News
Breaking news – Judge rules Trump’s efforts to overturn election likely criminal (the opinion – Eastman v. Select Committee)
The case arises from a request for documents from the House Select Committee on Jan 6. The opinion deals with whether there is an attorney-client relationship between Prof. Eastman and President Trump, and, independent of that, whether the privilege was waived through the crime-fraud exception. There is an excellent discussion of the legal issues. The court found that some documents were privileged, but that the remainder were either not subject to the attorney-client privilege or the privilege was waived because the underlying behavior was likely a crime. (The privilege does not protect records when the attorney and the client are engaged in a criminal enterprise.) This says nothing about whether there is a basis for an indictment, only whether there is sufficient evidence of a crime to waive the privilege.
Russia-Ukraine war latest: Biden says Putin ‘cannot remain in power’
Biden: Putin comments were an expression of ‘moral outrage,’ not policy change
Online Conversation with Oleksiy Stolyarenko – 12:40 Wednesday. Details in your email from the Law School.
Local governments are attractive targets for hackers and are ill-prepared
New Orleans Ransomware Attack
Assignment
This is will be a different format class. No slides, just discussion. Be sure to figure out the difference between strategic nuclear weapons and tactical nuclear weapons and why this is key to the Ukraine situation.
Read Chapter 15 – Nuclear War (no slides)
Duck And Cover (1951) Bert The Turtle
This is an example of what we saw in school when I was a kid. This is the modern version: https://www.ready.gov/nuclear-explosion
After four decades and $200 billion, the US missile defense system is no match for a Russian nuclear attack
All intercontinental missiles are hypersonic, i.e., they travel at several times the speed of sound. What is in the press as hypersonic missiles are ones that stay low in the atmosphere, rather than going into space and coming down, making them much harder to detect and shoot down.
What Happens When a Nuclear Bomb Hits”
What if We Nuke a City?
How a small nuclear war would transform the entire planet
Long-term radiation (a few years) effects are low, as is residual radiation, at least for air burst bombs. Bombs that explode at ground level put a lot more dirt into the atmosphere and may leave more residual radiation, but we have no experience with this.
Union of Concerned Scientists, Close Calls with Nuclear Weapons (Apr. 2015) – summary
Resource document, you do not need to read for class.
Blundering into a nuclear war in Ukraine: a hypothetical scenario
CRS: Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons. Updated March 7, 2022
This is a clear guide to tactical versus strategic nuclear weapons prepared for Congress. Read pp 25-32 – Russian Nonstrategic Nuclear Weapons after the Cold War to get a sense of the Ukraine problem. Is this a meaningful distinction?
Looking forward
(Subject to revision based on unscheduled closing or world events.)
March 31 – Chapter 25
April 5 – Chapter 26
April 7 – Chapter 35
April 12 – Chapter 39
April 14 – Holiday
April 19 – Chapter 41
April 21 – Buffer day to finish material or if a class is canceled.