Skip to content
ProPublica Donate
ProPublica Donate

Courts

An Eye on the American Judicial System

Impact of Our Reporting
Caret

N.C. Lawmakers Move to Stop Votes From Being Discarded Based on Postelection Rule Changes

Spurred by ProPublica’s reporting, Democrats have introduced a measure designed to block a right-wing strategy to disallow ballots after they were cast. It’s being used to try to upend the results of a key state Supreme Court race.

Slow Justice

Alaska Supreme Court Places New Limits on Pretrial Delays

The move follows an investigation by ProPublica and the Anchorage Daily News that found some cases have taken as long as a decade to reach juries, potentially violating the rights of victims and defendants alike.

Local Reporting Network

Slow Justice

Alaska Judge Vows to Reduce Trial Delays: “We Must, and We Will, Improve”

Chief Justice Susan M. Carney’s comments follow ProPublica and Anchorage Daily News reporting that found the median time to resolve the most serious felonies in Alaska was three years in 2023 — triple the time it took a decade before.

Local Reporting Network

Series

62 stories published since 2017

N.C. Lawmakers Move to Stop Votes From Being Discarded Based on Postelection Rule Changes

Alaska Supreme Court Places New Limits on Pretrial Delays

Alaska Judge Vows to Reduce Trial Delays: “We Must, and We Will, Improve”

North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate Wants Military Absentee Votes Tossed. Years Earlier, That’s How He Voted.

The Neverending Case: How 10 Years of Delays Have Prevented a “Horrendous” Sexual Assault Allegation From Going to Trial

North Carolina Supreme Court Blocked Certification of a Justice’s Win. Activists Fear It’s “Dangerous for Democracy.”

Anchorage Police Say They Witnessed a Sexual Assault in Public. It Took Seven Years for the Case to Go to Trial.

A North Carolina Supreme Court Candidate’s Bid to Overturn His Loss Is Based on Theory Election Deniers Deemed Extreme

Courts Appoint Special Counsel to Oversee Reform of New York’s Troubled Guardianship System

A Supreme Court Justice Warned That a Ruling Would Cause “Large-Scale Disruption.” The Effects Are Already Being Felt.

Judge Aileen Cannon Failed to Disclose a Right-Wing Junket

Ginni Thomas Privately Praised Group Working Against Supreme Court Reform: “Thank You So, So, So Much”

Judge Cannon Should Be Removed From Trump Case, Watchdog Group Argues in New Legal Filing

Our Editor Won a 6-Year Legal Battle. It Didn’t Feel Like a Victory.

Even When Big Cases Intersect With Their Families’ Interests, Many Judges Choose Not to Recuse

North Carolina Supreme Court Secretly Squashed Discipline of Two GOP Judges Who Admitted to Violating Judicial Code

Harlan Crow Provided Clarence Thomas at Least 3 Previously Undisclosed Private Jet Trips, Senate Probe Finds

ProPublica Updates Supreme Connections Database With New Justice Disclosures

Reader Tips Propelled Our Supreme Court Reporting. Now Your Info Could Power Our 2024 Election Coverage.

Justice Clarence Thomas Acknowledges He Should Have Disclosed Free Trips From Billionaire Donor

New Utah Law Prioritizes Child Safety in Custody Courts

Senate Judiciary Committee Has Yet to Subpoena Harlan Crow or Leonard Leo

Senate Investigation “Casts Fresh Doubt” About the Validity of Harlan Crow’s Yacht Tax Deductions

Supreme Connections: Search Supreme Court Financial Disclosures

A “Delicate Matter”: Clarence Thomas’ Private Complaints About Money Sparked Fears He Would Resign

The Judiciary Has Policed Itself for Decades. It Doesn’t Work.

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

The Supreme Court Has Adopted a Conduct Code, but Who Will Enforce It?

The Scandal That Never Happened

Trump’s Court Whisperer Had a State Judicial Strategy. Its Full Extent Only Became Clear Years Later.

