Molly Redden

She was able to obtain permission to view the execution, so she flew to Oklahoma City and woke up at 4am last Thursday to drive the two hours to the penitentiary in McAlester. She and others close to Wood then waited in a “gathering zone” in the predawn hours, where “very nice, friendly” staff from the Department of Corrections made small talk while offering them “chips and crackers and coffee.” They expected to be loaded into a van about an hour before the 10am execution, but nothing was happening. “I just kind of obsessively was refreshing my phone and trying to get in the mental headspace of ‘You’re here—you’ve got to do your job.’” Then, at 9:58, a message popped onto everyone’s phones: the governor had stopped the execution. Said Schulberg: “To experience that level of relief, and to see other people experiencing that level of relief—it was the most intense happiness I’ve ever felt in my life. I was like, this is ecstasy. Like, I’m never going to feel this happy again.” Schulberg’s decision to go to Oklahoma for the execution hadn’t come easily. Her brother and mother advised her not to. “You’re never going to be able to unsee this,” her brother told her. But when it was over, her brother said, “Your willingness to witness the worst thing ever meant that you got to see the most wonderful thing ever.”

In today's Laurels/Darts, I interview Jessica Schulberg, the Huffpost reporter who has extensively covered an unjust Oklahoma death-penalty case.

She was at the penitentiary when the the convict was spared -- exactly 2 minutes before he was scheduled to die.

www.cjr.org/laurels-and-...

You know one sign of sophisticated intelligence is the ability to integrate new information and not lose your job twice for essentially the same reason

Senior Editor, Business New York City, United States

JOB ALERT! We are hiring a business editor.

You have an unerring instinct for the jugular of the wealthy & powerful? Build a team with me and we’ll get after it!

job-boards.greenhouse.io/propublica/j...

You can email me or on Signal at 718-496-5233

BREAKING: In a 3-2 vote Oklahoma's Pardon and Parole board recommended clemency for Tremane Wood, a man sentenced to death for a killing his brother admitted to committing www.huffpost.com/entry/oklaho...

Tremane Wood is facing execution on November 13. I revisited his case to investigate how a group of judges and prosecutors have secretly coordinated in ways that have undermined Tremane’s final chance to live. www.huffpost.com/entry/oklaho...

These GOP Lawmakers Referred Constituents to the CFPB for Help. Then They Voted to Gut the Agency. Many of the same Republican lawmakers who have targeted the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau for cuts have collectively directed thousands of constituents’ complaints about banks, credit cards, lo...

NEW from me: The CFPB's consumer complaint system is more popular than ever, fielding over 2.7M complaints last year.

But Republican lawmakers still voted to slash the CFPB's budget, even after referring thousands of their own constituents' issues to the agency.

www.propublica.org/article/cfpb...

Do you have information about Big Law spurning clients who might incur Trump's anger? Get in touch: molly.redden@propublica.org or on Signal at mollyredden.14

Trump’s War on Big Law Means It’s Harder to Challenge the Administration Some of America’s largest law firms are refusing to take pro bono and paid legal work from groups that seek to hold the government to account on issues like environmental protection, LGBTQ+ rights and...

…“People don’t want to stand up, and because of that, people are suffering.”

Read my story here: www.propublica.org/article/trum...

…with Trump ghosted a police accountability nonprofit in the middle of preparations for a major lawsuit
⚖️Wachtell and Kirkland — two of corporate law's biggest moneymakers — are conspicuously absent from pro bono matters they championed in the past

“It’s been a nightmare…

Some key examples:

⚖️Winston & Strawn turned down FBI agents trying to stop the DOJ from building a list of employees who worked on Jan 6
⚖️A firm that sounds a lot like Sidley Austin is refusing to represent the ABA against the Trump admin
⚖️One of the 9 firms that cut a deal…

Trump’s War on Big Law Means It’s Harder to Challenge the Administration Some of America’s largest law firms are refusing to take pro bono and paid legal work from groups that seek to hold the government to account on issues like environmental protection, LGBTQ+ rights and...

New from me: Big Law is fearful of representing anyone Trump sees as his enemies, and it's thwarting challenges to his agenda.

“There are cases that aren’t being brought at a time when civil rights abuses are maybe at the highest they’ve been.” www.propublica.org/article/trum...

‘Past The Point Of No Return’: Doctor Describes How Starvation In Gaza Is Driving Mass Death "In August and September, there are probably still going to be ... large numbers of deaths because children have already passed the tipping point," Mark Brauner, who volunteered in Gaza last month, to...

NEW— "A lot of children have passed the point of no return...The gut lining has started to auto-digest & will no longer [absorb] water or nutrition. Death is imminent for 1000s"

An American doctor who just returned from Gaza on where US-Israeli policy is taking us:
www.huffpost.com/entry/gaza-s...

Tips are *very* welcome.

