America Makes a Perilous Choice; The New York Times, November 6, 2024

THE EDITORIAL BOARD, The New York Times; America Makes a Perilous Choice

"Benjamin Franklin famously admonished the American people that the nation was “a republic, if you can keep it.” Mr. Trump’s election poses a grave threat to that republic, but he will not determine the long-term fate of American democracy. That outcome remains in the hands of the American people. It is the work of the next four years."

Justice Elena Kagan pushes for US Supreme Court to adopt own ethics code; The Oregonian, August 3, 2023

 Maxine Bernstein, The Oregonian; Justice Elena Kagan pushes for US Supreme Court to adopt own ethics code

"U.S. Supreme Court Justice Elena Kagan on Thursday said she hopes the nation’s high court will adopt its own code of ethics and that the nine justices are in discussions about doing so with a wide variety of opinions.

Unlike Justice Samuel Alito, who said last week that Congress lacks the power to impose an ethics code on the Supreme Court, Kagan countered that it does.

Yet she said she believes Congress has its limits...

Kagan said she’s hopeful the Supreme Court will adopt its own code of conduct and take the question about what Congress can or cannot do “out of play.”

“It’s not a secret for me to say we have been discussing this issue,” she said. “The nine of us have a variety of views about that.”"

A Vocal Defender of Ethics Has Fans — and Foes; New York Times, May 30, 2017

Nicholas Fandos, New York Times; A Vocal Defender of Ethics Has Fans — and Foes

"Ethics have been thrust to the forefront in President Trump’s Washington, where the president’s own vast holdings and those of his asset-rich cabinet and advisers from businesses and lobbying firms have raised many accusations of conflicts of interest...

Rick Thomas, a close friend who helped recruit Mr. Shaub to the agency almost two decades ago, said Mr. Shaub had more or less made his peace with his role, even if it means he may be fired before his term’s end. He recalled that when Mr. Shaub was first weighing whether to speak out in opposition to Mr. Trump’s conflict of interest plan, the director turned to a line from Albus Dumbledore, the sagacious wizard who tutors Harry Potter in the ways of the world.

“Something to the effect that, ‘There will be a time when we must choose between what’s easy and what’s right,’” Mr. Thomas recalled Mr. Shaub saying over the phone.

“Believe me,” he said, “there was a lot of angst over that.”"

White House Backs Down on Keeping Ethics Waivers Secret; New York Times, May 26, 2017

Eric Lipton, New York Times; 

White House Backs Down on Keeping Ethics Waivers Secret

"“It’s a victory for checks and balances, the rule of law and the independent oversight of the Office of Government Ethics, and the news media,” Mr. Eisen said. ”With any bully, when you punch them in the nose, they back down.”...

Former senior officials with the Office of Government Ethics said that in the 39-year history of the agency, which was created in the aftermath of the Watergate scandal, they could not remember an instance in which the White House had similarly tried to block, or even to discourage, an effort to collect ethics compliance data."