Investigative Journalism in the Public Interest
Negocios cerrados. Iglesias vacías. Padres con miedo de llevar a sus hijos a la escuela. Los partidarios dicen que lo que sería una iniciativa antidelincuencia está sembrando miedo en la comunidad.
Businesses closed. Churches emptied. Parents afraid to take kids to school. Advocates say what was supposed to be a crime-fighting effort is keeping a community in fear.
A pastor was pulled over for looking lost. A 72-year-old was marched out in his bathrobe due to mistaken identity. Memphis’ mayor welcomed the federal law enforcement surge, but some residents say they feel targeted just going about their lives.
In the face of intense public opposition, the city’s Chamber of Commerce has gone to unusual lengths to promote Musk’s xAI facility: sending out a mailer, for the first time in recent memory, that includes misleading facts.
The trips include vacations in Indonesia and at the exclusive, men’s-only Bohemian Grove retreat, which were first reported by ProPublica last year.
In a call with donors, First Liberty Institute’s Kelly Shackelford read the supportive email he said came from Thomas. The leader of the religious-rights group also labeled Justice Elena Kagan “treasonous” for backing a stronger ethics code.
The Supreme Court justice flew to Montana and other destinations on the billionaire GOP donor’s dime. Crow’s lawyer revealed these flights to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose ongoing investigation was sparked by ProPublica’s reporting.
Island-hopping on a superyacht. Private jet rides around the world. The undisclosed gifts to Thomas have no known precedent in the modern history of the Supreme Court. “It’s incomprehensible to me that someone would do this,” says one former judge.
Thomas has attended at least two Koch donor summits, putting him in the extraordinary position of having helped a political network that has brought multiple cases before the Supreme Court.
In response to ProPublica reporting, the friend said Crow covered two years of schooling for the teen, which would amount to roughly $100,000 of undisclosed gifts.
Interviews and newly unearthed documents reveal that Thomas, facing financial strain, privately pushed for a higher salary and to allow Supreme Court justices to take speaking fees.
Even by Thomas’ own permissive interpretation, the justice’s recently revealed travel to Palm Springs and the Bohemian Grove appear to violate the disclosure law, experts explained.
The lavish travel, real estate deal and tuition arrangements have set off a frenzy. Here’s where our reporting started and how we got the story.
The new filing comes after ProPublica’s reporting on the Supreme Court justice’s beneficial relationship with the billionaire GOP megadonor. Thomas also reported three private jet trips provided by Crow.
In lavishing gifts on the Supreme Court justice, the billionaire GOP donor may have violated tax laws, according to tax experts.
In pushing to kick-start an inquiry into Thomas’ lavish travel provided by a GOP megadonor, the nonpartisan Campaign Legal Center wrote that the ethics issue has “historic implications far beyond one Supreme Court justice.”
Crow paid for private school for a relative Thomas said he was raising “as a son.” “This is way outside the norm,” said a former White House ethics lawyer.
The fullest accounting yet shows how Thomas has secretly reaped the benefits from a network of wealthy and well-connected patrons that is far more extensive than previously understood.
In response to a ProPublica report, Thomas explained why he did not disclose lavish travel provided by billionaire Harlan Crow. But legal experts maintain the justice was required to make these disclosures.
The lawmakers said the chief justice was duty-bound to conduct a “swift, thorough, independent and transparent investigation” of Thomas’ undisclosed travel with billionaire Harlan Crow in order to “safeguard public faith in the judiciary.”
Influential Democratic legislators are pushing for changes at the Supreme Court and a probe into Thomas’ undisclosed luxury trips provided by powerful conservative donor Harlan Crow.
Borrowers say the lending company Advance Financial encouraged them to borrow back the value of almost all of the payments they made, tearing a hole in the safety net the law tried to create.
The transaction is the first known instance of money flowing from Crow to the Supreme Court justice. The sale netted the GOP megadonor two vacant lots and the house where Thomas’ mother was living.
“Keep the family healthy.” Those were some of the last words Clifford Thomas’ mother said to him. But in Albany, a town with a health care monopoly and no Medicaid expansion, staying healthy is a luxury that many are priced out of.
We’ve added more information about the Supreme Court justices’ finances, including newly uncovered filings from Clarence Thomas from the 1990s and Samuel Alito’s latest disclosure.
In nearly 350 death penalty cases Maricopa County prosecutors pursued over 20 years, just 13% ended in a death sentence. The numbers indicate the need for a more deliberate and transparent process to decide capital charges, experts say.
We’ve updated our database with the latest financial filings from eight justices, detailing millions in book income, almost 40 trips and one gift.
Elmer Pérez was one of many immigrants hired by U.S. shipbuilders to fill the urgent need for skilled labor. These workers do the same jobs and take the same risks as their American counterparts, but are left on their own when things go wrong.
Elmer De León fue uno de muchos inmigrantes contratados por astilleros estadounidenses para cubrir la urgente necesidad de mano de obra calificada. Estos trabajadores hacen las mismas tareas y corren los mismos riesgos que sus contrapartes estadounidenses, pero no cuentan con apoyo cuando las cosas salen mal.
U.S. service members have long faced strict limits on abortions, even when used to resolve miscarriages. Under federal law, the military will only pay for abortions in cases of rape, incest or to save the mother’s life.
President-elect Donald Trump has promised to increase the pace of U.S. military shipbuilding. But his pledge to also clamp down on immigration could make it hard for shipyards already facing workforce shortages.
Deloitte Consulting is taking in tens of millions in tax dollars to build, manage and market Georgia’s Medicaid work requirement program. Yet only 3% of eligible residents have enrolled.
The Trump administration’s decision to delete a DOJ database of cases against Capitol riot defendants places those who seek to preserve the historical record in direct opposition to their own government.
Thomas Albus, the federal prosecutor from Missouri overseeing an investigation into the 2020 vote in Georgia, had several meetings set up with top administration lawyers last fall to discuss election integrity.
A lawsuit filed by former Commissioner Thomas Donlon alleges that the NYPD’s Community Response Team was a “rogue” unit that answered “only to City Hall.” The complaint draws extensively from ProPublica’s reporting.
Go inside the Terrorgram Collective, a transnational network of extremists accused of inciting acts of white supremacist terrorism on the messaging platform Telegram.
An email from a reader helped a team of ProPublica reporters uncover secret tuition payments Harlan Crow made for a family member of Clarence Thomas. Now we’re looking for tips on the election, and you can help.
The mayor of Hammond, Indiana, says the rail company had promised to help pay for a pedestrian bridge after ProPublica and InvestigateTV documented dozens of children crawling through trains to get to school. The company denies making this pledge.
The update includes data from eight financial disclosures made public last Friday that cover 2023, as well as information from some older filings.
Sign up for ProPublica’s Big Story newsletter and get our latest stories delivered straight to your inbox.