Lawfare No Bull

On May 19, the U.S. Senate Appropriations Subcommittee on Commerce, Justice, Science, and Related Agencies held a hearing entitled, “A Review of the President’s Fiscal Year 2027 Budget Request for the Department of Justice,” in which Acting Attorney General Todd Blanche testified for a 13% budget increase from the 2026 fiscal year, amounting to a total proposed budget of ​​$41.2 billion for the upcoming fiscal year. Over the course of two hours, the subcommittee questioned Blanche on the Justice Department’s recently announced $1.8 billion “Anti-Weaponization Fund,” its investigations into accusations of child sex trafficking and other crimes in the Epstein files, its role in implementing the March 31 executive order on securing federal elections, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On May 19, the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals heard oral argument in Anthropic’s lawsuit against Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth and the Department of Defense for its designation of the AI company as a supply chain risk. Judges Karen LeCraft Henderson, Gregory Katsas, and Neomi Rao questioned counsel for both parties on if the D.C. Circuit has the authority to review the Pentagon’s designation decisions, the conceptual difficulty of delivering a static ruling for a technology whose capabilities and risks are rapidly changing, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 27, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Chatrie v. United States, centering on a Fourth Amendment challenge to the use of geofence warrants, which allow investigators to obtain location data stored by a service provider within a specific geographic area and time period. Over the course of two hours, the justices questioned Petitioner’s Counsel Adam G. Unikowsky and Deputy Solicitor General Eric J. Feigin on how such geofence warrants comport with the Fourth Amendment's Reasonable Expectation of Privacy and its Search and Seizures Clause, the role of service providers’ disclosures and data storage processes, how the challenge fits with precedent set in the Court’s 2017 decision in Carpenter v. U.S., and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On April 1, the Supreme Court heard oral arguments in the case of Trump v. Barbara, which centered on a challenge to the president’s executive order signed on Jan. 20, 2025, that attempted to end birthright citizenship. Over the course of two hours, the justices questioned U.S. Solicitor General D. John Sauer and the ACLU’s Cecillia Wang on how the order comports with the 14th Amendment’s Citizenship Clause, the ambassadors and tribal exceptions, the Immigration and Nationality Act, precedent set in the Court’s 1898 decision in Wong Kim Ark, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

On March 18, the U.S. Senate Select Committee on Intelligence held an open hearing entitled “Worldwide Threats,” which featured testimony from National Intelligence Director Tulsi Gabbard, CIA Director John Ratcliffe, FBI Director Kash Patel, Acting National Security Director and Commander of U.S. Cyber Command William Hartman, and Defense Intelligence Agency Director James Adams. The committee questioned the intelligence community leaders on the ongoing war in Iran, the Russia-Ukraine War, the cyberthreats posed by China and Russia, foreign threats to U.S. elections, and more. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.