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Brad Heath

@bradheath.bsky.social

DC reporter for Reuters on crime, justice and investigations. Data, documents and "convoluted KGB style back-door" stuff. Lawyer, but not yours. 202-527-9709, brad.heath@tr.com

55,182 Followers  |  468 Following  |  1,628 Posts  |  Joined: 08.09.2023
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Posts by Brad Heath (@bradheath.bsky.social)

Sup. Ct. R. 44 permits a petition for rehearing within 25 days of the decisions.

27.02.2026 21:25 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 6    πŸ“Œ 1
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The Trump administration on Friday released the names of 614 people whose Chicago-area immigration arrests may have violated a 2022 consent decree, and only 16 of them have criminal histories that present a β€œhigh public safety risk.”

www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/o...

27.02.2026 21:20 β€” πŸ‘ 40    πŸ” 24    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 1

JUST IN: A federal judge has found that immigration agents have no probable cause to detain two people arrested in an infamous raid on a building in Chicago's the South Shore neighborhood in September.
Judge Cummings is still reading his ruling
background:
www.chicagotribune.com/2025/11/14/o...

27.02.2026 20:11 β€” πŸ‘ 126    πŸ” 54    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 2
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LevyArmstrongUnseal022726

DEVELOPING: Superseding indictment returned in Don Lemon Minnesota church protest case. Local press says more defendants added and arrested. Awaiting more details. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27... Report: www.kare11.com/article/news...

27.02.2026 16:16 β€” πŸ‘ 335    πŸ” 146    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 10
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Anthropic rejects Pentagon terms for lethal use of its chatbot Claude Anthropic chief executive Dario Amodei said the company could not permit its technology to be applied to domestic mass surveillance or fully autonomous weapons.

Breaking news: Anthropic said that it will not concede to the Pentagon’s terms for full access to its AI tool Claude, saying it cannot loosen its restrictions against use in fully autonomous weapons or mass domestic surveillance.

27.02.2026 00:31 β€” πŸ‘ 896    πŸ” 222    πŸ’¬ 26    πŸ“Œ 41
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Judge: IRS broke law β€˜approximately 42,695 times’ in giving DHS data A court on Thursday issued an opinion on a data-sharing agreement between the taxpayer agency and federal immigration authorities.

Breaking news: A federal judge found that the IRS violated federal law β€œapproximately 42,695 times” when it shared confidential taxpayer addresses with immigration enforcement officials last summer.

26.02.2026 17:26 β€” πŸ‘ 3531    πŸ” 1592    πŸ’¬ 145    πŸ“Œ 141
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'IT ENDS TODAY': A federal judge in NJ says the Trump admin has continued to violate court orders in immigration cases and says he's prepared to haul in DOJ and DHS officials under oath. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

26.02.2026 16:20 β€” πŸ‘ 4408    πŸ” 1352    πŸ’¬ 148    πŸ“Œ 129
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ICE is struggling to keep pace with vetting new hires during its historic recruitment push, so it's hiring officers before completing standard checks.

The agency fired five people after belatedly finding that they had outstanding warrants for their arrest.

www.reuters.com/world/ice-st...

26.02.2026 14:48 β€” πŸ‘ 1683    πŸ” 690    πŸ’¬ 73    πŸ“Œ 110

A subpoena would not require judicial approval or a showing of probable cause.

26.02.2026 12:36 β€” πŸ‘ 2    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

Patel testified to a grand jury during the investigation after being granted immunity.

26.02.2026 12:35 β€” πŸ‘ 1    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 0    πŸ“Œ 0

BREAKING on MS NOW:

The FBI has fired at least 7 FBI agents and support staff as a result of their role in Trump's classified documents.

The people fired are said to have participated in some way in pulling phone records of Patel and Susie Wiles during that investigation.

26.02.2026 00:45 β€” πŸ‘ 2987    πŸ” 1187    πŸ’¬ 130    πŸ“Œ 91
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Jack Smith's lawyers told the House in December that the Justice Department's view is that it cannot discuss nonpublic information from the classified-documents case because Judge Cannon has ordered it to keep that information secret.

