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."
Michel Martin, NPR; The ethical implications of President-elect Trump's call with Justice Alito
"Alito and Trump spoke Tuesday, a day before the president-elect urged the Supreme Court to halt his Jan. 10 sentencing in the New York hush-money case, the justice said in a statement from the court. They did not discuss the case, however, Alito said.
MICHEL MARTIN, HOST:
Donald Trump spoke with Supreme Court Justice Samuel Alito on Tuesday, just hours before the president-elect asked the top court to block his sentencing over his New York hush money case. Alito said in a statement that the two of them did not discuss the case or any others involving Mr. Trump or potentially involving him. Gabe Roth joined me earlier to talk about this development, which was first reported by ABC News. Mr. Roth founded Fix the Court. His group advocates for ways to make the federal courts more open and accountable to the public. Good morning. Thanks for joining us.
GABE ROTH: Good morning.
MARTIN: So let me give a picture of the call, as we understand it. Justice Alito said in a statement that one of his former law clerks asked him to take a call from Mr. Trump regarding his qualifications to serve in a government position, in essence, to give him a job reference. What do you make of it?
ROTH: I mean, well, it's obviously an unmistakable breach of protocol. You have an individual and the president-elect, who is petitioning the Supreme Court related to his sentencing in the hush money case, a Supreme Court justice, who, frankly, should know better. This conversation should not have taken place. And someone like Will Levi, the man in question who's looking for a credential, he has plenty of other credentials. He worked for Mike Lee. He could have Mike Lee call. He could - he's worked - he's been a partner in the law. His dad's a former federal judge. His grandfather was the attorney general. So, you know, it doesn't make sense from his perspective, and it's just - this episode shows the justices don't really care about the ethics because they know that no one's going to stop them from doing whatever it is that they want to do.
MARTIN: Have any ethical rules or laws been broken here, to your knowledge?
ROTH: Laws - I don't see any laws having been broken, but, you know, there are certain protocols that if you are a Supreme Court justice, you really don't intermingle with the executive branch or the incoming executive branch. I mean, maybe you attend the State of the Union speech that happens every year, though Justice Alito famously stopped attending that. But generally, the two branches don't intermingle - and especially at a time when President Trump, we know, is going to have all these executive orders coming down the pike whose fate will be decided by the justices. This, to me, just seems like an opportunity for him to have an audience before one of the nine people determining his and his administration's fate in so many of these issues...
It's all self-enforcing and self-policing. So that is really, you know, sort of what the challenge is for people like me and other people who care about the ethics of our highest court is - how do you get the justices to act in a way that is sort of consistent with what most people would believe are their ethical responsibilities?"
Adam Liptak, The New York Times ; Alito Spoke With Trump Shortly Before Supreme Court Filing
"Justice Samuel A. Alito Jr. spoke with President-elect Donald J. Trump on Tuesday, not long before Mr. Trump’s lawyers asked the Supreme Court to delay his sentencing following his conviction in New York in a case arising from hush money payments.
Justice Alito said the call was a routine job reference for a former law clerk whom Mr. Trump was considering for a government position.
It was not clear, however, why Mr. Trump would make a call to check references, a task generally left to lower-level aides.
Gabe Roth, the executive director of Fix the Court, an advocacy group that seeks more openness at the Supreme Court, said the call was deeply problematic given the ethics controversies swirling around the court in general and Justice Alito in particular."
Jacob Orledge, North Dakota Monitor, ProPublica ; “BadAss Grandmas” Pushed for an Ethics Commission. Then the North Dakota Legislature Limited Its Power.
"Fed-up North Dakotans, led by a group of women calling themselves the BadAss Grandmas, voted to amend the constitution and establish a state Ethics Commission six years ago. Their goal was to investigate and stop unethical conduct by public officials.
But the watchdog agency has achieved less than the advocates had hoped, undermined in large part by the legislature the commission is charged with overseeing, an investigation by the North Dakota Monitor and ProPublica has found."
Heather Timmons and Gabriella Borter , Reuters; Exclusive: New US ethics czar starts vetting incoming Trump officials
"The top U.S. ethics official charged with preventing government workers' conflicts of interest is about to take the hotseat in Washington, as President-elect Donald Trump's new Cabinet and other appointees declare their financial assets and prepare for their new jobs.
"We are in touch with the transition team and working with them," said David Huitema recently when he sat down with Reuters for his first official interview since being sworn in for the job on Dec. 16. The inauguration will be Jan. 20."
