Four years on, he has again revealed a failure of respect for basic fairness, and this time some exceptionally vulnerable people are being asked to pay the price.
"While we applaud innovation in the capital markets, new platforms and products must obey the rules and ensure the basic fairness and disclosure that are the hallmarks of sound financial regulation," Robert Khuzami, director of the S.E.C.'s enforcement division, said in a statement on Wednesday.
"While we applaud innovation in the capital markets, new platforms and products must obey the rules and ensure the basic fairness and disclosure that are the hallmarks of sound financial regulation," Robert Khuzami, director of the S.E.C.'s enforcement division, said in a statement Wednesday.
Just as civil rights for African-Americans are important components to the legacies of Presidents Kennedy and Johnson, history will likely reflect the gains made for basic fairness and equality under the law for those who are LGBT as key to the legacy of President Obama.
For those who work each and every day to secure basic fairness and equality under the law for LGBT Americans, the pace of positive momentum over the past several years has been dizzying.
Monday's historic inaugural address provided an opportunity to both reflect on the achievements of the past, as well as look ahead to the coming years and the potential they hold for further gains for basic fairness and equality under the law for those who are LGBT.
There is still a basic fairness and intelligence to the American electorate, and both candidates have gotten into their worst trouble when they underestimated that.
"Given the ongoing debate about the appropriateness of death penalty administration in general, the grave shortcomings in this case in particular," Mr. Scott wrote, "basic fairness and moral consciousness dictate that the death penalty not be imposed in this case".
But a major barrier looms to basic fairness and even rudimentary efforts to honor the bonds of mutual support that thousands of same-sex partners have sworn to each other and their families.
"The rules of natural justice - and basic fairness and courtesy - require that such material matters are put to the person who is the object of the criticism for his or her response," Mr Winsor writes.
