{"id":128686,"date":"2025-07-28T08:57:58","date_gmt":"2025-07-28T16:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/28\/legal-ethics-roundup-unethical-hiding-of-ice-lawyer-names-in-public-hearings-50-state-survey-of-judicial-disclosures-doj-appeals-jenner-eo-block-judge-scraps-opinion-with-fake-cites-more\/"},"modified":"2025-07-28T08:57:58","modified_gmt":"2025-07-28T16:57:58","slug":"legal-ethics-roundup-unethical-hiding-of-ice-lawyer-names-in-public-hearings-50-state-survey-of-judicial-disclosures-doj-appeals-jenner-eo-block-judge-scraps-opinion-with-fake-cites-more","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/xira.com\/p\/2025\/07\/28\/legal-ethics-roundup-unethical-hiding-of-ice-lawyer-names-in-public-hearings-50-state-survey-of-judicial-disclosures-doj-appeals-jenner-eo-block-judge-scraps-opinion-with-fake-cites-more\/","title":{"rendered":"Legal Ethics Roundup: Unethical Hiding Of ICE Lawyer Names In Public Hearings, 50-State Survey Of Judicial Disclosures, DOJ Appeals Jenner EO Block, Judge Scraps Opinion With Fake Cites & More"},"content":{"rendered":"

Ed. note<\/u>: Please welcome Renee Knake Jefferson back to the pages of Above the Law. Subscribe to her Substack, Legal Ethics Roundup,\u00a0<\/strong>here<\/a>.<\/em><\/p>\n

Happy Monday!<\/h3>\n

Hello from Maine. This week I\u2019m writing you from Rockport, Maine, where I\u2019m attending the\u00a0Conference of Chief Justices (CCJ) Annual Meeting<\/a><\/strong>. Much of the conversation has focused on reforms to legal education, so even though *technically* I am here as a plus-one (my husband is a former president of the CCJ which is how we received an invitation), I feel right at home and I\u2019ve been learning a LOT. As a bonus, I got the chance to catch up with my wonderful former Dean at Michigan State University College of Law,\u00a0Joan Howarth<\/strong>\u00a0(UNLV), who spoke about her work on bar exam reforms (for more on that, check out her book\u00a0Shaping the Bar: the Future of Attorney Licensing<\/a><\/strong>).<\/p>\n

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Rockland Breakwater Jetty, Rockport, Maine (photo by Renee Jefferson)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\n

In addition to your regular list of legal ethics headlines below, this week I want to highlight a piece by\u00a0Etienne C. Toussaint\u00a0<\/strong>(South Carolina) in\u00a0Current Affairs<\/strong>:\u00a0\u201cHow Ta-Nehisi Coates Helped Me See Palestine.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0Here\u2019s a brief excerpt:<\/p>\n

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Eleven years ago, I stood smiling before the Dome of the Rock in Jerusalem, posing with other Christian tourists as cameras clicked around us, eager to capture proof of our spiritual devotion. We were on a pilgrimage designed to draw us closer to the sacred. Yet just beyond the frame of our photos, checkpoints loomed, armed soldiers patrolled the streets, and Palestinian life endured under occupation. We cropped those inconvenient truths out, not only from our photos but from our consciousness, desperate to preserve the purity of our religious experience. At the time, we believed we were innocent pilgrims. But I now understand that our sense of innocence masked a deeper truth. We were complicit.<\/p>\n

That memory, along with my struggle to face my own complicity, has clarified how easily faith can become a veil that obscures our proximity to violence. It has made me think about how often, throughout history, ordinary people have borne witness to brutality not with resistance, but with silence\u2014or worse, with a smile. I used to wonder how someone could stand beneath a lynched Black man\u2014dangling legs grazing the tops of grease-slicked hair, wide-eyed children staring in bewilderment nearby\u2014and pose for the camera. What kind of world cultivates such moral decay that families could discover joy in the public spectacle of Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze?<\/p>\n

Then I read \u201cThe Gigantic Dream,\u201d the final chapter of Ta-Nehisi Coates\u2019s latest book,\u00a0The Message<\/em>. In it, Coates reflects on his visit to the West Bank and explores the parallels between American racial apartheid and the Israeli occupation of Palestine. His vivid observations\u2014of segregated roads, militarized borders, and the quiet complicity of onlookers\u2014made me feel something I couldn\u2019t ignore. As shame washed over me like cold February rain\u2014slow, steady, and sobering\u2014I began to recognize in those silent onlookers a part of myself. The person I had long condemned for their inaction, their silence in the face of white supremacy and racial terror, their ease in the shadow of death, lived in me too.<\/p>\n

Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n

And now for your headlines, once again too many to limit at ten.<\/p>\n

Highlights from Last Week \u2013 Top\u00a0Ten<\/s> Fifteen Headlines<\/h3>\n

#1<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA DOJ Whistleblower Speaks Out.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0The Daily Podcast (New York Times)<\/strong>: \u201cAn explosive whistle-blower report claims that the Justice Department is asking government lawyers to lie to the courts, and that this has forced career officials to choose between upholding the Constitution and pledging loyalty to the president.\u00a0Rachel Abrams<\/strong>\u00a0speaks to the whistleblower\u00a0Erez Reuveni<\/strong>\u00a0about his career in the Justice Department and his complaint saying he was fired for telling the truth.\u201d Listen\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>. (It\u2019s just under an hour, and well-worth your time.)<\/p>\n

#2<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cBig Law Firms Bowed to Trump. A Corps of \u2018Little Guys\u2019 Jumped in to Fight Him.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From the\u00a0New York Times<\/strong>: \u201cPresident Trump\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0executive orders seeking to punish big law firms have led some of them to acquiesce to him and left others reluctant to take on pro bono cases that could put them at odds with the administration. But as opponents of the White House\u2019s policies organized to fight Mr. Trump in court on a vast range of actions and policies, they quickly found that they did not need to rely on Big Law. Instead, an army of solo practitioners, former government litigators and small law firms stepped up to volunteer their time to challenge the administration\u2019s agenda. \u2018I don\u2019t know if the administration knew how many little guys are out there,\u2019 said\u00a0Michael H. Ansell,<\/strong>\u00a0a solo practitioner in Morristown, N.J., who earlier this year joined the\u00a0Pro Bono Litigation Corps<\/strong>, newly launched by\u00a0Lawyers for Good Government<\/strong>, a legal nonprofit. He answered the nonprofit\u2019s plea for lawyers willing to give at least 20 hours a week to an upcoming case. More than 80 volunteered.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0(gift link).<\/p>\n

