member of the REvil ransomware group—for his alleged involvement in a variety of cyber crimes.

Howell shared an episode of the Lawfare Podcast, in which Priess sat down with Garrett Graff to discuss the Watergate scandal. They discussed the evolution of Nixon's thinking involving the tapes that he recorded of his White House conversations, the order that the Secretary of Defense gave during the height of the scandal to warn soldiers about following the commander-in-chief's orders, and more:

Pompilio posted the intelligence community’s annual threat assessment from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence for 2022. 

And Teresa Chen, Sam Cohen, Alana Nance, Han-ah Sumner and Alex Vivona discussed the Biden administration’s new Indo-Pacific Strategy and more. 

And that was the week that was.