SCOTT BAUER AND THOMAS BEAUMONT , AP; Elon Musk hands out $1 million payments after Wisconsin Supreme Court declines request to stop him
"Elon Musk gave out $1 million checks on Sunday to two Wisconsin voters, declaring them spokespeople for his political group, ahead of a Wisconsin Supreme Court election that the tech billionaire cast as critical to President Donald Trump’s agenda and “the future of civilization.”"
Michael S. Schmidt, The New York Times ; Law Firm Bends in Face of Trump Demands
[Kip Currier: This law firm's capitulation and transactionalism epitomizes the definition of craven:
contemptibly lacking in courage; cowardly
It's also a terrible precedent to set for the rule of law, the legal profession, and democracy.]
[Excerpt]
"President Trump and the head of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison LLP have reached a deal under which Mr. Trump will drop the executive order he leveled against the firm, Mr. Trump said on Thursday.
In the deal, Mr. Trump said, the firm agreed to a series of commitments, including to represent clients no matter their political affiliation and contribute $40 million in legal services to causes Mr. Trump has championed, including “the President’s Task Force to Combat Antisemitism, and other mutually agreed projects.
It’s unclear how the money will be used to help the task force. The firm, Mr. Trump said, also agreed to conduct an audit to ensure its hiring practices are merit based “and will not adopt, use, or pursue any DEI policies.”"
Perry Stein , The Washington Post; Fired Justice Dept. official speaks out on her ouster and Mel Gibson
"Oyer said her office was asked to identify suitable candidates. She sifted through people who had applied for pardons and whom her office had already vetted, then crafted a list of 95 individuals who had committed relatively nonviolent crimes at least 20 years ago and had demonstrated exemplary conduct since serving their punishments.
Justice Department leaders whittled that list down to nine people, Oyer said, and she was asked to send a memo to Bondi explaining why those people should have their gun rights restored.
“I was comfortable doing that with those cases because I had a great deal of information on those nine people and had already recommended that they were suitable candidates for a presidential pardon,” Oyer toldMSNBC.
But after Oyer drafted the memo, she was asked to add Gibson to the list of nine people. She said Gibson had not applied for a pardon or been vetted through her office and, as someone with a domestic violence conviction, she did not believe he met the criteria to have his gun rights restored.
Oyer said security escorted her from her office hours after she refused to add Gibson’s name to the list."
Sara Merken, Reuters ; AI 'hallucinations' in court papers spell trouble for lawyers
"U.S. personal injury law firm Morgan & Morgan sent an urgent email this month to its more than 1,000 lawyers: Artificial intelligence can invent fake case law, and using made-up information in a court filing could get you fired.
Celia Ford, Vox; The harrowing lives of animal researchers
"Alyssa’s experience is anything but rare. Animal research, while largely hidden from public view, is widespread across the life sciences. Animals are used in everything from safety testing for medicines, cosmetics, and pesticides to exploring open-ended questions about how the mind and body work. The drugs we take, the products we use, and the medical breakthroughs we celebrate have been made possible in large part by lab animals and the people who, in the name of science, kill them.
While it’s difficult to find the exact number of scientists, veterinarians, and animal caretakers working in research facilities, we know that somewhere around 100 million animals — mice, rats, dogs, cats, rabbits, monkeys, fish, and birds, among others — are used for research and testing worldwide each year. Between 2011 and 2021, the US National Institutes of Health (NIH) provided $2.2 billion in grants for an estimated 4,000 research projects involving animals.
Animal research is traumatic — obviously for the animals unlucky enoughto be involved, but also for many of the humans tasked with harming them. Yet from day one, institutions teach animal researchers that expressing discomfort is akin to weakness, or tantamount to dismissing the value of science altogether. To compete for increasingly rare tenure-track jobs, graduate students and postdocs have no choice but to learn to suppress their emotions and get the work done. Principal investigators, senior scientists who direct animal research labs, often don’t care whether inserting electrodes into a conscious, chronically ill monkey’s brain makes you squeamish. If you can’t handle the heat, they say, get out of the kitchen.
“The costs have always been out there,” bioethicist and former animal researcher John Gluck said. “They’ve just been completely ignored.”"
"A respiratory crisis suffered by Pope Francis on Friday during his two-week hospitalization for pneumonia has added urgency to a delicate, and uncomfortable, question worrying many in the church: What would happen if the pope remains in critical condition for an extended period, with his health worsening, his faculties fading, his quality of life deteriorating?
And what would his approach be to extended medical interventions, as well as, ultimately, his end-of-life plans?
Francis, 88, has talked about a resignation letter he put on file with the Vatican soon after his election in the event that he became incapacitated, but its contents are unknown. It is also unknown if he has a living will, or whom, if anyone, he has entrusted to make decisions about his health if he no longer can do so himself.
Asked about the pope’s desires, the Vatican responded that “it’s too early” to talk about end-of-life details. And while his prognosis remains guarded, Saturday evening’s health bulletin had encouraging news about the pope’s health."