We Don’t Talk About Leonard: The Man Behind the Right’s Supreme Court Supermajority

It’s Not Personal: Why Clarence Thomas’ Trip to the Koch Summit Undermines His Ethics Defense

Clarence Thomas Secretly Participated in Koch Network Donor Events

Clarence Thomas Acknowledges Undisclosed Real Estate Deal With Harlan Crow and Discloses Private Jet Flights

Clarence Thomas’ 38 Vacations: The Other Billionaires Who Have Treated the Supreme Court Justice to Luxury Travel

How Harlan Crow Slashed his Tax Bill by Taking Clarence Thomas on Superyacht Cruises

Senators Ask Billionaire Paul Singer and Power Broker Leonard Leo for Full Accounting of Gifts to Supreme Court Justices

Behind the Scenes of Justice Alito’s Unprecedented Wall Street Journal Pre-buttal

Justice Samuel Alito Took Luxury Fishing Vacation With GOP Billionaire Who Later Had Cases Before the Court

Supreme Risk

The Origins of Our Investigation Into Clarence Thomas’ Relationship With Harlan Crow

Clarence Thomas’ Friend Acknowledges That Billionaire Harlan Crow Paid Tuition for the Child Thomas Was Raising “as a Son”

Clarence Thomas Had a Child in Private School. Harlan Crow Paid the Tuition.

How South Carolina Ended Up With an All-Male Supreme Court

Some Are Jailed in Mississippi for Months Without a Lawyer. The State Supreme Court Just Barred That.

Billionaire Harlan Crow Bought Property From Clarence Thomas. The Justice Didn’t Disclose the Deal.

Ethics Watchdog Urges Justice Department Investigation Into Clarence Thomas’ Trips

Congress Members Announce Hearing, Demand Chief Justice Investigate Clarence Thomas’ Trips

Clarence Thomas Defends Undisclosed “Family Trips” With GOP Megadonor. Here Are the Facts.

Lawmakers Call for Investigation and Ethics Reforms in Response to ProPublica Report on Clarence Thomas

What We’re Watching

During Donald Trump’s second presidency, ProPublica will focus on the areas most in need of scrutiny. Here are some of the issues our reporters will be watching — and how to get in touch with them securely.

Learn more about our reporting team. We will continue to share our areas of interest as the news develops.

Photo of Sharon Lerner
Sharon Lerner

I cover health and the environment and the agencies that govern them, including the Environmental Protection Agency.

Photo of Andy Kroll
Andy Kroll

I cover justice and the rule of law, including the Justice Department, U.S. attorneys and the courts.

Photo of Melissa Sanchez
Melissa Sanchez

I report on immigration and labor, and I am based in Chicago.

Photo of Jesse Coburn
Jesse Coburn

I cover housing and transportation, including the companies working in those fields and the regulators overseeing them.

If you don’t have a specific tip or story in mind, we could still use your help. Sign up to be a member of our federal worker source network to stay in touch.

Most Read

    DOGE Targeted Him on Social Media. Then the Taliban Took His Family.

    Afghan scholar Mohammad Halimi, who fled the Taliban in 2021, had worked to help U.S. diplomats understand his homeland. Then DOGE put his family’s lives at risk by exposing his sensitive work for a U.S.-funded nonprofit.

    RFK Jr. Vowed to Find the Environmental Causes of Autism. Then He Shut Down Research Trying to Do Just That.

    While touting a $50 million initiative to identify the causes of autism, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is helping lead an administration that is rolling back protections against pollution and toxic chemicals, including some linked to the condition.

    Inside the Memphis Chamber of Commerce’s Push for Elon Musk’s xAI Data Center

    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.

    Local Reporting Network

    A Texas County Cuts Over 100 Polling Sites as Trump Attacks Mail-In Voting Nationally

    The decision by commissioners in Tarrant County, which includes Fort Worth, comes amid growing concern about GOP efforts to limit voting access ahead of next year’s midterm elections.

    America’s Mental Barrier

    Trump’s Rollback of Rules for Mental Health Coverage Could Lead More Americans to Go Without Care

    The president, who has framed mental health as a national crisis, paused rules to hold insurers accountable for unlawfully denying coverage. And Congress cut funding to the agency that enforces insurers’ equal treatment of mental and physical health.