Lawfare

@nicholasbednar.bsky.social and @tphillips.bsky.social argue that President Trump's removal of the three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission defeats his duty to faithfully execute the law and exceeds his removal power under the Take Care Clause.

Faithful Execution and the Removal Power

President Trump is exercising his removal power in ways that defeat his duty to faithfully execute the law.

On July 15, the Senate will hold acting Attorney General Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing.

@ericcolumbus.bsky.social explains why Blanche could serve as attorney general, regardless of whether Congress votes to confirm him, as a "forever nominee."

The Unbearable Lightness of a Todd Blanche Confirmation Fight

If the Senate doesn’t confirm Blanche, he can still run the Justice Department.

"The more the public understands their rights and the security forces’ authorities in this historically abnormal setting, the lower the risk of tragic mistakes and open hostility."

@danmaurerlawprof.bsky.social outlines what election officials should do if troops are deployed at polling stations.

Rules of Engagement When the Troops Appear at Polling Sites

State election officials can mitigate the perils of federal “armed men” at the polls.

"The documents do not reveal a deep-state playbook. When actually read, they show Gabbard’s playbook."

@noupside.bsky.social breaks down Tulsi Gabbard's "Fauci Files" which claim Fauci manipulated intelligence and lied to Congress about the origins of COVID-19.

Tulsi Gabbard’s Fauci Files Don’t Prove What She Says They Prove

Gabbard’s declassification theater is a case study in politicizing intelligence.

332 active cases challenging Trump admin national security related actions. 22 suits by the admin against state/local laws.

Lawfare's litigation tracker keeps a running tally of it all:

Litigation Tracker

Find legal challenges to executive orders and actions from the Trump administration.

@annabower.bsky.social, @juliacurlee.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @michael-feinberg.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social, and @lorenvoss.bsky.social go through the allegations Trump made in his speech on the 2020 election and explain what the supporting documents really show.

Everything Trump’s Election Speech Did Not Prove

After years of searching for any scrap of evidence that suggests the 2020 election was stolen, the White House still hasn’t found it.

Yesterday, President Trump removed or forced out all three remaining members of the Election Assistance Commission. @nicholasbednar.bsky.social and @tphillips.bsky.social argue that these firings exceed the president’s removal power under the Take Care Clause of the Constitution.

Faithful Execution and the Removal Power

President Trump is exercising his removal power in ways that defeat his duty to faithfully execute the law.

@annabower.bsky.social, @juliacurlee.bsky.social, @noupside.bsky.social, @michael-feinberg.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social & @lorenvoss.bsky.social go through each allegation President Trump made in his speech last Thursday on the 2020 election and analyze what the documents really show.

Everything Trump’s Election Speech Did Not Prove

After years of searching for any scrap of evidence that suggests the 2020 election was stolen, the White House still hasn’t found it.

Former NSC Director @juliacurlee.bsky.social explains how the Trump administration's purge of career detailees from the National Security Council broke the interagency coordination system that has managed U.S. national security and hobbled the White House's ability to achieve U.S. interests.

The Purge: How the White House Broke the NSC and How to Fix It

Dismantling the machinery that coordinates U.S. foreign policy led to disaster, from ill-conceived tariffs to the calamitous war with Iran.

History shows Congress has real tools: appropriations, oversight, war powers pushback, to reclaim authority it delegates to the president.
Michael R. Dreeben, Jacqueline Sanchez, and Owen O'Brien-Powers respond to Justice Gorsuch's "retrieval problem" thesis.

Congress Has More Power Than It Thinks

A Supreme Court justice says Congress virtually never can reclaim power it delegates to the president. History suggests that it isn’t so.

@katherinepomps.bsky.social has compiled the most comprehensive study currently available of the crimes alleged against Jan. 6 pardonees in the years since their prosecutions for the insurrection.

View the database:

The Jan. 6 Pardons: How Many Clemency Recipients Have Faced Other Charges?

The real count is much higher than the public knew.

Julia Curlee explores how the mass removals of career detailess from the NSC has hobbled the White House’s ability to weigh competing U.S. interests or coordinate U.S. foreign policy and what Congress and a new administration can do to fix it.

The Purge: How the White House Broke the NSC and How to Fix It

Dismantling the machinery that coordinates U.S. foreign policy led to disaster, from ill-conceived tariffs to the calamitous war with Iran.

