The Week That Was: All of Lawfare in One Email

From The Lawfare Editorial Team

Anna Bower reported on her months-long quest to identify the true administrator of the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE). Bower examined contradictory statements by the administration about DOGE’s leadership, questions of constitutionality and authority under the Appointments Clause, court filings, and much more.

James Pearce explained why Judge Hannah Dugan’s claim of judicial immunity is unlikely to succeed given that courts have consistently ruled judges are not immune from criminal prosecution. Pearce highlighted that in the sole federal case recognizing judicial immunity, the prosecution ultimately failed due to a rushed investigation and a hasty decision to prosecute.

On May 28 at 2 p.m. ET, Benjamin Wittes sat down with Quinta Jurecic, Roger Parloff, and Pearce to discuss the civil litigation targeting President Donald Trump’s executive actions, including updates in D.V.D. v. Department of Homeland Security, the case over the removal of immigrants to South Sudan, a ruling in Jenner & Block v. United States Department of Justice, and more.

On May 30 at 4 p.m. ET, Wittes sat down with Scott R. Anderson, Bower, and Parloff to discuss the civil litigation targeting Trump’s executive actions, including orders finding that Trump’s tariffs are unlawful, the denial of Mahmoud Khalil’s motion for a preliminary injunction, the dismantling of independent agencies, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Pearce sat down with John Keller to discuss proposed changes to the Public Integrity Section at the Department of Justice, criminal and civil contempt, whether there is a viable prosecution theory for former Federal Bureau of Investigation Director James Comey, and more.

On Lawfare Daily, Jonah Bromwich joined Bower to discuss his new book “Dragon on Centre Street,” which offers a behind-the-scenes look at Trump’s trial and conviction in the New York hush money case. They talked about the trial, its legacy, what comes next, and more.

Wittes considered why the Trump administration continues to issue unlawful executive orders violating the First Amendment rights of law firms, universities, and more after experiencing numerous defeats in district courts. Wittes concluded that rather than any logical reason for its persistence, the administration simply cannot resist actions to bend institutions to Trump’s will.

Natalie Orpett shared a letter filed in a D.C. Circuit case that includes a military judge’s order granting a Guantanomo defendant’s motion to suppress statements the prosecution wished to introduce on the grounds that the statements was irreconcilably tainted by his torture.

Jacob Ware and Ania Zolyniak argued that bringing terrorism charges against Luigi Mangione is an overzealous application of New York’s Anti-Terrorism Act, enacted in the immediate aftermath of 9/11. Ware and Zolyniak emphasized the importance of prosecutorial discretion to preserving the integrity of anti-terrorism efforts and warned that the charges against Mangione could diminish public confidence in the justice system.

Alexander Perkowski and Lulu Mansour summarized the arguments parties made before the Supreme Court in Fuld v. PLO and U.S. v. PLO, in which the Court considered whether a 2019 terrorism statute that brought the Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and Palestinian Authority (PA) under the personal jurisdiction of a district court violated the PLO and PA’s due process rights.

On Rational Security, Anderson sat down with Alan Rozenshtein and Kevin Frazier to talk through the week’s top news stories about artificial intelligence (AI), including Trump’s decision to repeal a Biden-era rule limiting the diffusion of high-end AI technology, a provision in a House bill that would place a 10 year moratorium on state efforts to regulate AI, a judge’s ruling that an AI’s output was not protected speech, and more.

Gabriel Weil explained why the House reconciliation bill’s 10 year ban on state and local regulation of AI will struggle to pass the Senate because it does not adhere to the Byrd Rule—which governs budget reconciliation processes—since it does not produce the required changes in federal outlays or revenues.

On Lawfare Daily, Josh Batson joined Frazier to talk about two research papers that uncovered important insights about how advanced generative AI models work, the broader significance of interpretability and explainability research, and more.

Anna Vinals Musquera and J. Scott Babwah Brennen shared updates to the Section 230 tracker, which identifies and categorizes proposals to reform Section 230. Musquera and Brennen highlighted three trends in the ten proposals lawmakers have introduced since a new Congress began in January.

Daniel Sutherland and Jim Dempsey discussed the Trump administration’s support for a Biden-era rule restricting foreign access to Americans’ personal data. Sutherland and Dempsey highlighted U.S. efforts to manage risks emerging from foreign entities such as Kaspersky, Huawei, and TikTok, and considered how American companies must adapt to the evolving regulatory framework.

In the latest edition of the Seriously Risky Business cybersecurity newsletter, Tom Uren discussed criminal charges linking the cybercriminals behind the DanaBot malware to Russian state espionage, the creation of a "one stop shop" for United States intelligence agencies to buy sensitive, commercially acquired data, litigation over the removal of two Democratic members of the Privacy and Civil Liberties Board, and more.

Steven Adler discussed the development of new AI models such as Anthropic's Claude Opus 4, which has shown a dangerous level of capability related to bioweapons. Adler warned of the consequences of prioritizing speed over safety in AI research and called for regulation to mitigate the risks posed by dangerous AI technologies.

Jordan Tama outlined Congress's role in shaping sanctions legislation and the challenges it faces in enforcing sanctions. Tama suggested that Congress can craft more successful sanctions regimes by considering how actors will respond and balancing the need for executive discretion with preserving congressional authority.

On Lawfare Daily, Minna Ålander joined Anastasiia Lapatina to talk about Russia's buildup of military infrastructure along the Finnish border, potential scenarios of Russian aggression against the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO), the critical role the U.S. plays in NATO's security framework, and more.

On episode two of Escalation—Lawfare and Goat Rodeo’s limited series narrative podcast chronicling the surreal twists and turns in the U.S. and Ukraine’s relationship over the years—co-hosts Tyler McBrien and Lapatina examined the high-stakes deal between the U.S., Russia, and Ukraine that disarmed newly independent Ukraine in exchange for promises of protection.

On episode three of Escalation, co-hosts McBrien and Lapatina covered the turn of the 21st century, during which Russia reverted back to its corrupt, authoritarian ways and the U.S. solely focused on terrorism after the Sept. 11 attacks.

And Philip Capers and Jaime Miguel El Koury broke down the Second Circuit’s ruling that Halkbank, a Turkish state-owned bank, does not possess absolute immunity from criminal prosecution for commercial activities under the Foreign Sovereign Immunities Act and common law. Capers and El Koury highlighted that the decision could expand the scope of criminal prosecution against both state-owned enterprises and international organizations.

And that was the week that was.