Liberation Day!

This guy knows how to celebrate it

Good Morning:

I emerged from my abode yesterday—Liberation Day, as the president had proclaimed it—to discover this fine fellow sitting in a truck, waiting to be driven away. He had been captured by a contractor hired by my neighbor, as apparently he had been making a “ruckus.” And Marco Rubio says you can’t make a ruckus any more or you will be plucked off the street and held in detention until you are deported.

“Happy Liberation Day!” I told him cheerfully.

He snarled at me: “Save that bullshit for your column.”

So I did. Yesterday’s The Situation column contained Liberation Day greetings for all:

Consider Liberation Day from the point of view of New York Mayor Eric Adams. A few months ago, Adams was facing a whopper of a federal corruption indictment. Then Trump got elected and Adams hit the jackpot. He dangled out to the new Justice Department brass that he could be helpful with the president’s immigration enforcement priorities in New York, and the Justice Department bit—shedding several honest prosecutors along the way—and moved to dismiss the case against him. The department, however, wanted to add a catch: dismiss the case without prejudice so that if the New York Mayor didn’t fulfill his end of the bargain—which was very much not a quid pro quo, you must understand—prosecutors could refile the case.

But today, a federal judge said no, the Justice Department can’t do that and leave the possibility of renewed charges dangling over the poor mayor’s head.

In a scholarly and careful opinion, U.S. District Judge Dale Ho ruled that he couldn’t force the department to prosecute the mayor and that he also couldn’t let the department dangle future charges over Adams’s head. The only option, therefore, was to dismiss the case with prejudice—meaning that the case now goes away completely and forever. Judge Ho couldn’t have picked a better day to issue such a ruling.

Just close your eyes for a minute, and it even makes sense.

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Yesterday on #DogShirtTV, the estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher and the estimable Alicia Wanless joined me to discuss our Liberation Day plans and to welcome the estimable Dr. Tony Volk, a developmental psychologist who studies the dynamics of bullying. He told us about bullies—where they come from, how they operate, and how to respond to them, whether they’re on the playground or in the Oval Office.

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Yesterday On Lawfare

Compiled by the estimable Caroline Cornett

In Alien Enemies Case, Many With Open Asylum Claims Allegedly Removed

Roger Parloff reports on new filings in J.G.G. v. Trump alleging that a number of individuals deported under the Alien Enemies Act and currently imprisoned in El Salvador had no connection to Tren de Aragua, and in some cases, had pending asylum applications:

It’s quite possible that the government can rebut most or even all of these claims. But that’s what individual hearings are for. That’s why, as Judge Patricia Millett observed in oral argument over whether to stay Judge Boasberg’s temporary restraining order, even German aliens during World War II received individual hearings before they could be removed under the act. But individual hearings are precisely what the Trump administration dispensed with in the cases of at least 137 aliens who were accused of membership in Tren de Aragua and summarily removed that day, according to a number publicly provided by Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt.

Why U.S. Leadership in AI Necessitates Global Collaboration

Christina Knight argues that the United States must work with international allies and partners to regulate and adopt artificial intelligence (AI) if the U.S. is to maintain global leadership in AI. Knight highlights how the alternative of Chinese dominance threatens information integrity and data privacy:

Though it may have sounded incongruous to the spirit of cooperation at the meeting, much of Vance’s Paris summit speech holds merit: The U.S. does need to lead the world in AI, China’s recent AI advances do pose a risk to international order, and our collective focus should shift toward possibility in AI instead of potential regulation. The importance of these claims cannot be understated.

Yet, as China continues to release new advanced models such as Manus, invests in the dissemination of its technology abroad, and leans into global AI conversations, it is also clear that American leadership cannot be achieved alone.

Podcasts

On Lawfare Daily, Atul Gawande joins Natalie Orpett to discuss the end of the U.S. Agency for International Development’s Bureau of Global Health, the consequences of destroying the agency, and why public health is so important to U.S. national security:

On Rational Security, Scott R. Anderson sits down with Orpett and Eric Ciaramella to talk through the week’s big national security news, including an apparent halt to negotiations for a ceasefire in Ukraine, Vice President J.D. Vance’s visit to Greenland, and President Donald Trump’s comments about seeking a third term:

Videos

On April 4 at 4 p.m. ET, Anderson will speak to Anna Bower, Parloff, James Pearce, and Steve Vladeck about the status of the civil litigation against Trump’s executive actions, including how the Supreme Court is handling the cases and deportations under the Alien Enemies Act. I won’t be there as I will be at an event in New York.

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Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is a shark with a dilemma: infinite food or the ability to breathe? Decisions, decisions…

Video Source

In honor of today’s Beast, gorge yourself, but don’t forget to breathe.