The Trump administration's counterterrorism strategy nevers mentions the far-right and trades an accurate assessment of the threat landscape for political rhetoric, write @pwbeck.bsky.social and @jacobware.bsky.social.

At a Mosque in San Diego, Trump’s Counterterrorism Strategy Falls Flat

The administration’s strategy trades an accurate assessment of the threat landscape for political rhetoric.

The laws protecting elections from military interference are real, but certain exceptions could give a president room to deploy troops anyway. @nkorpett.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social & @lorenvoss.bsky.social on why "deploy first, litigate later" may be the operative rule.

The Military and Elections, Part II: Deploy First, Litigate Later

Multiple statutes prohibit military involvement in elections. But are they enough?

Recent executive agency actions and court decisions make it easier to understand how insidious, and how illegal, President Trump's executive order targeting mail-in voting will turn out to be, writes @mollyroberts.bsky.social.

What’s up with Trump’s Mail-In Voting Executive Order?

Agency actions and court decisions make it easier to understand how insidious, and how illegal, the EO will turn out to be.

The U.S. has admitted thousands of Afrikaner refugees while freezing admissions for nearly everyone else, based on a "white genocide" claim South Africans across racial lines reject. @mattiecwebb.bsky.social on why this policy is costing Washington credibility: www.lawfaremedia.org/article/afri...

Afrikaner Refugees and the Limits of U.S. Pressure on South Africa

Beyond Washington’s refugee policy is a larger story about South Africa’s foreign policy and the limits of U.S. power in a multipolar world.

The DOJ settled Trump's $10B IRS lawsuit, and acting AG Todd Blanche claimed to waive his past tax liabilities as a part of that settlement.

🎙️ @rparloff.bsky.social talked to @taxlawcenter.org's Brandon DeBot and Kelsey Merrick about the legality of the settlement.
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In Trump v. Slaughter, SCOTUS overruled Humphrey's Executor, allowing the president to fire indepdent agency heads. @nicholasbednar.bsky.social dives into the impact of the opinion on inferior officers & civil servants.

Slaughter’s Silence

Trump v. Slaughter’s silence on the civil service raises concerns of executive aggrandizement.

Amid talk of troops at the polls this midterm cycle, @nkorpett.bsky.social, @mollyroberts.bsky.social, and @lorenvoss.bsky.social trace the statutes rooted in the Civil War era that bar military involvement in U.S. elections in part I of a two-part series on domestic deployments during a election:

The Military and Elections, Part I: The Legal Wall

Multiple statutes prohibit military involvement in elections. But what do they actually say?

"Nihilistic violent extremism," a new term of art among law enforcement and counterterrorism analysts is too vague a concept and encompasses too wide a range of behavior, argues Bennett Clifford.

‘Nihilistic Violent Extremism’ Isn’t a Thing, and I’m Tired of Pretending It Is

The catch-all category is misleading and a mistake.

Federal contractors now run detention facilities, transport detainees, and administer benefit programs—functions once performed by government itself. David S. Rubenstein maps where state law can still reach them, and where the Supremacy Clause draws the line.

Within Bounds: State Authority to Regulate Federal Contractors

As private actors take on more federal functions, states retain broad but bounded authority to hold federal contractors accountable.

@Michael-Feinberg.bsky.social and Julia Curlee trace how ODNI went from a post-9/11 fix for politicized intelligence to a tool ripe for the same abuse it was built to prevent and what Bill Pulte's tenure could mean for the office.

Gradually, and Then Suddenly: The Decline and Fall of ODNI

The decline of ODNI’s effectiveness, analytic rigor, and political neutrality is deleterious for the nation’s security. But it is also unsurprising.

“Still, the fact that such a straightforward decision with urgent implications for conditions inside Israeli prisons took two and a half years for the court to deliver suggests Israeli authorities may have dragged their feet,” writes Yuval Shany and Amichai Cohen.

Justice Delayed, Justice Denied? The HCJ’s ICRC Visits Judgment

The Supreme Court belatedly finds refusal to allow ICRC visits to Palestinian prisoners a blatant violation of Israeli and international law.

Todd Blanche's confirmation hearing to be attorney general occurred earlier this week. Whether the Senate votes to confirm him may not matter because under 28 U.S.C. § 508 he could keep running DOJ as acting AG indefinitely, writes @ericcolumbus.bsky.social.

The Unbearable Lightness of a Todd Blanche Confirmation Fight

If the Senate doesn’t confirm Blanche, he can still run the Justice Department.