Today on Lawfare: July 8, 2025

From The Lawfare Editorial Team

Compiled by Mary Ford

Articles

Lessons From 1955: A Framework for Navigating Technological Change

Kevin Frazier looked back at a 1955 congressional report on automation and argued that the report provides a robust blueprint for artificial intelligence governance.

What makes the 1955 report extraordinary is not merely its prescience but its comprehensive framework for technological governance. Rather than focusing narrowly on the technology itself, the committee examined automation’s implications across multiple dimensions: economic growth, employment patterns, educational systems, community development, government responsibility, and social cohesion. Their 11 recommendations (condensed to seven here given overlapping themes among them) offer a clear guide to adaptive governance—tech-agnostic principles that address the fundamental challenges of managing changes brought on by innovation.

Public Opinion Won’t Protect the Courts

Andrew O’Donohue, citing evidence from other democracies such as Mexico and Türkiye, explained that public opinion is insufficient in safeguarding the judiciary from executive overreach and that societal mobilization is a more powerful protector.

Two key dynamics explain why public opinion is usually insufficient protection for the courts. The first is that even when voters value democratic principles like checks and balances, they usually care more about concrete policy issues, such as immigration, crime, or the economy. Most citizens are policy voters first and democracy voters second.

The Situation: On the Resignation of Michael Feinberg

Benjamin Wittes discussed the forced resignation of Michael Feinberg from the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), and pondered who or what will hold Deputy FBI Director Dan Bongino accountable to the law.

And that leaves a bit of a problem: the exercise of arbitrary power by the leadership of the people who wield guns on behalf of the executive branch domestically with no mechanism of accountability for their flagrant abuses of power. Note that neither Bongino nor the FBI has bothered to deny Feinberg’s claims. Note also that nobody at the Bureau has dared to make the argument that it is lawful or appropriate for the deputy FBI director to make personnel decisions based on who someone’s personal friends are—much less to collect such information in the first place.

Lawfare Daily: Michael Feinberg on Leaving the FBI: Michael Feinberg joined Wittes to discuss his career, his decision to resign from the FBI, the current climate inside the Bureau, and more.

Video and Webinars

At 10:30 am ET, Wittes sat down with Lawfare Senior Editors Anna Bower and Roger Parloff to take stock of updates in the Kilmar Abrego Garcia case, the July 7 hearing in the case, and more. Material supporters received a link to join the webinar to watch it without ads. It was livestreamed on YouTube for all other viewers. Find the livestream here. If you couldn’t attend the live event, the recording is available on Lawfare’s YouTube channel.

On July 11 at 4 pm ET, Wittes will sit down with Lawfare Senior Editors Bower, Parloff, and Scott Anderson to discuss ongoing litigation. Material supporters will receive a link to join the webinar to watch it without ads. It will be livestreamed on YouTube for all other viewers. Find the livestream here. If you cannot attend the live event, the recording will be available on Lawfare’s YouTube channel.

Announcements

In partnership with the University of Texas School of Law, Frazier and Alan Rozenshtein launched their new podcast series Scaling Laws, a podcast dedicated to navigating the complexities of artificial intelligence. Listen to the inaugural episode here, where they discuss the defeat in the Senate of a proposed moratorium on state and local regulation of artificial intelligence.

The Trials of the Trump Administration, our coverage of President Donald Trump’s executive actions and their legal challenges, now includes a page devoted to tracking the status of Alien Enemies Act cases in federal courts. Find the page here.

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