In April 2023, ProPublica released the first of several stories about financial relationships between some Supreme Court justices and billionaire GOP donors. The “Friends of the Court” series uncovered the biggest ethics scandal to hit the high court in the modern era and began a national conversation about ethics and judicial reform.
In response to ProPublica’s reporting, the court announced in November that it had unanimously adopted the first ethics code in its 234-year history. Justice Clarence Thomas for the first time acknowledged that he should have reported selling real estate to billionaire Harlan Crow in 2014, writing in his annual financial disclosure form that he “inadvertently failed to realize” that the deal needed to be disclosed. Thomas also disclosed receiving three private jet trips from Crow, two of which ProPublica had already reported. The Senate Judiciary Committee voted to authorize subpoenas of Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo as part of its ongoing effort to investigate ethics lapses by justices.
This entry shows how over the course of a year, we kept readers engaged with the series’ related reporting and updates across our social platforms and through various mediums: X (Twitter), Threads, Instagram posts and social video.