ZACH SCHONFELD , The Hill ; Judiciary won’t refer Clarence Thomas, Ketanji Brown Jackson to DOJ over ethics
"The federal judiciary’s policymaking body will not refer allegations that Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Ketanji Brown Jackson violated federal ethics laws to the Justice Department.
In identical letters sent Thursday to Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.) and Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), who requested investigations into Thomas over ProPublica reports about free trips he accepted, the Judicial Conference raised questions about whether it even had the legal authority to make the referrals."
JOE PATRICE, Above The Law; Chief Justice John Roberts Thinks You're Stupid And He's Probably Right
"As Chief Justice of the United States, John Roberts prepares a year-end report, ostensibly to communicate with the American people — or Congress — about the state of the federal judiciary and his vision for the branch’s future. His approach this year is to condescend to the public while ignoring every useful area of inquiry about the court system.
Because he thinks everyone is too stupid to care...
More likely, this is a bid to undermine the public’s faith in legal analysis. The public doesn’t necessarily appreciate how much obfuscation exists in rulings by design let alone when a judge affirmatively tries to muddy the waters. When a court tries to say “oh, we didn’t really do what the analysts are saying, we decided it on standing!” the public relies on legal analysts to cut through this nonsense and explain what they’ve actually done...
America should demand more from a Chief Justice. But it won’t."
, Forbes ; Overcoming AI’s Nagging Trust And Ethics Issues
"Trust and ethics in AI is what is making business leaders nervous. For example, at least 72% of executives responding to a recent surveyfrom the IBM Institute for Business Value say they “are willing to forgo generative AI benefits due to ethical concerns.” In addition, more than half (56%) indicate they are delaying major investments in generative AI until there is clarity on AI standards and regulations...
"Today, guardrails are a growing area of practice for the AI community given the stochastic nature of these models,” said Ross. “Guardrails can be employed for virtually any area of decisioning, from examining bias to preventing the leakage of sensitive data."...
The situation is not likely to change soon, Jeremy Rambarran, professor at Touro University Graduate School, pointed out. “Although the output that's being generated may be unique, depending on how the output is being presented, there's always a chance that part of the results may not be entirely accurate. This will eventually change down the road as algorithms are enhanced and could eventually be updated in an automated manner.”...
How can AI be best directed to be ethical and trustworthy? Compliance requirements, of course, will be a major driver of AI trust in the future, said Rambarran. “We need to ensure that AI-driven processes comply with ethical guidelines, legal regulations, and industry standards. Humans should be aware of the ethical implications of AI decisions and be ready to intervene when ethical concerns arise.”
The Economist; Matt Gaetz v the ethics committee
"On december 23rd a congressional committee released a lurid 37-page report alleging ethical misconduct by Matt Gaetz, the former maverick member of the House of Representatives who briefly stood as Donald Trump’s nominee for attorney-general. In a different time the investigation’s details about illicit sex and drug use would definitively end Mr Gaetz’s political career, and perhaps it will now. Yet he could soon test how far deviance has been defined down in America’s norm-smashing political era."
Shaun Sellars , British Dental Journal ; Ethics revisited
"But what about the future? Tomorrow's ethical dilemmas will likely centre around technology. Artificial intelligence is already reshaping diagnostics, and its influence will only grow. With this comes the responsibility to ensure that innovation enhances, rather than replaces, the human element of care.
The ethical landscape of dentistry will continue evolving, shaped by societal shifts, technological advances, and our commitment to doing better. If there's one lesson I've learned, it's that ethics isn't static - it's a living, breathing part of what we do. It challenges us to reflect, adapt, and, above all, remain human in our approach.
I leave you with this: Keep asking questions. Keep challenging norms. And never lose sight of why we chose this profession in the first place. Because at the heart of ethical dentistry lies something beautifully simple: a desire to do right by our patients, our colleagues, and ourselves. It's been an honour to be able to write for you all. Thank you for being part of the conversation."
LINDSAY WHITEHURST, AP; Senate review of Supreme Court ethics finds more luxury trips and urges enforceable code of conduct
"A nearly two-year investigation by Democratic senators of Supreme Court ethics details more luxury travel by Justice Clarence Thomas and urges Congress to establish a way to enforce a new code of conduct.
Any movement on the issue appears unlikely as Republicans prepare to take control of the Senate in January, underscoring the hurdles in imposing restrictions on a separate branch of government even as public confidence in the court has fallen to record lows.
