June 18, 2019

Episode 125: Worst of Both Worlds

55 minutes

We are back with the latest national security law news, with your co-hosts Steve Vladeck and Bobby Chesney explaining, debating, and–let’s face it–geeking out. This week we’ve got:

War Powers: The latest events in the simmering situation with Iran, and what they portend in terms of potential claims of Article II authority to use at least some amount of military force without further Congressional approval.

Military Commissions: The mil coms continue to generate pre-trial disputes, this time with a new round of disagreements about just who will serve as the capital-qualified defense counsel in Nashiri.

SCOTUS: The current term of the Supreme Court is nearing its end, and this week we saw some interesting developments including affirmation of the longstanding “separate sovereigns” rule (pursuant to which state and federal authorities may separately prosecute for the same underlying acts without violating the Double Jeopardy rule, something that has implications in light of the President’s Pardon Power extending only to federal offenses) as well as some thought-provoking commentary by Justice Thomas concerning the metes and bounds of stare decisis.

Hackback: We review the key moving parts in the re-introduced “AC/DC bill”–that is, the Active Cyber Defense Certainty Act–including the separate provisions on beacons and on “active cyber defense measures.”

Hacking the Russian Grid: We also take note of the revelation that CYBERCOM may have hacked Russia’s grid in some respect, and we talk about the international law implications of that story.

And, as always, there is frivolity. Let’s some it up with an acronym: STTNG, and a call for listener suggestions for particular episodes for review!

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By Bobby Chesney and Steve Vladeck

4.8

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