25.02.2026 22:29 β€” πŸ‘ 36    πŸ” 4    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0

They don't need to establish probable cause for a subpoena. It's a very low bar, and these types of records are obtained quite frequently.

25.02.2026 22:27 β€” πŸ‘ 3    πŸ” 0    πŸ’¬ 1    πŸ“Œ 0
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Patel told Reuters that authorities subpoenaed "toll records" - logs of calls, not their content - for both he and Wiles when they were private citizens. It is a very common investigative technique and both had been questioned by the government as part of the classified-documents investigation.

25.02.2026 22:22 β€” πŸ‘ 98    πŸ” 9    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 0
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NEW: The FBI secretly obtained records of phone calls by Kash Patel and Susie Wiles while the government was investigating President Trump's cache of secret documents at his Mar-a-Lago club, Patel told Reuters on Wednesday.

www.reuters.com/world/us/fbi...

25.02.2026 21:34 β€” πŸ‘ 209    πŸ” 74    πŸ’¬ 17    πŸ“Œ 8
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Exclusive | Spy Agency Blocks Congress From Seeing Gabbard Whistleblower Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard’s office rejected Democratic efforts to see all the underlying material about a foreign conversation that discussed Jared Kushner.

News: The Trump administration told Congress it won’t share the classified underlying intelligenceβ€”a conversation two foreigners had about Jared Kushnerβ€”that led to a whistleblower complaint against U.S. spy chief Tulsi Gabbard, citing claims of executive privilege. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...

25.02.2026 15:13 β€” πŸ‘ 422    πŸ” 207    πŸ’¬ 28    πŸ“Œ 23
Roberts asserts that he was injured because he was denied the ability to enter into the application-stage contract with Progressive and Circular Board.  But Progressive and Circular Board did not cause Roberts’s injuries.  Roberts caused them.  Recall that Roberts closed the grant application without submitting it.  Had Roberts submitted his application, he would have formed the application-stage contract with Progressive and Circular Board.  And he could have competed for the second contract.  At that point, he may have been subjected to racial No. 24-3454 Roberts et al. v. Progressive Preferred Ins Co et al. Page 8 discrimination related to his pursuit of a second contract (the grant-stage contract), but that is not the injury at issue here. Because Roberts chose not to take that first step (finishing and submitting the application), he cannot connect his application-stage injury to Progressive and Circular Board’s allegedly discriminatory actions.

Roberts asserts that he was injured because he was denied the ability to enter into the application-stage contract with Progressive and Circular Board. But Progressive and Circular Board did not cause Roberts’s injuries. Roberts caused them. Recall that Roberts closed the grant application without submitting it. Had Roberts submitted his application, he would have formed the application-stage contract with Progressive and Circular Board. And he could have competed for the second contract. At that point, he may have been subjected to racial No. 24-3454 Roberts et al. v. Progressive Preferred Ins Co et al. Page 8 discrimination related to his pursuit of a second contract (the grant-stage contract), but that is not the injury at issue here. Because Roberts chose not to take that first step (finishing and submitting the application), he cannot connect his application-stage injury to Progressive and Circular Board’s allegedly discriminatory actions.

6th Cir., 2-1, holds that white-owned business that started to fill out grant application, but failed to finish after learning only black-owned businesses were eligible does not have standing to bring a racial discrimination claim bc he never filed the app.

www.opn.ca6.uscourts.gov/opinions.pdf...

25.02.2026 19:53 β€” πŸ‘ 72    πŸ” 10    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 3
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JUST IN: Judge Murphy has ruled that the Trump administration's policy of sending deported immigrants to third countries without notice or a chance to challenge is illegal and unconstitutional.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

25.02.2026 17:41 β€” πŸ‘ 5996    πŸ” 2015    πŸ’¬ 154    πŸ“Œ 137
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Under India’s pressure, Facebook let propaganda and hate speech thrive Facebook has retreated from its professed ideals in India under pressure from Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s Bharatiya Janata Party.