Reuters via The Guardian; Trump’s firing of watchdog agency chief illegal and would give ‘license to bully officials’, judge rules
"A US judge on Saturday declared president Donald Trump’s firing of the head of a federal watchdog agency illegal in an early test of the scope of presidential power likely to be decided at the US supreme court.
US district judge Amy Berman Jackson in Washington had previously ruled that Hampton Dellinger, head of the Office of Special Counsel who is responsible for protecting whistleblowers, could remain in his post pending a ruling.
Jackson said in her ruling on Saturday that upholding Trump’s ability to fire Dellinger would give him “a constitutional license to bully officials in the executive branch into doing his will”.
The justice department filed a notice late on Saturday saying it was appealing against Berman’s ruling to the US court of appeals for the district of Columbia."
Marilou Johanek, Ohio Capital Journal ; Ohio’s J.D. Vance rebuked by the Pope, denounced by NATO allies, ridiculed for bizarre rant
"For a supposed Ivy League intellectual, Vance sure spouts stupidity on the regular: Honestly, you’ve got to be really off base on Catholic theology for the Vatican to correct your twisted take on love with descending priorities as justification for mass deportations. In Vance’s godawful reading of the Christian order of love concept; (to mesh with his political ideology) family, community, and country come first and everyone outside that concentric circle later or not so much. Which puts migrant families outermost from Vance’s construct on brotherly love for me but not thee from outside our borders.
Francis rejected the VP’s sophomoric theoretical defense of cruel immigration crackdowns as flatly wrong. He urged the misguided millennial to meditate on the parable of the Good Samaritan, “on the love that builds a fraternity open to all, without exception.” But “American citizens first” nativist Vance has no interest in building a “fraternity open to all,” just an all-white patriarchy focused on baby-making. To that point, he started a holy war (barely a week after inauguration) against charitable organizations across the country that feed, clothe and house refugees and immigrants (i.e., Catholic Charities and Catholic relief groups) by implying they perform their labor of love for federal money — not humanitarian concerns.
“Devout Catholic” convert Vance went all glib and combative on compassion and care for the “least of these” because they included Brown and Black mothers and fathers and children fleeing horrendous homelands for hope. But upholding the dignity of every human being (native-born or not) as a core tenet of Christianity clashes with the core MAGA mission to degrade, shackle and ship terrified families back to the foreign hellscapes they fled. Vance threw nasty and mean into the mix to look tough on dehumanized “illegals” and scorn mercy. He is a dutiful, if not decent, Trump toady.
But the swift rebuttals to Vance’s hollow broadsides from the Church and the pope himself only reinforced the veep’s smallness as a smug sycophant slinging ugly. Whatever reputation Vance may have enjoyed in the past as a thoughtful individual with at least a modicum of integrity is long gone. With a brief stint as a venture capitalist, an even briefer stint as Ohio senator and now VP, Vance is heady with power and hubris over his meteoric rise from bending the knee to a man he once derided as “America’s Hitler.” Then Vance went to the Munich Security Conference recently, not to collaborate with NATO allies on mutual security interests and Ukraine, but to turn on them."
Ben Penn, Bloomberg Law; Trump DOJ Assigns Sensitive Ethics Powers to Political Aides
"The Trump Justice Department has assigned politically appointed newcomers decisionmaking power over sensitive matters, including ethics, employee discipline, and release of information sought by inspectors general and Congress, stripping these authorities from the longstanding oversight of a senior career official.
Acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, in a Jan. 27 memo reviewed by Bloomberg Law, handed the authorities to two of his staffers — one a former criminal defense lawyer for President Donald Trump and another a 2021 law school graduate...
Delegating such weighty tasks to political aides — both first-time DOJ employees — without a career official’s involvement is a dramatic departure from past practice."
Hon. W. Kearse McGill , American Bar Association (ABA); Ethics Column: When to Recuse or Disclose?
"When judicial recusal should occur is a perilous topic to discuss these days; in fact, to describe it as perilous may even be an understatement given recent public attention on this topic. As judges, most of us will become quite anxious if we are hearing a case where our impartiality could be questioned. What should we consider when this issue presents itself?
As a starting point, we can consider the ethical concept that underpins the issue of recusal or disqualification (while recusal is a judge’s sua sponte withdrawal from a case and disqualification is removal based on a party’s motion or required by statute, both terms are often used interchangeably). A judge’s ethical duty to recuse arises from the duty to act impartially, which is based in our understanding of procedural due process as a constitutional principle."
Sean Beeghly | U. Pittsburgh School of Law, US, Jurist news; Trump administration asks US Supreme Court to remove order blocking firing of ethics agency head
"The Trump administration prepared an application on Sunday asking the US Supreme Court to remove a lower court order blocking the firing of the head of the Office of Special Counsel. The request argued the order was “an unprecedented assault on the separation of powers that warrant[ed] immediate relief.”...
