Justin Elliott

@justinelliott.bsky.social

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ProPublica reporter. Email tips/comments/complaints: [email protected] More: justinelliott.co

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New: Trump Media made a deal that could convert its astronomical value on paper into actual cash, securing a windfall for Trump. When we asked the company about it, they threatened to sue ProPublica. Full story: propublica.org/article/trum...

Trump Media Made a Deal That Could Secure a Major Financial Windfall for the GOP Candidatepropublica.org The company behind Trump’s Truth Social platform has the option to sell up to $2.5 billion worth of shares, easing the way for the former president to convert his paper stake into something more tangi...

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BREAKING: Harlan Crow Provided Clarence Thomas at Least 3 Previously Undisclosed Private Jet Trips, Probe Finds Thomas flew to Montana & elsewhere on the billionaire’s dime. Crow’s lawyer revealed the flights to the Senate Judiciary Committee, whose investigation was sparked by ProPublica reporting

Harlan Crow Provided Clarence Thomas at Least 3 Previously Undisclosed Private Jet Trips, Senate Probe Findswww.propublica.org 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 investigatio...

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The government built a service that people really love and came under budget www.washingtonpost.com/business/202...

Claiming high user satisfaction, IRS will decide on renewing free tax sitewww.washingtonpost.com In the first year, more than 140,000 households in 12 states did their taxes with Direct File.

Fascinating draft article by tax professor @omrimarian.bsky.social arguing that some of the gifts we reported to Supreme Court Justices Thomas and Alito were taxable income, and that if they did not pay taxes on them, they should be audited. papers.ssrn.com/sol3/papers....

Income Taxation and the Regulation of Supreme Court Justices' Conductpapers.ssrn.com Last year, investigative journalists reported multiple instances where billionaires showered Supreme Court Justices with lavish gifts. Previously undisclosed lu

New: The Senate Finance Committee looked into Harlan Crow's superyacht, the Michaela Rose, and found evidence he misrepresented the pleasure vessel as a business to score a tax break www.propublica.org/article/sena...

Senate Investigation “Casts Fresh Doubt” About the Validity of Harlan Crow’s Yacht Tax Deducti...www.propublica.org In their extensive probe, Senate investigators found evidence to suggest Crow has made repeated misrepresentations to the U.S. government. ProPublica revealed the tax maneuvers in a previous story.

Latest: Justice Clarence Thomas’ private complaints about money once sparked fears he would resign from the court. We found that Thomas was pushing for ways to make more money in a period when he was developing relationships with a set of wealthy benefactors. www.propublica.org/article/clar...

Clarence Thomas’ Private Complaints About Money Sparked Fears He Would Resignwww.propublica.org 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.

Latest: Senate Committee Authorizes Subpoenas of Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo as Part of Supreme Court Ethics Probe

Senate Committee Authorizes Subpoenas of Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo as Part of Supreme Court Ethics...www.propublica.org The subpoenas ask for details on gifts, travel and other perks the two men provided or helped arrange for Supreme Court justices and their relatives, but Senate Democrats will need help from their GOP...

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BREAKING: After a year of nonstop pressure — from the media, activists, and the Senate — the justices of the U.S. Supreme Court have adopted a "Code of Conduct," per a release from the court today. There is no apparent enforcement mechanism. More to come at Law Dork: www.lawdork.com

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Find Out Why Your Health Insurer Denied Your Claim You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file from your health insurance company.

Find Out Why Health Insurance Denied Your Claimprojects.propublica.org You likely have the right to access records that explain why your insurer denied your claim or prior authorization request. Use ProPublica’s free tool to generate a letter requesting your claim file...

Senate Judiciary Committee will hold vote to authorize subpoenas to Harlan Crow and Leonard Leo as part of its ongoing investigation into Supreme Court ethics and Justice Thomas Statement:

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It's here! The most detailed and hard-hitting investigation of conservative legal mastermind LEONARD LEO. We've got tons of new reporting on his power + his plans. Including how Leo arranged a mtg w/ GOP donors and Justice Thomas AT the Court. Pls read & share www.propublica.org/article/we-d...

We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajoritywww.propublica.org The inside story of how Leonard Leo built a machine that remade the American legal system — and what he plans to do next.

Latest: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip to the Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defense

It’s Not Personal: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip to the Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defensewww.propublica.org 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.

Our new story: Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas secretly participated in Koch network donor events – a breach of judicial norms that one federal judge said “takes my breath away.” www.propublica.org/article/clar...

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Eventswww.propublica.org 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.

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The new filing comes after ProPublica’s reporting on the Supreme Court justice’s beneficial relationship with the billionaire GOP megadonor.

Clarence Thomas Acknowledges Undisclosed Real Estate Deal With Harlan Crow and Discloses Private Jet...www.propublica.org 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 b...

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New: Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel https://www.propublica.org/article/clarence-thomas-other-billionaires-sokol-huizenga-novelly-supreme-court

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice t...www.propublica.org 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.

