Supreme Court Justices Apply New Ethics Code Differently; News week, April 9, 2024

 Khaleda Rahman, Newsweek; Supreme Court Justices Apply New Ethics Code Differently

"Supreme Court justices are divided along political lines over whether or not to explain their recusals, and legal experts are very concerned."

‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point; The Guardian, February 3, 2024

 Robin McKie, The Guardian; ‘The situation has become appalling’: fake scientific papers push research credibility to crisis point

"Tens of thousands of bogus research papers are being published in journals in an international scandal that is worsening every year, scientists have warned. Medical research is being compromised, drug development hindered and promising academic research jeopardised thanks to a global wave of sham science that is sweeping laboratories and universities.

Last year the annual number of papers retracted by research journals topped 10,000 for the first time. Most analysts believe the figure is only the tip of an iceberg of scientific fraud."

85% of people worry about online disinformation, global survey finds; The Guardian, November 7, 2023

 Jon Henley, The Guardian; 85% of people worry about online disinformation, global survey finds

"More than 85% of people are worried about the impact of online disinformation and 87% believe it has already harmed their country’s politics, according to a global survey, as the United Nations announced a plan to tackle the phenomenon.

Audrey Azoulay, director general of the UN’s culture body, Unesco, told reporters on Monday that false information and hate speech online – accelerated and amplified by social media platforms – posed “major risks to social cohesion, peace and stability”.

Regulation was urgently needed “to protect access to information … while at the same time protecting freedom of expression and human rights”, Azoulay said as she presented a “governance blueprint” for governments, regulators and platforms."

How a robotaxi crash got Cruise’s self-driving cars pulled from Californian roads; The Washington Post, October 28, 2023

Trisha Thadani, The Washington Post , The Washington Post; How a robotaxi crash got Cruise’s self-driving cars pulled from Californian roads

"Here in California, the whiplash from approval to ban in just two months highlights the fragmented oversight governing the self-driving car industry — a system that allowed Cruise to operate on San Francisco’s roads for more than three weeks following the October collision, despite dragging a human pinned underneath the vehicle...

Ed Walters, who teaches autonomous vehicle law at Georgetown University, said that driverless technology is critical for a future with fewer road fatalities because robots don’t drive drunk or get distracted. But, he said, this accident shows that Cruise was not “quite ready for testing” in such a dense urban area...

Under the DMV’s autonomous vehicle program, companies are asked to publicly report collisions involving driverless cars only when they are in test mode. That means if an incident like the Oct. 2 crash occurs while the company is technically operating as a commercial service, the company does not have to publicly report it as an “Autonomous Vehicle Collision Report.”"

Cruise Stops All Driverless Taxi Operations in the United States; The New York Times, October 26, 2023

 Yiwen Lu, The New York Times; Cruise Stops All Driverless Taxi Operations in the United States

"Cruise said on Thursday evening that it would pause all driverless operations in the United States, two days after California regulators told the General Motors subsidiary to take its autonomous cars off the state’s roads. 

The decision affects Cruise’s robot taxi services in Austin, Texas, and Phoenix, where a limited number of public riders could hail paid rides. Noncommercial operations in Dallas, Houston and Miami were also paused.

Cruise did not say how long the halt will last. Testing of driverless vehicles with a safety driver behind the wheel will continue, the company said."

The Maryland library where you can get your blood pressure read; WTOP, October 16, 2023

John Domen, WTOP; The Maryland library where you can get your blood pressure read

"These days, libraries offer a much wider range of services than just free books and tables to do research at. However, at one Maryland library, you can read a book — and then get a health screening, which is a bit like researching your own health.

The screenings happen every Monday at the Greenbelt Library in Prince George’s County, and are conducted by nursing students.

The library has a blood pressure clinic, connects patrons to community resources like vaccine clinics and hosts health education discussions, according to Sara Chapman, a clinical instructor at the University of Maryland School of Nursing...

