Ed. notice: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson again to the pages of Above the Legislation. Subscribe to her Substack, Authorized Ethics Roundup, here.
Whats up from Maine. This week I’m writing you from Rockport, Maine, the place I’m attending the Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) Annual Meeting. A lot of the dialog has centered on reforms to authorized schooling, so though *technically* I’m right here as a plus-one (my husband is a former president of the CCJ which is how we obtained an invite), I really feel proper at residence and I’ve been studying a LOT. As a bonus, I bought the possibility to meet up with my great former Dean at Michigan State College School of Legislation, Joan Howarth (UNLV), who spoke about her work on bar examination reforms (for extra on that, try her e book Shaping the Bar: the Future of Attorney Licensing).
Along with your common checklist of authorized ethics headlines under, this week I wish to spotlight a bit by Etienne C. Toussaint (South Carolina) in Present Affairs: “How Ta-Nehisi Coates Helped Me See Palestine.” Right here’s a short excerpt:
Eleven years in the past, I stood smiling earlier than the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, posing with different Christian vacationers as cameras clicked round us, wanting to seize proof of our non secular devotion. We had been on a pilgrimage designed to attract us nearer to the sacred. But simply past the body of our photographs, checkpoints loomed, armed troopers patrolled the streets, and Palestinian life endured below occupation. We cropped these inconvenient truths out, not solely from our photographs however from our consciousness, determined to protect the purity of our spiritual expertise. On the time, we believed we had been harmless pilgrims. However I now perceive that our sense of innocence masked a deeper reality. We had been complicit.
That reminiscence, together with my battle to face my very own complicity, has clarified how simply religion can change into a veil that obscures our proximity to violence. It has made me take into consideration how typically, all through historical past, abnormal folks have borne witness to brutality not with resistance, however with silence—or worse, with a smile. I used to surprise how somebody might stand beneath a lynched Black man—dangling legs grazing the tops of grease-slicked hair, wide-eyed kids staring in bewilderment close by—and pose for the digital camera. What sort of world cultivates such ethical decay that households might uncover pleasure within the public spectacle of Black our bodies swinging within the southern breeze?
Then I learn “The Gigantic Dream,” the ultimate chapter of Ta-Nehisi Coates’s newest e book, The Message. In it, Coates displays on his go to to the West Financial institution and explores the parallels between American racial apartheid and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. His vivid observations—of segregated roads, militarized borders, and the quiet complicity of onlookers—made me really feel one thing I couldn’t ignore. As disgrace washed over me like chilly February rain—sluggish, regular, and sobering—I started to acknowledge in these silent onlookers part of myself. The particular person I had lengthy condemned for his or her inaction, their silence within the face of white supremacy and racial terror, their ease within the shadow of demise, lived in me too.
Learn extra here.
And now on your headlines, as soon as once more too many to restrict at ten.
#1 “A DOJ Whistleblower Speaks Out.” From The Every day Podcast (New York Occasions): “An explosive whistle-blower report claims that the Justice Division is asking authorities attorneys to mislead the courts, and that this has compelled profession officers to decide on between upholding the Structure and pledging loyalty to the president. Rachel Abrams speaks to the whistleblower Erez Reuveni about his profession within the Justice Division and his grievance saying he was fired for telling the reality.” Pay attention here. (It’s just below an hour, and well-worth your time.)
#2 “Large Legislation Corporations Bowed to Trump. A Corps of ‘Little Guys’ Jumped in to Combat Him.” From the New York Occasions: “President Trump’s government orders searching for to punish huge regulation companies have led a few of them to acquiesce to him and left others reluctant to tackle professional bono instances that would put them at odds with the administration. However as opponents of the White Home’s insurance policies organized to combat Mr. Trump in court docket on an enormous vary of actions and insurance policies, they rapidly discovered that they didn’t must depend on Large Legislation. As an alternative, a military of solo practitioners, former authorities litigators and small regulation companies stepped as much as volunteer their time to problem the administration’s agenda. ‘I don’t know if the administration knew what number of little guys are on the market,’ stated Michael H. Ansell, a solo practitioner in Morristown, N.J., who earlier this yr joined the Professional Bono Litigation Corps, newly launched by Legal professionals for Good Authorities, a authorized nonprofit. He answered the nonprofit’s plea for attorneys keen to offer a minimum of 20 hours per week to an upcoming case. Greater than 80 volunteered.” Learn extra here (reward hyperlink).