"Chief Justice John Roberts has been seeking unanimity among the nine justices for firm ethics standards, CNN has learned, but such agreement has eluded him." https://www.cnn.com/2023/07/31/politics/supreme-court-ethics-alito-roberts/index.html

John Roberts can't get a Supreme Court ethics code. Alito's interview shows why | CNN Politicswww.cnn.com Roberts has been seeking unanimity among the nine justices for firm ethics standards

Justice Alito tells WSJ editorial page he merely *voluntarily* follows the Ethics in Government Act, the disclosure law which explicitly applies to Supreme Court justices https://www.wsj.com/articles/samuel-alito-the-supreme-courts-plain-spoken-defender-precedent-ethics-originalism-5e3e9a7

Opinion | Samuel Alito, the Supreme Court’s Plain-Spoken Defenderwww.wsj.com He has emerged as an important justice with a distinctive interpretive method that is pragmatic yet rooted in originalism and textualism.

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NEW: How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Huge Tax Breaks While Giving the Public Little in Return The rich get huge tax breaks by donating art, property and company shares to benefit the public. But some donors collect millions while offering little or no public access.

How the Ultrawealthy Use Private Foundations to Bank Millions in Tax Deductions While Giving the Pub...www.propublica.org It’s a simple bargain: The rich get huge tax breaks by donating art, property and company shares to benefit the public. But some donors collect millions while offering little or no public access.

Leonard Leo lawyer letter says Senate inquiries on his relationships with Supreme Court justices violates the Bill of Rights https://www.foxnews.com/politics/conservative-activist-rejects-senate-dem-demand-help-supreme-court-probe-political-retaliation

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SCOTUS’s next term will be more boring than recent ones unless you care about federal regulatory power, in which case it’s your Super Bowl. https://newrepublic.com/article/174452/supreme-courts-next-term-empower-judiciary

New: How Harlan Crow managed to cut his tax bill with the superyacht Michaela Rose that he has hosted Clarence Thomas on around the world https://www.propublica.org/article/harlan-crow-slashed-tax-bill-clarence-thomas-superyacht (from my colleague Paul Kiel)

How Harlan Crow Slashed his Tax Bill by Taking Clarence Thomas on Superyacht Cruiseswww.propublica.org In lavishing gifts on the Supreme Court justice, the billionaire GOP donor may have violated tax laws, according to tax experts.

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https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/14/opinion/supreme-court-ethics.html?fbclid=IwAR3N5D8dfAMVbcJeHDe9VmVsWMyVFlXwN6uSKCt0njQJKLJQBGGDafNDKPk

Opinion | A Federal Judge Asks: Does the Supreme Court Realize How Bad It Smells?www.nytimes.com The reported behavior of some justices is not a matter of politics or judicial philosophy. It’s about ethics.

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Senators Ask Billionaire Paul Singer and Power Broker Leonard Leo for Full Accounting of Gifts to Supreme Court Justices The letters cite @propublica.bsky.social’s reporting on an undisclosed private jet flight and Alaska fishing vacation provided to Justice Samuel Alito.

Senators Ask Billionaire Paul Singer and Power Broker Leonard Leo for Full Accounting of Gifts to Su...www.propublica.org The letters cite ProPublica’s reporting on an undisclosed private jet flight and Alaska fishing vacation provided to Justice Samuel Alito.

New: Durbin and Whitehouse write letters to Paul Singer and Leonard Leo for information on gifts to Supreme Court Justices following our story on Justice Alito’s Alaska fishing vacation https://www.whitehouse.senate.gov/imo/media/doc/Letter%20to%20Singer.pdf

Sens. Durbin and Whitehouse announce July 20 vote on bill that would tighten Supreme Court ethics and recusal rules

Clarence Thomas’ acceptance of free trips as a government official dates back to the 80s, per NYT: https://www.nytimes.com/2023/07/09/us/clarence-thomas-horatio-alger-association.html

ProPublica now here: @propublica.bsky.social

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Howdy everyone. It's us. We're here. Thanks to @justinelliott.bsky.social for the invite (no, we don't have any to share at the moment). To offer a sliver of verification that we're the genuine article: https://twitter.com/propublica/status/1677150893622321152?t=lCiOByej2sjSU_Pa4GCjUQ&s=19

Tweet by @propublicatwitter.com “We've acquired a Bluesky invite, so you can now find us there -- as well as Facebook, Instagram, Mastodon, Post, Threads, LinkedIn and probably Friendster at this point: https://t.co/MtMTMMT4yT”

Laura Ingraham did a segment with Mark Paoletta attacking our story on Justice Alito's Alaska fishing trip. She failed to disclose she's good friends with the lodge owner, and Ingraham herself has raved about a fishing trip she took to the lodge:

Laura Ingraham Rushed To Defend Alito — But Didn’t Mention She’d Stayed At Same Lodge Owned By...talkingpointsmemo.com Justice Samuel Alito’s decision to leave his luxury Alaska fishing trip unmentioned...

More behind-the-scenes detail on our interactions with the Supreme Court before Justice Alito published his WSJ prebuttal: https://www.propublica.org/article/behind-scenes-alito-wall-street-journal-prebuttal-editorial?utm_source=sailthru&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=nsu&utm_content=image

Behind the Scenes of Justice Alito’s Unprecedented Wall Street Journal Pre-buttalwww.propublica.org The Journal editorial page accused ProPublica of misleading readers in a story that hadn’t yet been published.