This program will run on Mondays through Nov. 13 in Greenbelt, from 11 a.m. until about 3:30 p.m. It then pauses until the spring semester begins. The nurses there are students, after all, and they’re getting credit for their community and public health nursing class.

And while you wouldn’t think that sitting at a hallway table and getting your blood pressure checked is a typical library activity, the hope is that this can be expanded beyond the Greenbelt branch to other libraries around the county.

Quemar Rhoden, the central area director with the Prince George’s County Memorial Library System, said his team is “always trying to be more dynamic with our program offerings” while keeping the community’s needs in mind.

“The library is much more than books. It’s a place where people gather,” Rhoden said. “The community really trusts us. They trust us with some very personal matters, and it’s always our goal to offer more services that meet their needs.”

Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections; Reuters, August 9, 2023

Karen Sloan, Reuters; Prominent legal, business leaders create ABA group to bolster confidence in elections

"The American Bar Association has launched a task force aimed at bolstering public trust in elections, headed by former Secretary of Homeland Security Jeh Johnson and former federal appellate judge J. Michael Luttig.

The 31-member ABA Task Force for American Democracy will look at ways to depoliticize how elections are administered, educate the public on democracy, and try to foster election innovations that address the causes of politicization, the ABA said on Wednesday when it announced the new effort. The task force comes a week after former President Donald Trump was indicted on criminal charges that he plotted to overturn the 2020 election and as the 2024 presidential race is heating up...

ABA task forces are limited by their nature in how much actual change they can effect. But the group hopes to at least expand the conversation about election integrity by holding listening tours, public conversations, and one-on-one and small group discussions with a cross section of Americans to hear about their concerns and experiences, as well as their ideas for restoring democracy, the ABA said."

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel; ProPublica, August 10, 2023

 Brett Murphy and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica; Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

"This accounting of Thomas’ travel, revealed for the first time here from an array of previously unavailable information, is the fullest to date of the generosity that has regularly afforded Thomas a lifestyle far beyond what his income could provide. And it is almost certainly an undercount.

While some of the hospitality, such as stays in personal homes, may not have required disclosure, Thomas appears to have violated the law by failing to disclose flights, yacht cruises and expensive sports tickets, according to ethics experts.

Perhaps even more significant, the pattern exposes consistent violations of judicial norms, experts, including seven current and former federal judges appointed by both parties, told ProPublica. “In my career I don’t remember ever seeing this degree of largesse given to anybody,” said Jeremy Fogel, a former federal judge who served for years on the judicial committee that reviews judges’ financial disclosures. “I think it’s unprecedented.”"

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

Why the Trump trial should be televised; The Washington Post, August 3, 2023

 Neal Katyal , The Washington Post; Why the Trump trial should be televised

"The upcoming trial of United States v. Donald J. Trump will rank with Marbury v. Madison, Brown v. Board of Education and Dred Scott v. Sandford as a defining moment for our history and our values as a people. And yet, federal law will prevent all but a handful of Americans from actually seeing what is happening in the trial. We will be relegated to perusing cold transcripts and secondhand descriptions. The law must be changed...

Most important, live (or near-live) broadcasting lets Americans see for themselves what is happening in the courtroom and would go a long way toward reassuring them that justice is being done. They would be less vulnerable to the distortions and misrepresentations that will inevitably be part of the highly charged, politicized discussion flooding the country as the trial plays out. Justice Louis Brandeis’s observation that “sunlight is said to be the best of disinfectants” is absolutely apt here."

The Research Scandal at Stanford Is More Common Than You Think; The New York Times, July 30, 2023

 Theo Baker, The New York Times; The Research Scandal at Stanford Is More Common Than You Think

"To address research misconduct, it must first be brought into the light and examined in the open. The underlying reasons scientists might feel tempted to cheat must be thoroughly understood. Journals, scientists, academic institutions and the reporters who write about them have been too slow to open these difficult conversations.