The 93-page report released Saturday by the Democratic majority of the Senate Judiciary Committee found additional travel taken in 2021 by Thomas but not reported on his annual financial disclosure form: a private jet flight to New York’s Adirondacks in July and jet and yacht trip to New York City sponsored by billionaire Harlan Crow in October, one of more than two dozen times detailed in the report that Thomas took luxury travel and gifts from wealthy benefactors."
Danny Connolly, Theodora Koulouvaris, WCIA.com;
"A public library district in Sangamon and Christian Counties faces dozens of ethics complaints accusing officials of using their government office to promote a referendum."
Here & Now Newsroom, wbur; Former White House ethics lawyer reacts to Hunter Biden pardon
"President Biden announced on Sunday that he is pardoning his son Hunter Biden, saying, "I believe in the justice system, but as I have wrestled with this. I also believe raw politics has infected this process and it led to a miscarriage of justice." Hunter Biden was convicted of federal gun charges in June and later pleaded guilty to tax evasion.
Here & Now's Peter O'Dowd looks at the implications of the pardon with Richard Painter, a former White House ethics lawyer under former President George W. Bush, and now a professor at the University of Minnesota Law School."
Geoff Leo , CBC; 'No consequences' for violating human rights in privately funded research in Canada, says ethics expert
"Knowing that PASS had been approved by two Canadian universities, Parente thought, "I could write a book just on this." Instead, she is adding a chapter on it in her forthcoming book, tentatively titled Ethics on Trial: Protecting Humans in Canada's Broken Research System.
But through her interactions with CBC, Parente made another discovery: the federal government body that oversees research ethics, the Secretariat on the Responsible Conduct of Research, does not have jurisdiction over privately funded clinical trials — which make up about 85 per cent of all such research in this country.
"I was shocked at this revelation," she said. "Everyone I have spoken to were just as shocked."
Martin Letendre, a Quebec-based lawyer and research ethicist, said this fact demonstrates that Canada's research ethics system is the "wild West."
"Clearly, it makes absolutely no sense," said Letendre, who is president of Veritas IRB, a private research ethics board founded by Parente. "It's going to come as a total shock to anyone in academia who is studying or experts on the governance of research in the country.""
Jodi Kantor and Abbie VanSickle, The New York Times; Inside the Supreme Court Ethics Debate: Who Judges the Justices?
"As the summer of 2023 ended, the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court began trading even-more-confidential-than-usual memos, avoiding their standard email list and instead passing paper documents in envelopes to each chambers. Faced with ethics controversies and a plunge in public trust, they were debating rules for their own conduct, according to people familiar with the process.
Weeks later, as a united front, they announced the results: the court’s first-ever ethics code. “It’s remarkable that we were able to agree unanimously,” Justice Neil M. Gorsuch said in a television interview this year.
But a New York Times examination found that behind the scenes, the court had divided over whether the justices’ new rules could — or should — ever be enforced."
ROSS DOUTHAT AND DAVID FRENCH, The New York Times; ‘This Is the Land of Wolves Now’: Two Columnists Get to the Heart of Biden’s Pardon
"Patrick Healy, the deputy Opinion editor, hosted an online conversation with the Times Opinion columnists Ross Douthat and David French about President Biden’s decision to issue a broad pardon to his son Hunter Biden.
Patrick Healy: Ross and David, you both have written extensively about the rule of law and presidential power. You both have a good sense of what American voters care about. And you both are fathers. So I’m curious what struck you most about President Biden’s statement that he was pardoning his son Hunter Biden.
David French: As a father, I think it would be very, very hard to watch your son go to prison — especially if you have the power to set him free. I can’t imagine the pain of watching Hunter’s long battle with substance abuse and then watching his conviction in court. But in his role as president, Biden’s primary responsibility is to the country and the Constitution, not his family.
As president, this pardon represents a profound failure. Biden was dishonest — he told us that he wouldn’t pardon Hunter — and this use of the pardon power reeks of the kind of royal privilege that is antithetical to America’s republican values...
Ross Douthat: I think it’s important to stress that Biden always kept Hunter close, within the larger aura of his own power, in ways that likely helped his son trade on his dad’s name even as his own life was completely out of control. This pardon is a continuation or completion of that closeness: It’s a moral failure, as David says, a dereliction, but one that’s of a piece with the president’s larger inability to create a sustained separation between his own position and his troubled son’s lifestyle and business dealings and place in the family’s inner circle. A clearer separation would have been better not just for the president and the country, but also for Hunter himself — even if he’s benefiting from it now, at the last."
