Welcome to Lawfare, a new blog by Robert Chesney, Jack Goldsmith, and myself. For those readers familiar with our prior writings, our subject will come as no surprise: We mean to devote this blog to that nebulous zone in which actions taken or contemplated to protect the nation interact with the nation’s laws and legal institutions. We will, I am sure, construe this subject broadly to include subjects as far-flung as cybersecurity, Guantánamo habeas litigation, targeted killing, biosecurity, universal jurisdiction, the Alien Tort Statute, the state secrets privilege and countless other related and not-so-related matters.
We have all written extensively in this space, both individually and collectively. Our purpose in creating this blog is to create a collective outlet for shorter writing that is more responsive to the ongoing events.
The name Lawfare refers both to the use of law as a weapon of conflict and, perhaps more importantly, to the depressing reality that America remains at war with itself over the law governing its warfare with others. This latter sense of the word—which is admittedly not its normal usage—binds together a great deal of our work over the years. It is our hope to provide an ongoing commentary on America’s lawfare, even as we participate in many of its skirmishes.
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[...] Ben Wittes, Jack Goldsmith, and I have launched a blog (www.lawfareblog.com). We’re calling it Lawfare: Hard National Security Choices (note that we’re putting our own spin on the word “lawfare”). Here’s the description that Ben put in the opening post: [...]
[...] Robert Chesney, Jack Goldsmith and Ben Wittes just launched an exciting new blog entitled "Lawfare: Hard National Security Choices" or The Lawfare Blog for short (my shortening). Based on the experience and prior writings of these bloggers, this will be an invaluable resource for those who follow national security issues. Here's their description: [...]
[...] the new blog Lawfare will address some of these questions. Written by Robert Chesney, Jack Goldsmith, and Benjamin [...]
[...] blog, Lawfare, because he thinks that the first sense in which Ben uses the term in his initial post – the use of law as a weapon of war – has derogatory connotations for the rule of law in [...]
[...] in Khost might say—on the term “lawfare.” Inaugurating this website in September, Ben Wittes defined lawfare initially as “the use of law as a weapon of conflict.” Jack pointed out later out that Major General [...]