Here we go. Free, no-reg versions of favorite stories from my four years at the Washington Post. First, three pieces from our Pulitzer-finalist series on how India's ruling party coerced U.S. tech giants into violating their own policies. www.washingtonpost.com/world/2023/0...

24.02.2026 22:23 β€” πŸ‘ 131    πŸ” 60    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 6
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There were seven (7) opinions in last week's tariffs decision. The two justices who didn't write hammed it up in oral argument today...

24.02.2026 19:09 β€” πŸ‘ 65    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 2    πŸ“Œ 3
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Justice Department withheld and removed some Epstein files related to Trump An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump.

An NPR investigation finds the public database of Epstein files is missing dozens of pages related to sexual abuse accusations against President Trump. n.pr/4qTItsU

24.02.2026 10:11 β€” πŸ‘ 10174    πŸ” 5123    πŸ’¬ 334    πŸ“Œ 630
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In case you thought that John Barron call was actually real

22.02.2026 23:32 β€” πŸ‘ 2012    πŸ” 359    πŸ’¬ 342    πŸ“Œ 70
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πŸ‘€The federal judges in West Virginia, where ICE has been pulling over and detaining people on the freeway, are literally screaming about ICE's tactics.

"It is an assault on the constitutional order," Judge Goodwin says. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

21.02.2026 00:27 β€” πŸ‘ 20347    πŸ” 7492    πŸ’¬ 450    πŸ“Œ 381
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In remarkable 9-page order, Judge Provinzino lifts civil contempt order on AUSA in MN after govt finally complies with her order, but says fact that AUSAs lack "basic resources" & "training" can no longer excuse wrongs to detainees. ...
/1
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...

20.02.2026 19:09 β€” πŸ‘ 585    πŸ” 185    πŸ’¬ 8    πŸ“Œ 9

That's 10 million more lives than the President said he saved yesterday.

20.02.2026 18:35 β€” πŸ‘ 148    πŸ” 21    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 0
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BREAKING: Supreme Court rules against Trump's tariffs enacted under a federal law meant for national emergencies reut.rs/4astpNV

20.02.2026 15:03 β€” πŸ‘ 560    πŸ” 166    πŸ’¬ 37    πŸ“Œ 47
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Bluesky Social media as it should be. Find your community among millions of users, unleash your creativity, and have some fun again.

Charles Schwab wired about $27.7 million overseas on behalf of Jeffrey Epstein as he tried to purchase a palace in Morocco in the 10 days before his arrest. @reuters.com exclusive w @bradheath.bsky.social @niveditab.bsky.social bsky.social @elisamartinuzzi.bsky.social www.reuters.com/world/europe...

19.02.2026 21:23 β€” πŸ‘ 32    πŸ” 13    πŸ’¬ 3    πŸ“Œ 0
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Large banner of Trump unfurled at Justice Department headquarters The DOJ has traditionally operated with a degree of separation from the White House to prevent the department's powers from being abused for political purposes.

Large banner of Trump unfurled at Justice Department headquarters
www.nbcnews.com/politics/jus...

19.02.2026 23:16 β€” πŸ‘ 48    πŸ” 20    πŸ’¬ 11    πŸ“Œ 5
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from Hannah Rabinowitz at @cnn.com :

19.02.2026 19:27 β€” πŸ‘ 90    πŸ” 23    πŸ’¬ 30    πŸ“Œ 19
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22-1 Dec of Fox with Data

Here is DOJ's list of 52 violations of court orders in District of NJ in the last 3 months (since 12/5/25). DOJ emphasizes there were 547 cases.
Includes 17 detainees transferred out of NJ and one removed from the country in violation of court orders.
www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...

19.02.2026 18:25 β€” πŸ‘ 100    πŸ” 41    πŸ’¬ 4    πŸ“Œ 1