Seeking the truth is a shared obligation. It is incumbent on all those involved in the scientific method to focus more vigorously on challenging and reproducing findings and ensuring that substantiated allegations of data manipulation are not ignored or forgotten — whether you’re a part-time research assistant or the president of an elite university. In a cultural moment when science needs all the credibility it can muster, ensuring scientific integrity and earning public trust should be the highest priority.

Theo Baker is a rising sophomore at Stanford University. He is the son of Peter Baker, the chief White House correspondent for The Times."

The Supreme Court makes almost all of its decisions on the 'shadow docket.' An author argues it should worry Americans more than luxury trips.; Insider, July 7, 2023

Erin Snodgrass, Insider; The Supreme Court makes almost all of its decisions on the 'shadow docket.' An author argues it should worry Americans more than luxury trips.

"The decisions made on the shadow docket are not inherently biased, Vladeck said, but the lack of transparency stokes legitimate concerns about the court's politicization and polarization, especially as the public's trust in the institution reaches an all-time low.

"Even judges and justices acting in good faith can leave the impression that their decisions are motivated by bias or bad faith — which is why judicial ethics standards, even those few that apply to the Supreme Court itself, worry about both bias and the appearance thereof," Vladeck writes.

The dangers posed by the shadow docket are more perilous than the wrongs of individual justices, Vladeck argues, because the shadow docket's ills are inherently institutional." 

The One Ethics Rule the Supreme Court Needs Before Its Next Term; The Washington Post, July 3, 2023

Gabe Roth | Bloomberg; The One Ethics Rule the Supreme Court Needs Before Its Next Term

[Kip Currier: Interesting idea of "cooling off period" for U.S. Supreme Court Justices, as Gabe Roth describes: "If you’re a justice who, in the last 10 years, has received income, including book advances and royalties, from an individual, corporation, security or government office, and that entity finds itself before the court, recusal should be required."

It is absolutely appalling that these nine highest judicial arbiters in America are not out in front on this issue of U.S. Supreme Court ethics reform.

Shame on all nine of you for not speaking out on your ethical lapses and for not taking substantive action to make amends to the American people for whom you serve, to inspire greater public confidence in the vital roles to which you have been entrusted. Each one of you has a responsibility to avoid appearances of impropriety and to set the highest standards of judicial conduct and ethics.]

"What might be worse: Some court-watchers are insisting Thomas and Alito did nothing wrong in accepting their largesse. That’s a preposterous position considering the legal standard for bias, as summarized three decades ago by Justice John Paul Stevens: “The relevant inquiry […] is not whether or not the judge was actually biased but whether he or she appeared biased.” Put it another way, as the Code of Conduct for US Judges does: “An appearance of impropriety occurs when reasonable minds, with knowledge of all the relevant circumstances […], would conclude that the judge’s honesty, integrity, impartiality, temperament or fitness to serve as a judge is impaired.”...

Again, you don’t need to verify that X (a gift or free trip) led to Y (a specific outcome in a case). If the X is fishy, the specifics of the Y don’t matter much. And these days, SCOTUS smells like weeks-old salmon...

Ethics rules exist not so that public officials can come as close as possible to crossing the line and then generate a debate on the line’s contours. They’re not policies from which officials can cherry-pick certain phrases that they believe to be loopholes. They’re there to help navigate difficult questions with an eye toward maintaining public confidence. It’s clear the Supreme Court has strayed from that vision and needs help getting back on track.

It’s worth noting that although Thomas’s and Alito’s lapses are the most egregious, every justice currently on the court could be accused of some ethical failure...

Here’s my solution, and it’s not the uber-nonspecific “ethics code.” Instead, Congress should institute a hard-and-fast cooling off period for the justices."

What we've learned from pro-Trump attorney John Eastman's state bar trial; NPR, June 23, 2023

Tom Dreisbach, NPR ; What we've learned from pro-Trump attorney John Eastman's state bar trial

"Jessica Levinson, a professor at Loyola Law School, told NPR in an interview that those actions represent an attempt by the legal community to uphold professional standards.

