Lawfare is the use of legal systems and institutions to damage or delegitimize an opponent, or to deter an individual's usage of their legal rights. The term may refer to the use of legal systems and principles against an enemy, such as by damaging or delegitimizing them, wasting their time and money, or winning a public relations victory. Alternatively, it may describe a tactic used by repressive regimes to label and discourage civil society or individuals from claiming their legal rights via national or international legal systems. This is especially common in situations when individuals and civil society use nonviolent methods to highlight or oppose discrimination, persecution, corruption, lack of democracy, limiting freedom of speech, violations of human rights and violations of international humanitarian law.
Jack Landman Goldsmith III is an American legal scholar. He serves as the Learned Hand Professor of Law at Harvard Law School, where he has written extensively in the fields of international law, civil procedure, federal courts, conflict of laws, and national security law. Writing in The New York Times, Jeffrey Rosen described him as being "widely considered one of the brightest stars in the conservative legal firmament".
Benjamin Wittes is an American legal journalist. He is editor in chief of Lawfare and senior fellow in governance studies at The Brookings Institution, where he is the research director in public law, and co-director of the Harvard Law School–Brookings Project on Law and Security. He works principally on issues related to American law and national security. Wittes was number 15 on the Politico 50 of 2017, described as "Bard of the Deep State".
Robert M. "Bobby" Chesney is an American lawyer and the Dean of the University of Texas School of Law. He is the Charles I. Francis Professor in Law and was the associate dean for academic affairs before becoming the dean. Chesney teaches courses relating to U.S. national security and constitutional law. He is also the director of the Strauss Center for International Security and Law. Chesney addresses issues involving national security and law, including matters relating to military detention, the use of force, terrorism-related prosecutions, the role of the courts in national security affairs and the relationship between military and intelligence community activities. He is a co-founder and contributor along with Benjamin Wittes and Jack Goldsmith to the Lawfare Blog. He also co-hosts The National Security Law Podcast with fellow Texas law professor Stephen Vladeck.
Hedges v. Obama was a lawsuit filed in January 2012 against the Obama administration and members of the U.S. Congress by a group including former New York Times reporter Christopher Hedges, challenging the National Defense Authorization Act for Fiscal Year 2012 (NDAA). The legislation permitted the U.S. government to indefinitely detain people "who are part of or substantially support Al Qaeda, the Taliban or associated forces engaged in hostilities against the United States". The plaintiffs contended that Section 1021(b)(2) of the law allows for detention of citizens and permanent residents taken into custody in the U.S. on "suspicion of providing substantial support" to groups engaged in hostilities against the U.S. such as al-Qaeda and the Taliban respectively that the NDAA arms the U.S. military with the ability to imprison indefinitely journalists, activists and human-rights workers based on vague allegations.
Daniel L. Byman is one of the world's leading researchers on terrorism, Counterterrorism and the Middle East. Dr. Byman is a Professor in Georgetown University's Walsh School of Foreign Service and Director of Georgetown's Security Studies Program He is a former Vice-Dean of the school.
Lisa Oudens Monaco is an American attorney, former federal prosecutor and national security official who has served as the thirty-ninth United States deputy attorney general since April 21, 2021. She is a member of the Democratic Party.
Stephen Isaiah Vladeck is a professor at Georgetown University Law Center where he specializes in the federal courts, constitutional law, national security law, and military justice, especially with relation to the prosecution of war crimes. Vladeck has commented on the legality of the United States' use of extrajudicial detention and torture, and is a regular contributor to CNN.
Michael William Duncan is an American political history podcaster and author. A self-described "complete history geek", after not finding any Roman history podcasts in 2007, Duncan began The History of Rome, a narrative podcast chronicling events from the founding of Rome until the collapse of the Western Roman Empire. The podcast concluded in 2012. A year later he began Revolutions, which ran for ten seasons over the course of nine years, covering the American, French, and Russian revolutions, among others. The series' main narrative ended in July 2022.
Shane Harris is an American journalist and author. He is a senior national security writer at the Washington Post. He specializes in coverage of America's intelligence agencies. He is author of the books The Watchers: The Rise of America's Surveillance State and @War: The Rise of the Military-Internet Complex, about the impact of cyberspace as the American military's "fifth-domain" of war.
Lawfare is an American online non-profit multimedia publication dedicated to national security issues, published by The Lawfare Institute in cooperation with the Brookings Institution. It has received attention for articles on Donald Trump's presidency.
Brooke Goldstein is a human rights attorney. She is the founder and Executive Director of The Lawfare Project.
The Lawfare Project is an American non-profit works to protect the human and civil rights of Jewish communities worldwide. The Lawfare Project funds legal actions to protect free speech and civil rights by challenging antisemitism and discrimination against Jews.
American Dharma is a 2018 British-American documentary film directed by Errol Morris. The film follows the career of political strategist Steve Bannon. The film was released on November 1, 2019, by Utopia.
The Control of Economic Activity Bill 2018 is a proposed Irish law that would ban and criminalize "trade with and economic support for illegal settlements in territories deemed occupied under international law", most notably Israeli settlements in Israeli-occupied territories. Violators would face fines of up to €250,000 and up to five years in prison.
Alexander Semyon Vindman is a retired United States Army lieutenant colonel who was the Director for European Affairs for the United States National Security Council (NSC) until he was reassigned on February 7, 2020. Vindman is currently director for the think tank the Institute for Informed American Leadership (IIAL).
The National Intelligence Law of the People's Republic of China governs China's intelligence and security apparatus. It is the first law made public in China which is related to China's national intelligence agencies. The law does not specifically name any organizations to which it applies. According to the law, "everyone is responsible for state security" which is in line with China's state security legal structure as a whole. The final draft of the law on 16 May 2017 was toned down as compared to previous versions. The National People's Congress passed the law on 27 June 2017. The law was updated on 27 April 2018.
The Combating BDS Act is an anti-BDS bill passed by the Senate in the 116th United States Congress intended to counter the BDS movement's call for boycotts, divestment and sanctions against Israel.
EJIL:Talk! is an international law blog. It is the blog of the European Journal of International Law, "firmly established as one of the world's leading journals in its field" and closely linked with the European Society of International Law. It has been described as "the widely read European Journal of International Law blog", as well as a "leading international law blog", an "influential international law blog", and a "popular international law blog". It is regularly identified as one of the leading international law blogs, together with Opinio Juris (blog).
