Episode 14: Potential Assange Charges, and More From Some Island in the Pacific

In this episode, Professors Chesney and Vladeck run through the array of potential criminal charges against Julian Assange and Wikileaks (in light of recent rumblings that DOJ has revived that possibility), and they discuss the prospects for the First Amendment objections that would surely follow. This leads into a discussion of the charges that Mike Flynn one day might face, and that in turn prompts a disagreement about what to make of the White House letter rebuffing requests for information submitted by the House Government Oversight Committee.  In other news, the Supreme Court denied cert. in connection with the ACLU attempt to use FOIA to acquire a complete copy of the SSCI interrogation investigative report (aka the "Torture Report"); the Administrative Office for the U.S. Courts released a surprising statistic about applications under Section 702 (with implications for the inquorate PCLOB); a news alert triggers an impromptu discussion of the intersection of conditional spending doctrine and the anti-commandeering rule in relation to DOJ efforts to bring "sanctuary cities" into line with federal policy; and to wrap things up Tyrion Lannister is toppled from his erstwhile status as the top dog in Steve's pantheon of outstanding TV fictional characters.  That, and Bobby claims he'll answer the question Andy Priest tweeted about, but then he just doesn't.