In other top stories, there’s continued controversy over the Supreme Court’s corporate speech decision, as well as an end to the career of disgraced Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon

VARIOUS DATELINES
News related to government garnered coverage for ethics themes last week. Among the stories:

• Ethics issues continue to emanate from the “underwear bomber” incident, reports Toronto’s Globe & Mail. The dispute: Umar Farouk Abdulmutallab, the man charged with attempting to blow up an airplane on Christmas Day, reportedly was giving valuable information to the FBI when he was read his Miranda rights — at which time he stopped talking and asked for a lawyer. Critics contend that it was inappropriate for a suspected enemy combatant to be granted the same rights as a U.S. criminal defendant. Others rebut that rights are often eroded in times of fear, and say that refusing Abdulmutallab an attorney is the first push down a slippery slope.
• Bush administration lawyers who wrote memos laying the groundwork for aggressive interrogation methods of suspected terrorists, including sleep deprivation and waterboarding, will not face professional sanctions, according to a forthcoming Justice Department determination, the Washington Post reports. John Yoo and Jay Bybee, who were criticized by some civil liberties groups for establishing a legal framework that insulated CIA interrogators and contractors from legal consequences, had faced the threat of sanctions that could have included the revocation of their law licenses under a previous recommendation from the Justice Department’s ethics office. The updated report does not include that recommendation but does say that the two exercised poor judgment, according to the source cited in the Post report.
• In the aftermath of a Supreme Court ruling that continues to provoke controversy, prominent First Amendment attorney Floyd Abrams weighed in last week, supporting the High Court’s split decision that corporations have a constitutional right to spend money to influence elections. Abrams, who defended the New York Times in the Pentagon Papers case, took sharp issue with the Times’s position on the corporate speech case, reports the Wall Street Journal. The Times, other media, and President Obama have criticized the decision, saying it would allow big-money interests to dominate political speech. Abrams says that the ruling simply extends to all corporations the same speech rights granted to media corporations, and that provisions of the McCain-Feingold law were a clear violation of the First Amendment.
• Former Baltimore mayor Sheila Dixon left office last week following her sentencing on a misdemeanor count of stealing gift cards intended for needy families. Dixon accepted a plea agreement calling for her to step down from office, enter probation, and contribute $45,000 to charity, reports the Baltimore Sun. In return, she will be allowed to keep her pension.

Sources: Baltimore Sun, Feb. 5 — Globe & Mail, Feb. 4 — Washington Post, Jan. 31 — Wall Street Journal, Jan. 30.

For more information, see: Related Newsline story, Jan. 19 — Related Newsline story, Jan. 11 — Related Newsline story, Nov. 9, 2009 — Related Newsline story, Aug. 17, 2009 — Related Newsline story, June 15, 2009.