Jump to content

Lawfare (website)

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Lawfare
Type of site
online multimedia publication
HeadquartersWashington, D.C.
OwnerThe Lawfare Institute
EditorsBenjamin Wittes
Roger Parloff
URLwww.lawfaremedia.org Edit this at Wikidata
CommercialNo
LaunchedSeptember 1, 2010[1]
Current statusActive

Lawfare is an American non-profit publication dedicated to national security issues, produced by The Lawfare Institute in cooperation with the Brookings Institution.[2][3] It has received attention for articles on Donald Trump's first presidency.

Background

[edit]

Lawfare was founded as a blog in September 2010[1] by Benjamin Wittes (a former editorial writer for The Washington Post), Harvard Law School professor Jack Goldsmith, and University of Texas at Austin law professor Robert Chesney.[3] Goldsmith was the head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the George W. Bush administration's Justice Department, and Chesney served on a detention-policy task force in the Obama administration.[3] Its contributors include legal scholars, law students, and former George W. Bush administration and Barack Obama administration officials.[3]

On June 28, 2023, Wittes said that Lawfare has become "a full-featured multimedia magazine."[4]

Coverage of the first Donald Trump presidency

[edit]

Lawfare's coverage of intelligence and legal matters related to the Trump administration has brought the website significant increases in readership and national attention.[5][6]

Executive Order 13769

[edit]

In January 2017 President Donald Trump tweeted "LAWFARE" and quoted a line from one of its posts that criticized the reasoning in the Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals ruling that blocked Trump's first refugee-and-travel ban.[3][7][8] The Lawfare piece called the ban "incompetent malevolence".[9] Trump tweeted the excerpt minutes after the line was quoted on Morning Joe.[7] Wittes, who supported the court ruling, criticized Trump for the tweet, asserting that Trump distorted the argument presented in the article.[8]

Dismissal of FBI Director James Comey

[edit]

On May 18, 2017, Lawfare's editor-in-chief Benjamin Wittes was the principal source of an extensive New York Times report about President Trump's interactions with FBI Director James Comey, who is a friend of Wittes, and how those interactions related to Comey's subsequent firing.[10] Wittes also provided a 25-minute interview to PBS NewsHour on the same subject. According to him, Trump's hug "disgusted" Comey.[11] Wittes said Comey was not expecting a hug, adding "It was bad enough there was going to be a handshake."[10]

Trump's disclosure of classified intelligence

[edit]

Several Lawfare contributors argued that Trump's reported disclosure of classified intelligence to Russia in mid-May 2017 was "perhaps the gravest allegation of presidential misconduct in the scandal-ridden four months of the Trump administration". The column further alleged that Trump's reported actions "may well be a violation of the President's oath of office".[12][13]

Reception

[edit]

Columnist David Ignatius described Lawfare as "one of the most fair-minded chroniclers of national security issues".[14]

The website has been criticized by attorney and journalist Glenn Greenwald. He said it has a "courtier Beltway mentality" devoted to "serving, venerating and justifying the acts of those in power".[3]

References

[edit]
  1. ^ a b "About Lawfare: A Brief History of the Term and the Site". Lawfare. May 14, 2015. Archived from the original on April 1, 2024. Retrieved June 26, 2017.
  2. ^ "About Lawfare". Lawfare. Archived from the original on November 26, 2024. Retrieved November 15, 2024.
  3. ^ a b c d e f Bazelon, Emily (March 14, 2017). "How a Wonky National-Security Blog Hit the Big Time". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on December 15, 2019. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  4. ^ Wittes, Benjamin (June 28, 2023). "Welcome to Lawfare's Shiny New Website". Lawfare. Archived from the original on December 4, 2023. Retrieved January 9, 2024.
  5. ^ Abbruzzese, Jason (May 26, 2017). "This blog has become required reading in Trump's America". Mashable. Archived from the original on December 6, 2022. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  6. ^ Roberts, Christopher (May 30, 2017). "Chesney's Lawfare Blog Makes Headlines, Reaches 10 Million People a Year". University of Texas at Austin School of Law. Archived from the original on December 8, 2024. Retrieved June 29, 2017.
  7. ^ a b Nelson, Louis (February 10, 2017). "Trump quotes legal blog to argue travel ban ruling is 'a disgraceful decision'". Politico. Archived from the original on February 13, 2018. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  8. ^ a b Jackson, David (February 10, 2017). "Trump rips 'disgraceful' court decision in immigration ban". USA Today. Archived from the original on January 24, 2025. Retrieved March 14, 2017.
  9. ^ Wittes, Benjamin (February 9, 2017). "How to Read (and How Not to Read) Today's 9th Circuit Opinion". Lawfare. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved February 19, 2025.
  10. ^ a b Schmidt, Michael S. (May 18, 2017). "Comey, Unsettled by Trump, Is Said to Have Wanted Him Kept at a Distance". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on February 12, 2025. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  11. ^ Summers, Elizabeth (May 18, 2017). "Comey 'disgusted' by Trump hug, considered White House 'not honorable,' friend says". PBS News Hour. Archived from the original on February 7, 2025. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  12. ^ Goldsmith, Jack; Hennessey, Susan; Jurecic, Quinta; Kahn, Matthew; Wittes, Benjamin; Wittes, Elishe Julian (May 15, 2017). "Bombshell: Initial Thoughts on the Washington Post's Game-Changing Story". Lawfare. Archived from the original on March 14, 2024. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  13. ^ Dubenko, Anna (May 16, 2017). "Right and Left React to Trump's Sharing Classified Information With Russia, and More". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Archived from the original on November 10, 2023. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
  14. ^ Ignatius, David (May 16, 2017). "Trump's presidency is beginning to unravel". The Washington Post. ISSN 0190-8286. Archived from the original on July 17, 2018. Retrieved May 19, 2017.
[edit]