#3<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cA Slightly Less Sorry State of Disclosure.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From the\u00a0Fix the Court<\/strong>: \u201cOnce again Fix the Court has rated the judicial financial disclosures in the 50 states based on how long it took us to get them \u2014 we requested the 2023 and 2024 reports of each state\u2019s chief justice \u2014 and the amount of content useful for oversight therein. The\u00a0report<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0we\u2019re releasing today, termed \u2018A Slightly Less Sorry State of Disclosure<\/strong>,\u2019 reflects the changes in\u00a0New Jersey<\/strong>,\u00a0Colorado<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Hawaii<\/strong>\u00a0as well as proposed improvements in\u00a0Michigan<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Vermont<\/strong>, both of which may be adding new disclosure categories to their forms in the near future. (The database with links to all the disclosures is\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.)\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#4<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDisinformation is Driving the Rule of Law Crisis.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From the\u00a0International Academy of Trial Lawyers\u00a0<\/strong>: \u201cThis week,\u00a0Joe Tucker<\/strong>\u00a0sits down with\u00a0Karen Burgess<\/strong>\u00a0of Burgess Law in Austin, Texas, to discuss how disinformation is fueling the global Rule of Law crisis. Together, they examine the increasing influence of state actors in driving disinformation campaigns, the rise of deepfakes and AI-generated content, and how social media algorithms are accelerating the dissemination of false narratives that erode trust in courts, elections, and democratic institutions.\u201d Watch\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#5<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDOJ Appeals Ruling for Jenner & Block in Trump Big Law Battle<\/strong>.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Bloomberg Law<\/strong>: \u201cThe Trump administration\u2019s court battle with\u00a0Andrew Weissmann\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0former law firm is moving to a DC appeals court. The Justice Department on Monday asked the US Court of Appeals for the District of Columbia to review a federal judge\u2019s order that struck down\u00a0President Trump\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0directive against Jenner & Block, according to a notice of appeal filed by Justice Department lawyer\u00a0Richard Lawson<\/strong>. Trump\u2019s directive against Jenner & Block cited the firm\u2019s previous employment of\u00a0Andrew Weissmann<\/strong>, a former partner who worked on special counsel\u00a0Robert Mueller\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0investigation of alleged Russian interference in the 2016 presidential election.\u00a0Judge John D. Bates of the US District Court<\/strong>\u00a0for the District of Columbia found Trump\u2019s March 25 order against the firm violated its First Amendment rights by retaliating against Jenner for its work in court and ties to lawyers the president perceives as enemies.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#6<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cEthics Appeal Over Columbia Letter Nixed As Judge Joins USDA.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Law360<\/strong>: \u201cIn its first decision of 2025, the Judicial Conference\u2019s conduct committee on Tuesday dismissed a challenge to the Seventh Circuit Judicial Council\u2019s decision to toss ethics claims against a U.S. Court of International Trade judge who threatened not to hire law clerks from Columbia University over the school\u2019s handling of Israel protests.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#7<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cNew Bill Aims to Protect State Judges as Threats Surge 400%.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From the\u00a0Georgia Sun<\/strong>: \u201cA bipartisan bill introduced by\u00a0Reps. Lucy McBath<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Michael McCaul<\/strong>\u00a0would create the first-ever threat monitoring center for 30,000 state and local judges who currently lack federal protection.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#8<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cDOJ Fires Newly Appointed US Attorney in NJ After Judges Vote Against Keeping Alina Habba in Role.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0CNN<\/strong>: \u201cThe Department of Justice quickly fired the newly named US attorney in New Jersey on Tuesday after federal judges in the state declined to extend\u00a0Alina Habba\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0interim appointment.\u00a0Attorney General Pam Bondi\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0announcement came after the district court voted to elevate\u00a0Desiree Leigh Grace<\/strong>, New Jersey\u2019s first assistant US attorney, to replace the Trump ally.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#9<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cJudge Scraps Opinion After Lawyer Flags Made-Up Quotes.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Bloomberg Law<\/strong>: \u201cA New Jersey US district court judge withdrew his decision in a biopharma securities case Wednesday after lawyers complained that his opinion contained numerous errors, including made-up quotes and misstated case outcomes.\u00a0Judge Julien Xavier Neals of the US District Court for the District of New Jersey<\/strong>\u00a0on June 30 denied CorMedix Inc.\u2019s request to dismiss a lawsuit by shareholders. \u2018That opinion and order were entered in error,\u2019 according to a notice the court posted in the case docket on Wednesday. \u2018A subsequent opinion and order will follow.\u2019\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#10<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cOhio to Review ABA Accreditation for Lawyers as Political Pressures Mount.