"Lawyers hold positions of public trust in our society," Levinson said. "There's a reason that we have to take and pass moral character exams, that we have to agree to certain rules of the profession. Because we do have a lot of control over our clients' lives and their finances and even on larger policy issues."

Levinson said Eastman's defense faces serious challenges."

Supreme Court Justices Don’t Like Being Criticized in Public, Which Is a Good Reason to Keep Doing It; The New York Times, May 23, 2023

Stephen I. Vladeck, The New York Times ; Supreme Court Justices Don’t Like Being Criticized in Public, Which Is a Good Reason to Keep Doing It

"We will all disagree as to whether public criticism of the court in specific contexts is fair. But what can’t be denied is that public pressure on the court has been, both historically and recently, a meaningful check on the institution’s excesses — and an essential means by which the public is able to hold unelected and otherwise unaccountable judges and justices to account.

In the case of the shadow docket, it has led the court to tamp down its aggressiveness and try to provide more explanations for its less justified interventions. In the hotly debated case of ethics reform going on now, all nine justices have already publicly committed to following at least broad ethical norms. The court can go further, and it can (and should) adopt formal internal mechanisms to enforce whatever rules the justices agree to bind themselves to — much in the way that internal inspectors general hold both the executive and legislative branches to account.

The point is not that any one set of reforms is a magic bullet. Rather, it is that a court whose legitimacy depends at least to some degree on public support is not, should not be and never has been immune to criticism and pressure from the same public."

Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire; ProPublica, April 6, 2023

Joshua Kaplan, Justin Elliott and Alex Mierjeski, ProPublica; Clarence Thomas and the Billionaire

"For more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year from the Dallas businessman without disclosing them, documents and interviews show. A public servant who has a salary of $285,000, he has vacationed on Crow’s superyacht around the globe. He flies on Crow’s Bombardier Global 5000 jet. He has gone with Crow to the Bohemian Grove, the exclusive California all-male retreat, and to Crow’s sprawling ranch in East Texas. And Thomas typically spends about a week every summer at Crow’s private resort in the Adirondacks.

The extent and frequency of Crow’s apparent gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the U.S. Supreme Court.

These trips appeared nowhere on Thomas’ financial disclosures. His failure to report the flights appears to violate a law passed after Watergate that requires justices, judges, members of Congress and federal officials to disclose most gifts, two ethics law experts said. He also should have disclosed his trips on the yacht, these experts said."

Federal judge takes rare step of backing U.S. Supreme Court ethics code; Reuters, May 26, 2022

Nate Raymond, Reuters; Federal judge takes rare step of backing U.S. Supreme Court ethics code

"Senior U.S. District Judge Reggie Walton told attendees of a conference in Chicago focused on threats to the independence of the courts that it was "unimaginable that we have a segment of our federal judiciary that's not subject to an ethics code.""

After years in committee limbo, a statewide ethics code is finally adopted in Vermont; VTDigger, May 4, 2022

Sarah Mearhoff , VTDigger; After years in committee limbo, a statewide ethics code is finally adopted in Vermont

"Gov. Phil Scott signed into law Vermont’s first-ever statewide code of ethics for public officials on Tuesday, putting to rest a yearslong debate in the Statehouse and bringing Vermont in line with a majority of other states.

S.171 establishes a baseline code of ethics for public officials in the legislative, executive and judiciary branches of state government. It sets boundaries around conflicts of interest, preferential treatment, gifts, outside employment, the use of state employment for personal gain and more. It also protects whistleblowers from retaliation.

Upon signing the bill, Scott said in a statement Tuesday that it “takes a positive step towards ensuring public trust in their elected officials.”"