#3 “A Barely Much less Sorry State of Disclosure.” From the Repair the Courtroom: “As soon as once more Repair the Courtroom has rated the judicial monetary disclosures within the 50 states based mostly on how lengthy it took us to get them — we requested the 2023 and 2024 reviews of every state’s chief justice — and the quantity of content material helpful for oversight therein. The report we’re releasing immediately, termed ‘A Barely Much less Sorry State of Disclosure,’ displays the adjustments in New Jersey, Colorado and Hawaii in addition to proposed enhancements in Michigan and Vermont, each of which can be including new disclosure classes to their varieties within the close to future. (The database with hyperlinks to all of the disclosures is here.)” Learn extra here.
#4 “Disinformation is Driving the Rule of Legislation Disaster.” From the Worldwide Academy of Trial Legal professionals : “This week, Joe Tucker sits down with Karen Burgess of Burgess Legislation in Austin, Texas, to debate how disinformation is fueling the worldwide Rule of Legislation disaster. Collectively, they study the rising affect of state actors in driving disinformation campaigns, the rise of deepfakes and AI-generated content material, and the way social media algorithms are accelerating the dissemination of false narratives that erode belief in courts, elections, and democratic establishments.” Watch here.
#5 “DOJ Appeals Ruling for Jenner & Block in Trump Large Legislation Battle.” From Bloomberg Legislation: “The Trump administration’s court docket battle with Andrew Weissmann’s former regulation agency is transferring to a DC appeals court docket. The Justice Division on Monday requested the US Courtroom of Appeals for the District of Columbia to evaluation a federal choose’s order that struck down President Trump’s directive in opposition to Jenner & Block, based on a discover of attraction filed by Justice Division lawyer Richard Lawson. Trump’s directive in opposition to Jenner & Block cited the agency’s earlier employment of Andrew Weissmann, a former associate who labored on particular counsel Robert Mueller’s investigation of alleged Russian interference within the 2016 presidential election. Choose John D. Bates of the US District Courtroom for the District of Columbia discovered Trump’s March 25 order in opposition to the agency violated its First Modification rights by retaliating in opposition to Jenner for its work in court docket and ties to attorneys the president perceives as enemies.” Learn extra here.
#6 “Ethics Attraction Over Columbia Letter Nixed As Choose Joins USDA.” From Law360: “In its first determination of 2025, the Judicial Convention’s conduct committee on Tuesday dismissed a problem to the Seventh Circuit Judicial Council’s determination to toss ethics claims in opposition to a U.S. Courtroom of Worldwide Commerce choose who threatened to not rent regulation clerks from Columbia College over the varsity’s dealing with of Israel protests.” Learn extra here.
#7 “New Invoice Goals to Defend State Judges as Threats Surge 400%.” From the Georgia Solar: “A bipartisan invoice launched by Reps. Lucy McBath and Michael McCaul would create the first-ever menace monitoring heart for 30,000 state and native judges who at present lack federal safety.” Learn extra here.
#8 “DOJ Fires Newly Appointed US Lawyer in NJ After Judges Vote Towards Holding Alina Habba in Function.” From CNN: “The Division of Justice rapidly fired the newly named US lawyer in New Jersey on Tuesday after federal judges within the state declined to increase Alina Habba’s interim appointment. Lawyer Common Pam Bondi’s announcement got here after the district court docket voted to raise Desiree Leigh Grace, New Jersey’s first assistant US lawyer, to exchange the Trump ally.” Learn extra here.
#9 “Choose Scraps Opinion After Lawyer Flags Made-Up Quotes.” From Bloomberg Legislation: “A New Jersey US district court docket choose withdrew his determination in a biopharma securities case Wednesday after attorneys complained that his opinion contained quite a few errors, together with made-up quotes and misstated case outcomes. Choose Julien Xavier Neals of the US District Courtroom for the District of New Jersey on June 30 denied CorMedix Inc.’s request to dismiss a lawsuit by shareholders. ‘That opinion and order had been entered in error,’ based on a discover the court docket posted within the case docket on Wednesday. ‘A subsequent opinion and order will observe.’” Learn extra here.
#10 “Ohio to Evaluate ABA Accreditation for Legal professionals as Political Pressures Mount.” From Reuters: “Ohio on Thursday turned the third U.S. state to rethink guidelines requiring attorneys to attend an American Bar Affiliation-accredited regulation college to be admitted to apply, after the Trump administration threatened to revoke the ABA’s standing because the federal authorities’s designated accreditor of regulation colleges on account of its range and inclusion efforts. The Supreme Courtroom of Ohio stated it has convened an advisory committee to evaluation its regulation college accreditation course of, citing a necessity to make sure ‘excellence and innovation.’ Texas and Florida have launched related opinions.” Learn extra here.