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Reuters<\/strong>: \u201cOhio on Thursday became the third U.S. state to reconsider rules requiring attorneys to attend an\u00a0American Bar Association<\/strong>-accredited law school to be admitted to practice, after the Trump administration threatened to revoke the ABA\u2019s status as the federal government\u2019s designated accreditor of law schools due to its diversity and inclusion efforts. The\u00a0Supreme Court of Ohio<\/strong>\u00a0said it has convened an advisory committee to review its law school accreditation process, citing a need to ensure \u2018excellence and innovation.\u2019 Texas and Florida have launched similar reviews.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#11 \u201cStefanik Ethics Complaint Against D.C. Judge Is Tossed.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Bloomberg Law<\/strong>: \u201cA Washington federal judge who lamented the impact of the \u2018big lies\u2019 on Capitol rioters facing criminal charges didn\u2019t breach judicial ethics rules, a federal judicial council has found. The judicial council for the\u00a0US Court of Appeals for the Tenth Circuit<\/strong>\u00a0dismissed<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0a complaint by\u00a0Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-N.Y.)<\/strong>\u00a0against\u00a0Judge Beryl Howell of the US District Court for the District of Columbia<\/strong>, related to a speech the judge delivered at a white collar defense attorney event in November 2023. Howell said during the speech that she and her colleagues \u2018regularly see the impact of big lies\u2019 at sentencing hearings for participants in the Jan. 6, 2021 riot at the US Capitol. She also described \u2018a very surprising and downright troubling moment where the importance of facts is dismissed, or ignored.\u2019 Howell didn\u2019t mention former\u00a0President Donald Trump<\/strong>\u00a0by name during her remarks.\u00a0Chief Judge Jerome A. Holmes of the Tenth Circuit<\/strong>\u00a0held in a decision posted Monday that the judge\u2019s comments \u2018do not reasonably appear to reflect adversely on impartiality, nor could they lead to disqualification.\u2019 Her perspective is \u2018consistent\u2019 with those raised by her and other judges \u2018on the record in numerous cases they presided over prior to the event at issue,\u2019 he wrote. Holmes also noted that Howell gave her speech at a \u2018law-related event, not a political function,\u2019 and didn\u2019t name any modern politicians.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#12 \u201cImmigration Courts Hiding the Names of ICE Lawyers Goes Against Centuries of Precedent and Legal Ethics Requiring Transparency in Courts.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From\u00a0Cassandra Burke Robertson<\/strong>\u00a0(Case Western) in\u00a0The Conversation<\/strong>: \u201cSomething unusual is happening in U.S. immigration courts. Government lawyers are\u00a0refusing to give their names during public hearings<\/a><\/strong>. In June 2025,\u00a0Immigration Judge ShaSha Xu<\/strong>\u00a0in New York City\u00a0reportedly told<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0lawyers in her courtroom: \u2018We\u2019re not really doing names publicly.\u2019 Only the government lawyers\u2019 names were hidden \u2013 the immigrants\u2019 attorneys had to give their names as usual. Xu cited privacy concerns, saying, \u2018Things lately have changed.\u2019 \u2026 This secrecy violates a fundamental principle that has protected Americans for centuries:\u00a0open courts<\/a><\/strong>. Here\u2019s how those courts operate and why the principle governing them matters.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#13 \u201cDOJ Faces Credibility Questions as it Investigates Jeffrey Epstein.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From NPR: \u201cAs the Department of Justice continues its investigation into disgraced financier and convicted sex offender\u00a0Jeffrey Epstein<\/strong>, some are raising questions about its credibility under the current administration. \u2026\u00a0[Todd] Blanche\u2019s<\/strong>\u00a0direct involvement raises a key question. His boss,\u00a0Attorney General Pam Bondi<\/strong>, herself a former Trump lawyer, reportedly told the president in May that his name appeared in the Epstein files, in a breach of the attorney general\u2019s independence. Would Blanche similarly tip off Trump?\u00a0Stephen Gillers<\/strong>\u00a0is a legal ethics expert at the NYU School of Law and says it\u2019s safe to assume Blanche will debrief Trump. He also believes the Justice Department should assign a career prosecutor to question Maxwell, who likely has her own motivations at play.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#14<\/strong>\u00a0\u201cEx-Bank Robber and Georgetown Law Professor Found Guilty of Assaulting Wife.\u201d\u00a0<\/strong>From the\u00a0ABA Journal<\/strong>: \u201cA former bank robber who became a professor at the Georgetown University Law Center has been convicted of multiple criminal charges related to a domestic violence incident involving his wife. A superior court jury found\u00a0Shon Hopwood<\/strong>, 50, of the District of Columbia guilty of three counts of simple assault, five counts of contempt and two counts of obstructing justice, the U.S. attorney\u2019s office for the District of Columbia announced Friday. \u2018A D.C. jury is demanding accountability from the batterer who not only beat his wife but was on the faculty of Georgetown Law teaching criminal law,\u2019 said\u00a0Interim U.S. Attorney Jeanine Ferris Pirro<\/strong>\u00a0in a statement. \u2018This D.C. jury wasn\u2019t afraid to demand accountability no matter who the defendant is.\u2019 Hopwood is well known for the story of how he turned his life around after becoming a skilled jailhouse lawyer while in prison for bank robbery. He went to the University of Washington School of Law and clerked for a federal appeals judge before becoming a law professor.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

#15 \u201cRemote Court Appearance Pilot Program Launched.\u201d<\/strong>\u00a0From the\u00a0Hometown Register<\/strong>: \u201cThe\u00a0Illinois Supreme Court\u2019s Commission on Access to Justice<\/strong>\u00a0(ATJ Commission), partnering with the\u00a0Second Judicial Circuit of Illinois<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, Inc.<\/strong>, announced the launch of a two-year pilot program on remote court appearances in southern counties of Illinois.\u201d Read more\u00a0here<\/a><\/strong>.<\/p>\n

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