Episode 144: Lawful But Awful

Episode 144 is here! It was no easy task to sort out which topics to discuss this week, but in the end the Trumplandia segment prevailed over almost all the others.  The end result?  Tune in to hear Professors Chesney and Vladeck discuss and debate: The latest developments in the Impeachment Inquiry (including today's testimony from Ambassador Sondland). President Trump's decision to issue pardons to two soldiers facing murder charges and to restore rank to a Navy SEAL previously convicted for posing for pictures with a dead detainee. The Trump Administration's apparent decision to alter the longstanding U.S. position that Israeli settlements in occupied territory violate international law. The latest twist in the two Mazars subpoena cases, including the administrative stay issued by Chief Justice Roberts in of them. Attorney General Barr's barn-burner of a speech to the Federalist Society's National Convention, which offered a controversial take on an array of presidential power and national security law issues (including a surprise appearance by the Supreme Court's 2008 Boumediene decision (cast in the unlikely role of most-outrageous infringement of Article II powers decision ever). A district court decision in the Muthana case, resolving it on narrow factual grounds. From there, it's a pop culture spoiler fest, with reviews of the first episode of the new season of The Crown and the first two episodes of The Mandalorian.  Hey, how about a cross-over between those shows???