What We're Reading

Hello Lawfare Patreon Subscribers,

Here is what we’re reading this week:

Chief Operating Officer David Priess is currently enjoying a bit of both fiction and non-fiction. First, he’s finishing an advance copy of New York Times bestselling author Brad Thor’s forthcoming thriller “Black Ice”—a page-turning mix of action/adventure and geopolitical intrigue that’s become Thor’s trademark—focusing on threats to US national security in the high Arctic. Second, he’s starting “The Rise and Fall of Osama Bin Laden,” the comprehensive new biography by Peter Bergen of the al-Qaeda leader. David will chat about it with Peter in a couple of weeks for the Lawfare Podcast (which, of course, Lawfare's Patreon supporters can listen to without ads).

Senior Editor Quinta Jurecic recommends this New York Times Magazine profile of Zhao Lijian, a rising star in China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs whose trollish Twitter presence marks a change in how the Chinese government is engaging with the rest of the world. She’s also been reading “Congress’s Constitution,” by Josh Chafetz—a study of the legislature’s institutional power and an argument that Congress has more constitutional authority than many Americans might think.

Senior Editor Alan Rozenshtein is reading this article in the New Yorker about expensive sleep trainers, which hit a chord, given that he has a 3.5-month-old.

Managing Editor Jacob Schulz is reading Olivia Warren's essay in the Harvard Law Review about sexual harassment and reform in the federal judicial system. He also recommends a 2016 essay in the Columbia Journalism Review that chronicles the history of tech criticism and proposes fruitful avenues for writing about tech—it's a long one and he's not done yet but has already learned a lot.

Fellow in Cybersecurity Law Alvaro Marañon is reading a piece in Slate that discusses how applications, bots and other forms of technology may be used to generally improve the agency rulemaking process. These changes could remedy the lack of public involvement with rulemaking through various opt-in applications that could alert a user of proposed rules they may find relevant, such as a rule that would limit the hours at their local national park.

Associate Editor Rohini Kurup is listening to the latest episode of Grand Tamasha, a podcast on Indian politics from the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace, which explores the relationship between India and China and the possibilities for future conflict.

Lawfare’s Quote of the Week

From “The Real Takeaway From the Enjoining of the Florida Social Media Law” by Alan Rozenshtein: “It should not be a partisan position that, in a free society, it is intolerable for any entity—whether the government or a private company—to control access to the public square. Whatever their downsides, government restrictions on content moderation, whether enacted or merely credibly threatened, may well be necessary to ensure the health of the digital commons. Ignoring that reality simply leaves the policymaking to those least responsible to do it.”

From the Lawfare Vault

July 14, 2019: “Can Abiy Keep Reforming?” by Hilary Matfess

December 20, 2020: “Afghanistan Will Be the Biden Administration’s First Foreign Policy Crisis” by Jonathan Schroden