Rudman Center Roundup: Justice & Journalism, Bias in Technology, the Search for Affordable Healthcare

A  Rudman Center Roundup

Rudman Center events in winter/spring 2025 included a conversation with NPR journalist Leila Fadel and vital discussions on bias in technology and the crisis in affordable healthcare. Read on for details.

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A Note from Rudman Center Executive Director Anna Brown

Rudman Center Executive Director Anna Brown

If you’re wondering what Sen. Warren Rudman might say about current affairs, you don’t need to speculate. His memoir, Combat, spells out the dangers of deficit spending, cowards who live in fear of losing elections, and scoundrels who cloak themselves with patriotic rhetoric.

At the Rudman Center we confront these challenges by supporting a new generation of leaders who embody the Rudman spirit: commitment to the Constitution, courage in the face of wicked problems, and devotion to public service.

To help realize this vision, I’m excited to share we awarded 64 Rudman Summer Fellowships to law students serving at nonprofits and government agencies this year. With support from the Peter G. Peterson Foundation, these fellows will be reflecting on how the organizations they work with are impacted by fiscal challenges at the federal level.

We are also planning a slate of fall events focused on justice and public service. Keep an eye out for invitations to these programs:

• A panel discussion of the separation of powers through the lens of state budgeting;
• In partnership with NH Humanities, a conversation with Yale Professor Akhil Amar about the history and promise of equality in the U.S. Constitution;
• A celebration of public service featuring the Bruce E. Friedman Pro Bono Award and the newly created Justice Duggan Scholarship.

Lastly, with heavy hearts we mark the passing of Justice David Souter, a close friend of Senator Rudman. In Combat, Senator Rudman wrote: “[David Souter] did what seemed right to him, not what fashion dictated, or the world expected.”

That legacy – a commitment to public service rooted not in partisanship, but in principle – continues to inspire us.

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         Justice & Journalism Conversation with NPR Host Leila Fadel

NHPR reporter Annmarie Timmins and NPR host Leila Fadel

NPR host Leila Fadel discussed her experiences covering war and conflict as an international reporter, the battle to control information during a time of rampant misinformation and attacks on the press, and rigorous NPR newsroom ethics. Read our write-up here. Watch the event here.  

I think about a lot of crises we've covered over the years; there's a time of extreme interest when something starts – the Ukraine war, the Syrian civil war  -- and then there's just a kind of numbness.  You want people to feel like they can understand what's happening and then react to it, because the whole point of what we do is to inform, so that everybody can then decide how they want to react to whatever's happening.                                                                                                                                                           – Leila Fadel 

The series is a joint initiative of NHPR and the Rudman Center, made possible by the generous support of the Couch Family Foundation.

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The Search for Affordable Healthcare: Shifts in Federal and State Policies

Prof. Lucy Hodder, Kaiser Health News reporter Noam N. Levey, and Rudman Center Community Engagement Director Laura Knoy

Award-winning KFF Health News reporter Noam N. Levey and Professor of Health and Life Sciences Law Lucy Hodder discussed the root causes of soaring healthcare costs and the human consequences, including medical debt afflicting about 100 million Americans. Read our write-up here. Watch the event here. 

For decades leading up to the Affordable Care Act, the clarion call was that people deserve to have health insurance. I think the clarion call now should be: People deserve not to go bankrupt if they go to the hospital.  If that’s the north star for people, that will catalyze a different kind of conversation.                                                                                                                                                                  – Noam N. Levey

                                  This event was generously sponsored by the Peter G. Peterson Foundation

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Bias in Technology: The Causes, Consequences, and Possible Solutions

Prof. Mailyn Fidler, high-tech entrepreneur James McKim,  communication law and policy scholar Alexis Shore Ingber, Rudman Center Community Engagement Director Laura Knoy 

The Rudman Center and the Franklin Center for Intellectual Property presented a discussion on the legal, ethical, and societal implications of Artificial Intelligence and automated decision-making.  Panelists discussed how bias can influence AI algorithms and how the legal community should respond regarding both individual and intellectual property rights.  Read our write-up here.  Watch the event here.

At a high level, we're perpetuating existing human biases or existing inequities in the world. This also exists in terms of making decisions about who gets hired for a job, who gets particular medical diagnoses, who gets sentenced to jail, who gets into college. And so the existing biases that were already present are now just being replicated.                                                                                   –Alexis Shore Ingber

            This event was part of the Alison Curelop Series in Ethics, Professionalism and Civility.