The Office of Special Counsel was created in 1979 to serve as “a secure channel for federal employees to blow the whistle by disclosing wrongdoing.”"
JOSH GERSTEIN and KYLE CHENEY, Politico ; Appeals court rejects Trump in showdown over firing of ethics watchdog
"A divided federal appeals court panel has again turned down President Donald Trump’s request to follow through with his effort to fire a federal official from a post overseeing enforcement of workplace protections for federal employees.
In an order released late Saturday night, a panel of the D.C. Circuit Court of Appeals voted, 2-1, not to disturb a temporary restraining order a lower court judge issued preventing Trump from moving forward with the removal of Office of Special Counsel chief Hampton Dellinger, an appointee of President Joe Biden."
BRETT SAMUELS, The Hill; Trump fires Office of Government Ethics chief
"President Trump has fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics, the agency announced Monday.
The office posted on its website that it had been notified Trump was removing David Huitema, who had been nominated by former President Biden. He was confirmed last November by the Senate to a five-year term and officially started the job in December."
Eric Lipton, The New York Times; Ethics Pledges by Trump Cabinet Draw Questions and Skepticism
Laura Barrón-López , Shrai Popat, PBS News; Trump’s firing of independent watchdogs raises concerns about government fraud and ethics
"In another sweeping move of his second term, President Trump fired more than a dozen inspectors general, the non-partisan watchdogs appointed to protect against abuses of power, waste and mismanagement across federal agencies. White House correspondent Laura Barrón-López discussed the impact with Glenn Fine, former inspector general for the Department of Justice."
Sarah N. Lynch , Reuters; Career US Justice Department official in charge of public corruption cases resigns
"Corey Amundson, the U.S. Justice Department's senior career official in charge of overseeing public corruption and other politically sensitive investigations, resigned on Monday after the Trump administration tried to reassign him to a new role working on immigration issues, according to a letter seen by Reuters.
"I am honored and blessed to have served our country and this department for the last 23 years," Amundson wrote in his letter to Acting Attorney General James McHenry.
"I spent my entire professional life committed to the apolitical enforcement of the federal criminal law and to ensuring that those around me understood and embraced that central tenet of our work," Amundson said.
Amundson is one of an estimated 20 career officials inside the Justice Department who was reassignedlast week to a new Sanctuary City Working Group inside the Associate Attorney General's office."
Jeanne M Huey, ABA Journal; The Power of Three: Civility, Professionalism, and Zealous Advocacy
"Balancing Civility, Professionalism, and Zealous Advocacy
The “power of three” reminds us that civility, professionalism, and zealous advocacy are not competing ideals but instead work together to define our duty to our clients, our duty to the justice system, and our duty to respect others, which is the mark of effective lawyering. Zealous advocacy without civility leads to unproductive conflict, while civility without zeal risks losing sight of the client’s interests. Professionalism embraces both, ensuring that civility and advocacy serve the client and the justice system. A balanced commitment to all three creates a steady, resilient structure that upholds a lawyer’s duty to serve their client’s best interests within the rule of law."
Ruth Marcus, The Washington Post; Trump’s Friday night massacre is blatantly illegal
"Contempt for law. Contempt for Congress. Contempt for oversight. That is the lesson of President Donald Trump’s Friday night massacre of at least 15 inspectors general — most of them appointed by Trump himself in his first term.
The blatantly illegal action is troubling in itself — nonpartisan inspectors general play a critical role in assuring the lawful and efficient operations of government, in Democratic and Republican administrations alike. An administration supposedly focused on making government more efficient would be empowering inspectors general, not firing them en masse.
But this episode is even more alarming than that. It offers a chilling foreshadowing of Trump unbound, heedless of the rule of law and unwilling to tolerate any potential impediment to his authority."
WILL WEISSERT, AP ; Trump has canceled Biden’s ethics rules. Critics call it the opposite of ‘drain the swamp’
"Donald Trump took office eight years ago, pledging to “drain the swamp” and end the domination of Washington influence peddlers.
Now, he’s opening his second term by rolling back prohibitions on executive branch employees accepting major gifts from lobbyists, and ditching bans on lobbyists seeking executive branch jobs or vice versa, for at least two years.
Trump issued a Day 1 executive order that rescinded one on ethics that former President Joe Biden signed when he took office in January 2021.
The new president also has been benefitting personally in the runup to his inauguration by launching a new cryptocurrency token that is soaring in value while his wife, first lady Melania Trump, has inked a deal to make a documentary with Amazon."
ANDREW PEREZ, NIKKI MCCANN RAMIREZ , Rolling Stone; ‘BREACH OF PROTOCOL’: SENATORS STILL DON’T HAVE ETHICS FILINGS FROM TRUMP NOMINEES
"Confirmation hearings for a slew of Donald Trump’s picks for his Cabinet and other high-ranking positions are scheduled to begin this week. Senate committees still have not received vetting materials for several nominees, and many of their financial disclosures and ethics disclosures have not yet been made public."