3 Questions: Designing software for research ethics; MIT News, April 26, 2022

Rachel Gordon , MIT News; 3 Questions: Designing software for research ethics

"Jonathan Zong, a PhD candidate in electrical engineering and computer science at MIT, and an affiliate of the Computer Science and Artificial Intelligence Laboratory, thinks consent can be baked into the design of the software that gathers our data for online research. He created Bartleby, a system for debriefing research participants and eliciting their views about social media research that involved them. Using Bartleby, he says, researchers can automatically direct each of their study participants to a website where they can learn about their involvement in research, view what data researchers collected about them, and give feedback. Most importantly, participants can use the website to opt out and request to delete their data.  

Zong and his co-author, Nathan Matias SM '13, PhD '17, evaluated Bartleby by debriefing thousands of participants in observational and experimental studies on Twitter and Reddit. They found that Bartleby addresses procedural concerns by creating opportunities for participants to exercise autonomy, and the tool enabled substantive, value-driven conversations about participant voice and power. Here, Zong discusses the implications of their recent work as well as the future of social, ethical, and responsible computing."

Our Values; Georgia Tech

Georgia Tech; Our Values

"Our Strategy Guided by Values, Reinforced Through Culture

Our values are foundational in everything we do. They are our lodestar. Values define who we are and who we aspire to be as a community. They help us make decisions. They refer to an inclusive “we” and apply to every member of the Georgia Tech community — student, faculty, staff, alumni, and affiliate. No matter the role, the values are meant to guide our priorities every day, to help us focus on our important, shared mission.

Students are our top priority. 

We are educators first and foremost, committed to developing leaders who advance technology and improve the human condition. We measure our success by the achievements of our students and the impact of our graduates in improving the lives of others.

We strive for excellence. 

We strive to be among the best at what we do and to set high expectations for each of us individually and for our community as a whole. The expectation of excellence, which is instrumental to our ability to have a meaningful impact in the world, extends to our teaching, our research and creative endeavors, our athletic programs, and our operations.   

We thrive on diversity. 

We see diversity of backgrounds and perspectives as essential to learning, discovery, and creation. We strive to remove barriers to access and success, and to build an inclusive community where people of all backgrounds have the opportunity to learn and contribute to our mission.  

We celebrate collaboration. 

We enable and celebrate collaboration across disciplines and perspectives, between units and departments, and with other organizations at home and around the world. We value the contributions of all members of our community, promote civil and respectful discourse, and help one another succeed.  

We champion innovation. 

We inspire, empower, and provide the resources and environment for innovative ideas and solutions to flourish. We welcome new concepts and approaches that lead to creative ideas and solutions.  

We safeguard freedom of inquiry and expression. 

We protect the freedom of all members of our community to ask questions, seek truth, and express their views. We cherish diversity of ideas as necessary for learning, discovery, scholarship, and creativity.  

We nurture the well-being of our community.

We strive to build a healthy and vibrant environment that helps our students and every member of our community grow holistically and develop the self-awareness, knowledge, and practices necessary to pursue healthy, purposeful, fulfilling lives.

We act ethically.

We hold one another to the highest standards of professional and ethical conduct. We are transparent and accountable, and strive to earn and maintain the public trust.

We are responsible stewards.

We are careful stewards of the resources we are entrusted with and strive to be an example of sustainability, efficiency, respect, and responsibility."

The Supreme Court needs a code of ethics; The Hill, February 10, 2022

STEVEN LUBET, The Hill; The Supreme Court needs a code of ethics

"A Supreme Court ethics code could delineate the circumstances in which a justice may address an overtly political audience, as well as the appropriateness of making secret speeches at all. 

The specific provisions of a Supreme Court ethics code would be up to the justices, whose public approval has been plummeting in recent years. As my colleagues and I wrote in our open letter, “even if primarily aspirational [a code] would have a broad salutary impact, assisting current and future members of the Court to transparently address potential conflicts and other issues in a way that builds public trust in the institution.” Supreme Court ethics should not be a black box."