Episode 33: How About a Presidential Pardon…For This Episode

In this week's episode, Professors Chesney and Vladeck take advantage of a relatively quiet week for national security law developments in order to range across a number of topics. Being in Texas, we are all quite focused on the terrible tragedy unfolding thanks to Hurricane Harvey, and so your hosts open with a survey of various legal issues that could have arisen in the context of this emergency (though, fortunately, none seem to have).  Then, noting that today was the first day of class at Texas Law, they discuss whether their respective Constitutional Law courses will or should be different this year in light of controversies associated with President Trump.  They also take note of the latest North Korean missile launch and use that as a basis for discussion the line between self-defense and offense--in relation to Japanese law. And they also comment on the surprise settlement in the case brought against the private sector psychologists who designed the CIA's Enhanced Interrogation Technique program.  Finally, and inevitably, they review the season finale of Game of Thrones (including a digression into such important questions as: do the wights possess human rights?).