The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Post

Adam Unikowsky analyzed Judge Aileen Cannon’s decision to dismiss the classified documents case against former President Donald Trump. He criticized the decision as overly “visionary,” straying from conventional judicial practice by rejecting well-established interpretations of multiple federal statutes and Supreme Court precedent.

Roger Parloff analyzed how the Supreme Court’s ruling on presidential immunity could impact Trump’s criminal conviction in New York. He examined six categories of evidence that Trump claims should be excluded based on the Court’s ruling, and highlighted challenges facing Justice Juan Merchan and New York appellate courts in interpreting the decision.

On Aug. 8, Benjamin Wittes was joined by Parloff and Anna Bower for this week’s episode of “Lawfare Live: Trump’s Trials and Tribulations.” They discussed Judge Tanya Chutkan’s briefing schedule in the Jan. 6 case, Merchan’s choice to delay his ruling on Trump’s post-trial immunity motion in the New York case, and more.

Julien Berman shared a report from the Department of Homeland Security Office of Inspector General about the Secret Service’s response to the Jan. 6 attack on the U.S. Capitol.

Dan Maurer examined whether a senior military officer could legally disobey a lawful order from the U.S. President. He concluded that the Uniform Code of Military Justice has significant limitations in enabling the civilian leadership to compel compliance from the military, and suggested potential fixes to address this gap.

Dennis Aftergut and Scott Harshbarger highlighted the tug of war between pro- and anti-democratic forces within American legal institutions. They contrasted former Attorney General Bill Barr’s alleged obstruction of a Department of Justice investigation into Trump with the American Bar Association’s bipartisan Task Force on Democracy Report, which calls on lawyers to defend democratic institutions and the rule of law against rising authoritarianism.

On Chatter, Wittes sat down with Bob Bauer to discuss his new book, “The Unraveling: Reflections on Politics Without Ethics and Democracy in Crisis.” They talked about Bauer’s career as a litigant, his regrets about party lawyering in an era of rising polarization, and more.

In this week’s edition of Lawfare’s Foreign Policy Essay series, Daniel Byman highlighted the growing inconsistency in U.S. foreign policy, noting that in recent years, different presidential administrations have had vastly different foreign policy priorities. He argued that these discontinuities may undermine America’s global influence, complicate relationships with allies, and create opportunities to pursue aggression for adversaries.

Rose Lewis and David Lamb analyzed a lawsuit brought by the Mexican government against major U.S. gun manufacturers, who the Mexican government alleges knowingly arm criminal cartels, leading to increased gun violence in Mexico. Lewis and Lamb noted that the outcome of the case could have broader implications for gun trafficking, the opioid crisis, and migration between the two countries.

On Lawfare Daily, Tyler McBrien spoke with Kavitha Chekuru, Emily Tripp, Samaneh Moafi, and Lawrence Abu Hamdan about the new Al Jazeera film entitled “The Night Won’t End.” They discussed the stories of the families profiled in the film, civilian casualties in Gaza, the United States’s role in the war since Oct. 7, and more.

Steven Katz called on Congress to conduct an independent review of U.S. intelligence failures related to Hamas’s Oct. 7, 2023, attack on Israel—specifically to assess whether the American intelligence community overestimated Israeli capabilities and relied too heavily on Israel for warning intelligence on Hamas.

On Rational Security, Alan Rozenshtein, Quinta Jurecic, Scott Anderson, and Wittes discussed the week’s big national security news stories, including the suspected assassination of senior Hezbollah and Hamas leaders, Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin’s decision to revoke the plea agreements in the 9/11 case at Guantanamo Bay, the historic prisoner exchange between Russia and the West, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Natalie Orpett spoke to Brig. Gen. John Baker (ret.) about the three guilty pleas in the 9/11 case at Guantanamo Bay. They discussed the lengthy litigation leading to the plea agreements, Austin’s decision to revoke them, and the implications for the future of the 9/11 case and the military commissions.

In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren examined concerns from the U.S. intelligence community regarding the risks posed by foreign intelligence entities exploiting America’s vulnerable data ecosystem, the Russian prisoner exchange (which involved several Russian cybercriminals), and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Justin Sherman spoke to Arun G. Rao about his work at the Department of Justice as the deputy assistant attorney general for the Civil Division’s Consumer Protection Branch. They discussed the department’s consumer protection work, cyber crime and elder fraud, data privacy, and more. 

Farzaneh Badiei and Konstantinos Komaitis emphasized that recent efforts of registries and registrars to address trust and safety in the Domain Name System (DNS) have largely been ineffective. They advocated for a more consistent, transparent, and consolidated approach to establish effective DNS governance. 

Eugenia Lostri spoke to Lukas Bundonis about the connection between law enforcement and tech companies. They discussed how the relationship functions in the U.S. as compared to other countries, the different ways in which that relationship can become politicized, and more.

Gabriel Weil argued that tort law should be a primary tool for artificial intelligence (AI) governance because liability provides better incentives for AI developers to mitigate risk than prescriptive regulations.

On Lawfare Daily, Kevin Frazier spoke with California State Sen. Scott Wiener (D) about his bill, “Safe and Secure Innovation for Frontier Artificial Intelligence Models.” They discussed the bill’s implications for AI safety and security, debates about federal versus state regulation and model versus end-user governance, and more.

Amarins Laanstra-Corn and Tia Sewell discussed France’s deployment of advanced AI surveillance systems during the 2024 Summer Olympics in Paris, designed to enhance security against terrorism and other significant threats. They noted that although the initiative complies with European privacy laws, it raises concerns about the implications of large-scale surveillance in Europe.

Frazier noted that the effects of AI on the labor market have largely been missing from the debate about AI regulation. He argued that policymakers must develop robust economic security programs and other anticipatory governance structures to mitigate the harms of AI-driven job displacement.

And to support Lawfare’s coverage of the Trump Trials—a first-of-its-kind project dedicated to providing in-depth coverage of the ongoing criminal proceedings against Trump in Washington, Florida, New York, and Georgia—please consider making a contribution here. Lawfare’s talented correspondents and analysts discuss the latest developments in the cases, explain the complex legal issues they raise, and consider what might come next in a wide range of content, including written analysis, podcasts, live and recorded virtual events, primary source document repositories, and infographics.

And that was the week that was.