Kenneth P. Vogel, The New York Times; Broad Pardon for Hunter Biden Troubles Experts
"Jeffrey Crouch, an assistant professor of politics at American University who studies clemency, drew a distinction between what presidents can do, and what they should do.
“Legally, the president can pardon pretty much whomever they want,” he said in an email. “Morally, it does raise some questions.”
Walter M. Shaub Jr. , The New York Review; ‘Acts of Submission’: An open letter to the director of the Office of Government Ethics.
"Dear Hon. David Huitema (David),
Congratulations on being confirmed to serve as director of the Office of Government Ethics (OGE). Thank you for accepting a job you will not enjoy.
It’s been more than a year since President Biden nominated you. The confirmation process took far too long, and it could not have been pleasant. Back in 2023, not long after President Trump’s appointee, Hon. Emory A. Rounds III, finished his term, Senator Mike Lee of Utah declared that the next OGE director should be chosen after the new president’s inauguration (although he had championed Justice Amy Coney Barrett’s nomination shortly before the 2020 election). Since then, he has tried to block you from serving in that role. This September he even claimed in the Senate that “Mr. Huitema left open the possibility of supporting a partisan policy, a partisan approach, from a nonpartisan position.” If the senator had bothered to read the transcript of your confirmation hearing, he would have known you emphatically rejected partisanship. You can expect the Republicans to make increasingly frequent, intense, and unfair attacks on your character.
The straight party-line vote on your confirmation suggests that Senate Republicans will sheepishly fall in line behind a president-elect who wages war on ethics. Your uncontroversial nomination should have been confirmed promptly with a unanimous pro forma vote. As a career government ethics official, you served both Republican and Democratic administrations, assisting their nominees in preparing financial disclosures and ethics agreements, advising appointees on complex issues. No one questioned your commitment, and you gave no one reason to distrust you. That is surely why Biden chose you. I doubt he even knows your political affiliation. I worked with you for years but have no clue as to your political outlook.
Sadly, however, your fate is likely sealed. President-elect Trump could fire you on or soon after January 20. In Trump’s administration, you will be guilty not for being a party operative, but for not being one. Trump demands fealty."
Coleman Standifer, asst. managing editor; Grace McNeill, asst. managing editor , The Los Angeles Loyolan; AI task force proposes ‘artificial intelligence, ethics and society’ minor in BCLA
"The Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts (BCLA) is taking steps to further educate students on artificial intelligence (AI) through the development of an “artificial intelligence, ethics and society," spearheaded by an AI task force. This proposed addition comes two years after the widespread adoption of OpenAI's ChatGPT in classrooms.
Prior to stepping into his role as the new dean of BCLA, Richard Fox, Ph.D., surveyed BCLA’s 175 faculty about how the college could best support their teaching. Among the top three responses from faculty were concerns about navigating AI in the classroom, Fox told the Loyolan.
As of now, BCLA has no college-wide policy on AI usage and allows instructors determine how AI is — or is not — utilized in the classroom.
“We usually don't dictate how people teach. That is the essence of academic freedom," said Fox. “What I want to make sure we're doing is we're preparing students to enter a world where they have these myriad different expectations on writing from their faculty members.”
Headed by Roberto Dell’Oro, Ph.D., professor of theological studies and director of the Bioethics Institute, the task force met over the summer and culminated in a proposal for a minor in BCLA. The proposal — which Dell'Oro sent to the Loyolan— was delivered to Fox in August and now awaits a formal proposal to be drawn up before approval, according to Dell’Oro.
The minor must then be approved by the Academic Planning and Review Committee (ARPC), a committee tasked with advising Provost Thomas Poon, Ph.D., on evaluating proposals for new programs.
According to the proposal, the proposed minor aims “to raise awareness about the implications of AI technologies, emphasize the importance of ethical considerations in its development and promote interdisciplinary research at the intersection of AI, ethics, and society.
The minor — if approved by the APRC — would have “four or five classes,” with the possibility of having an introductory course taught by faculty in the Seaver College of Science and Engineering, according to the proposal.
Most of the sample courses in the proposal include classes rooted in philosophy and ethics, such as, “AI, Robots, and the Philosophy of the Person,” “Could Robots Have Rights?” and “Introduction to Bioethics.” According to Dell’Oro, the hope is to have courses available for enrollment by Fall 2025."