#11 “Stefanik Ethics Criticism Towards D.C. Choose Is Tossed.” From Bloomberg Legislation: “A Washington federal choose who lamented the influence of the ‘huge lies’ on Capitol rioters dealing with legal expenses didn’t breach judicial ethics guidelines, a federal judicial council has discovered. The judicial council for the US Courtroom of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit dismissed a grievance by Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.) in opposition to Choose Beryl Howell of the US District Courtroom for the District of Columbia, associated to a speech the choose delivered at a white collar protection lawyer occasion in November 2023. Howell stated throughout the speech that she and her colleagues ‘recurrently see the influence of massive lies’ at sentencing hearings for individuals within the Jan. 6, 2021 riot on the US Capitol. She additionally described ‘a really shocking and downright troubling second the place the significance of info is dismissed, or ignored.’ Howell didn’t point out former President Donald Trump by identify throughout her remarks. Chief Choose Jerome A. Holmes of the Tenth Circuit held in a call posted Monday that the choose’s feedback ‘don’t moderately seem to replicate adversely on impartiality, nor might they result in disqualification.’ Her perspective is ‘constant’ with these raised by her and different judges ‘on the report in quite a few instances they presided over previous to the occasion at difficulty,’ he wrote. Holmes additionally famous that Howell gave her speech at a ‘law-related occasion, not a political operate,’ and didn’t identify any fashionable politicians.” Learn extra here.
#12 “Immigration Courts Hiding the Names of ICE Legal professionals Goes Towards Centuries of Precedent and Authorized Ethics Requiring Transparency in Courts.” From Cassandra Burke Robertson (Case Western) in The Dialog: “One thing uncommon is occurring in U.S. immigration courts. Authorities attorneys are refusing to give their names during public hearings. In June 2025, Immigration Choose ShaSha Xu in New York Metropolis reportedly told attorneys in her courtroom: ‘We’re probably not doing names publicly.’ Solely the federal government attorneys’ names had been hidden – the immigrants’ attorneys needed to give their names as normal. Xu cited privateness issues, saying, ‘Issues recently have modified.’ … This secrecy violates a elementary precept that has protected Individuals for hundreds of years: open courts. Right here’s how these courts function and why the precept governing them issues.” Learn extra here.
#13 “DOJ Faces Credibility Questions because it Investigates Jeffrey Epstein.” From NPR: “Because the Division of Justice continues its investigation into disgraced financier and convicted intercourse offender Jeffrey Epstein, some are elevating questions on its credibility below the present administration. … [Todd] Blanche’s direct involvement raises a key query. His boss, Lawyer Common Pam Bondi, herself a former Trump lawyer, reportedly advised the president in Might that his identify appeared within the Epstein recordsdata, in a breach of the lawyer common’s independence. Would Blanche equally tip off Trump? Stephen Gillers is a authorized ethics skilled on the NYU Faculty of Legislation and says it’s protected to imagine Blanche will debrief Trump. He additionally believes the Justice Division ought to assign a profession prosecutor to query Maxwell, who doubtless has her personal motivations at play.” Learn extra here.
#14 “Ex-Financial institution Robber and Georgetown Legislation Professor Discovered Responsible of Assaulting Spouse.” From the ABA Journal: “A former financial institution robber who turned a professor on the Georgetown College Legislation Heart has been convicted of a number of legal expenses associated to a home violence incident involving his spouse. A superior court docket jury discovered Shon Hopwood, 50, of the District of Columbia responsible of three counts of straightforward assault, 5 counts of contempt and two counts of obstructing justice, the U.S. lawyer’s workplace for the District of Columbia introduced Friday. ‘A D.C. jury is demanding accountability from the batterer who not solely beat his spouse however was on the school of Georgetown Legislation instructing legal regulation,’ stated Interim U.S. Lawyer Jeanine Ferris Pirro in an announcement. ‘This D.C. jury wasn’t afraid to demand accountability irrespective of who the defendant is.’ Hopwood is well-known for the story of how he turned his life round after changing into a talented jailhouse lawyer whereas in jail for financial institution theft. He went to the College of Washington Faculty of Legislation and clerked for a federal appeals choose earlier than changing into a regulation professor.” Learn extra here.
#15 “Distant Courtroom Look Pilot Program Launched.” From the Hometown Register: “The Illinois Supreme Courtroom’s Fee on Entry to Justice (ATJ Fee), partnering with the Second Judicial Circuit of Illinois and Land of Lincoln Authorized Assist, Inc., introduced the launch of a two-year pilot program on distant court docket appearances in southern counties of Illinois.” Learn extra here.
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Renee Knake Jefferson holds the endowed Doherty Chair in Authorized Ethics and is a Professor of Legislation on the College of Houston. Take a look at extra of her writing on the Legal Ethics Roundup. Discover her on X (previously Twitter) at @reneeknake or Bluesky at legalethics.bsky.social.
