Compiled by Athena Smith.
Articles
Why the U.S. Military Has Never Threatened Civilian Governance
Loren Voss reviewed Kori Schake’s book “The State and the Soldier,” in which Schake argued that the U.S. military has never posed a threat to civilian governance. Voss highlighted the author’s historical account of military officers acting politically and the book’s conclusion that these examples are rare due to strong military professionalism. Voss argued that military professionalism alone cannot sustain healthy civil-military relations and noted how civilian leaders must also be constrained in how they exert power over the military.
Schake argues that despite the founders’ fears about the risks associated with a standing army, the U.S. military has never posed a threat to civilian governance. Throughout the book, she uses historical examples to explain how the military professionalism that so worried the founding generation has instead become a bulwark of American democracy. Her history effectively demonstrates the importance of military professionalism but also raises the question: What obligations do civilian leaders have to ensure the military does not pose a threat to democracy?
Dispatch: In ‘Fake News’ Ban Hearing, Trump Is His Own DOJ’s Worst Enemy
Molly Roberts described the events in the courtroom during Cable News Network, Inc. v. Trump, a hearing to determine whether the temporary restraining order U.S. District Judge Timothy Kelly granted CNN following the Trump administration’s revocation of their White House access should be converted to a preliminary injunction. The plaintiffs argued the ban was viewpoint discrimination, while the Justice Department explained the plaintiffs had failed to contest by their deadline and were on notice not to publish classified information.
Boutrous now returns to the falsity question, this time with real force. The Supreme Court has never said that the First Amendment’s speech protections evaporate because of fraud, he says. Quite the contrary: Justice Anthony Kennedy, in his 2012 plurality opinion in
United States v. Alvarezstriking down the Stolen Valor Act of 2005 that criminalized falsely claiming to have received military honors, referenced “1984”: “Our constitutional tradition stands against the idea that we need Oceania’s Ministry of Truth.”
Podcasts
Lawfare Daily: The U.S. Withdrawal from Iraq and the Future of the Iraq-U.S. Relationship: Scott Anderson sat down with Omar Mohammed, Doug Silliman, and Victoria Taylor to discuss the recent withdrawal of U.S. military forces from Iraq 23 years after the U.S.-led invasion and occupation. The group considered whether the current Iraqi government is up to preventing a resurgence of ISIS and what lessons can be drawn from this experience and prior withdrawal in 2011.
Videos and Webinars
Lawfare Live** : The Trials of the Trump Administration, October 9: **On Friday, Oct. 9, at 4 p.m. ET,
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