So Much For That Honors Program
Who needs good lawyers in federal service anyway?
Good Evening:
Well, that’s a bummer for a lot of smart young lawyers. Who knew?
Today on #DogShirtTV, the estimable Holly Berkley Fletcher and I welcomed the estimable Sheila Wray Gregoire, an expert on sex and relationships in the evangelical community, to talk about how evangelical gender ideology is hurting evangelical women. We talked about orgasms, vaginismus, porn, and other national security law issues.
The estimable Laura Donna and the estimable Antti Ruokonen chimed in as well:
Well, you don’t want to do them recreationally.
I’m glad that two Republicans have come out against Pete Hegseth’s nomination to be Secretary of Defense. It looks like he has the votes to get confirmed, which is a bummer, but at least there will a bipartisan vote against him. That’s a good thing.
The Situation: A User’s Guide to Following the News
In my The Situation column today, I share seven principles for keeping up with news about the second Trump presidency, including slowing your news consumption, choosing trusted sources, and five others:
I am about as sophisticated a consumer of executive power news as there is. I do it for a living. I have a team of professionals that I’ve set up to do it with me. And I can’t follow it all either. The most I can do is follow certain discrete streams of news, assign others to follow other discrete streams of news, and ignore the rest.
Today On Lawfare
President Trump and the Civil Service: Day 1
Nick Bednar has an exceptionally valuable piece about how President Trump’s executive actions pertaining to federal personnel—including the return of Schedule F, tightened control of the Senior Executive Service, and more—seek to politicize and shrink the civil service. Bednar assesses that the administration hopes to enshrine constitutional authority over the federal workforce by winning the inevitable legal battles these orders will precipitate:
The actions taken by the Trump administration are a mixed bag. Some borrow from a traditional playbook employed by past presidents. Humdrum interference with the civil service may warrant criticism but such criticism could be levied against other presidents. What makes many of the Trump administration’s actions extraordinary is their willingness to evade existing statutory and regulatory requirements. The disregard for existing law will bring about significant legal challenges to many of these orders. It is my estimation that the Trump administration anticipates—and, in fact, wants—the opportunity to defend these decisions in court. Judicial review may invite sympathetic judges to reshape the Constitution in a way that expands Trump’s control over the federal workforce.
U.S. Sanctions Relief for Syria Is an Important Start, but Not Enough
Delaney Simon argues that despite the steps the United States has taken to ease sanctions in Syria after the fall of the Assad regime, obstacles such as designation of Hayat Tahrir al-Sham as a foreign terrorist organization and the time-bound nature of the measures block Syria’s path to economic and humanitarian recovery:
The license offers a lifeline, but it’s nowhere near enough to clear the obstacles that sanctions pose to Syria’s recovery. It will help with maintaining basic services, not economic renewal. Washington remains silent about allowing new investment in Syria, which sanctions still prohibit. It also has not removed sanctions on Syria’s central bank, the nerve center of any modern financial system, meaning that the economy remains paralyzed. And while the foreign assistance waiver lets a handful of countries aid Syria, the U.S. government has failed so far to end restrictions on help for Syria from international financial institutions such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund. The White House has not removed Syria’s state sponsor of terrorism designation, one of the most severe penalties in Washington’s economic arsenal, and in December, Congress extended the Caesar Act, legislation responding to the Assad regime’s atrocities that imposes some of the most restrictive of all sanctions on the country. Washington has yet to provide Syria’s de facto authorities with a road map and conditions for how to get out from under this elaborate regime.
Podcasts
On Lawfare Daily, Roger Parloff sits down with Alexis Loeb to discuss her experience prosecuting the Jan. 6 cases in light of President Trump's blanket pardons and commutations for those involved in the attack. Don’t miss this episode. It’s important:
On Lawfare No Bull, Caroline Cornett shares the audio from Kristi Noem’s confirmation hearing in front of the Senate Committee on Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs on Jan. 17:
Videos
This afternoon, I spoke to Scott Anderson, Anna Bower, Quinta Jurecic, Alan Rozenshtein, and Amelia Wilson about Trump’s first batch of executive actions in his second term, including the birthright citizenship order, the declaration of a national emergency at the southern border, and a variety of foreign affairs-related matters:
Documents
Anna Hickey shares an order from a federal judge in the Western District of Washington at Seattle granting an emergency motion to enjoin Trump’s executive order ending birthright citizenship. The restraining order lasts for 14 days and applies nationwide.
Tell Me Something Interesting
I—EJ Wittes, that is—just found an archive of translations of Sumerian cuneiform inscriptions with a huge list of ancient Sumerian proverbs. I could use this invaluable resource to make some point about tyranny, but it’s only been four days and I’m already sick of tyranny. Instead, here are some Sumerian proverbs about dogs, with my comments:
“The smith's dog could not overturn the anvil, so it overturned the basket and pot.” (Source)
That’s what the smith gets for not providing enough enrichment opportunities for his dog.
“The dog recognizes a man who loves him; as the dog is judge, so its tail acts as commissioner!” (Source)
The fundamental insight of this proverb—that the dog and its tail are only loosely associated and generally act independently—is correct and shows a deep understanding of canine anatomy.
“The dog gnawing on a bone says to his anus: ‘This is going to hurt you!’” (Source)
This is completely wrong. The dog gnawing on a bone lives entirely in the present moment, and has no knowledge of the consequences of his actions for his anus, nor of the concept of consequences at all. When his anus hurts later, he will not know why.
“A dog which is played with turns into a puppy.” (Source)
Correct. Accurate. Ten out of ten. No notes.
“The dog understands ‘Take it!’, but it does not understand ‘Put it down!’” (Source)
This final proverb is very important for those of you who have seen this classic comic:
Because it allows a direct Sumerian translation:
It’s important to make our cultural products accessible to speakers of dead languages.
Today’s #BeastOfTheDay is the mata mata turtle, which earns its title today for smiling kindly out at the whole world:
Look at that beatific smile. What a kindly creature—so full of joy and goodwill. In honor of today’s Beast, smile at someone you’d usually ignore. The mata mata turtle is smiling at you. You can smile at the mail clerk in your office building.
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