Are you in Big Law or a Trump-aligned firm? Struggling to recruit pro bono partners to sue the administration? Former or current DOJ/OCR? Leonard Leo? Get in my DMs!

I'm launching a new @propublica.org beat! Legal affairs under Trump: his assault on Big Law, his judicial nominees, his defiance of the courts, the politicization of executive branch legal offices, favor-trading for dropped investigations, White House legal strategy—you name it.

Death, Sexual Violence and Human Trafficking: Fallout From U.S. Aid Withdrawal Hits the World’s Most Fragile Locations Exclusive State Department records show: As the Trump administration abandons its humanitarian commitments, diplomats are reporting that the cuts have led to violence and instability while undermining...

“I struggle for adjectives to adequately describe the horror that this administration has visited on the world,” said a former State Dept official about the damage done by Trump and Musk abandoning America's humanitarian aid commitments.

The “Invasion” Invention: The Far Right’s Long Legal Battle to Make Immigrants the Enemy The Trump administration is using the claim that immigrants have “invaded” the country to justify possibly suspending habeas corpus, part of the constitutional right to due process. A faction of the f...

“One of the reasons why we were very, so insistent about coming up with the whole notion of the border being an ‘invasion’ [is] there were Constitutional authorities that were a part of being able to call it an invasion.”

Read about how we got to this precipice:

www.propublica.org/article/trum...

Vought, Trump's budget chief and Project 2025 architect, said he was championing this theory specifically because it would “unlock” immense executive power.

In a private speech first revealed by @documented.net, ProPublica's @andykroll.bsky.social and me last year, Vought said…

Courts have never bought that unauthorized immigration truly equals an "invasion"—the threshold for using the Alien Enemies Act and suspending habeas.

But between Trump administrations, MAGA intellectuals Russ Vought and Ken Cuccinelli worked behind-the-scenes to legitimize this once-fringe theory.

Mothers, hide your Overton Windows! A secretive effort is at work to convince courts the US is legally under "invasion."

MAGA loyalists have pushed this fringe legal theory for years. Now, it's the linchpin of Trump's mass deportation campaign and his extraordinary threats to suspend habeas corpus.

THREAD: Under a new law, thousands of prisoners in Louisiana have been cut off from ever getting a chance at parole.

Why?

Because an algorithm said so. 1/

The October Story That Outlined Exactly What the Trump Administration Would Do to the Federal Bureaucracy Historians have hindsight when they look into the past; journalists have the facts on the ground and context to help them look ahead. That means we can sometimes be surprised by how prescient a story…

An October 2024 story about Russell Vought captured the breadth and ferocity of the coming attack on the federal government.

So why didn’t this story drive more of a national conversation when it appeared?

Texas Banned Abortion. Then Sepsis Rates Soared. ProPublica’s first-of-its-kind analysis is the most detailed look yet into a rise in life-threatening complications for women experiencing pregnancy loss under Texas’ abortion ban.

New and devastating reporting from my colleagues showing just how dangerous it has become to be pregnant and in Texas after the state banned abortion.

Please read and share:

www.propublica.org/article/texa...

“In response, the employees refused their requests and called sheriff's deputies.“

How Other Prosecutors Could Pick Up the Case Against Eric Adams Both Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg and NY Attorney General Tish James could pursue charges, and Gov. Hochul could also remove the mayor.

If a nakedly corrupt and anti-constitutional DoJ won't hold Eric Adams to account, here's who could.

How Other Prosecutors Could Pick Up the Case Against Eric Adams

www.thecity.nyc/2025/02/15/e...

Elon Musk is using the anti-teacher playbook against the entire civil workforce This didn’t start with DOGE.

I wrote about how the Trump administration's assault on the civil service draws from the same playbook used for decades against public school teachers.

A nation that devalues its public servants devalues its future

www.vox.com/donald-trump...

U.S. Claims Immigrants Held at Guantanamo Are “Worst of the Worst.” Their Families Say They’re Being Unfairly Targeted. ProPublica and The Texas Tribune have identified nearly a dozen immigrants who have been flown to Guantanamo Bay. Government officials have refused to release the names of detainees or provide details...

The Trump administration has flown about 100 immigrants to Guantanamo Bay. Perla Trevizo and I identified nearly a dozen of them and spoke to relatives of three of them. www.propublica.org/article/trum...

“We’ve Been Essentially Muzzled”: Department of Education Halts Thousands of Civil Rights Investigations Under Trump Since Inauguration Day, the Office for Civil Rights has only opened about 20 investigations focused on Trump’s priorities, placing more than 10,000 student complaints related to disability access and ...

NEW: Under the Trump administration, the Office for Civil Rights has shifted its focus to removing gender-neutral bathrooms, banning transgender athletes from women’s sports and prioritizing complaints alleging discrimination against white students.

L.A. Times Owner Has Financial Motivations for Boosting RFK Jr. Dr. Patrick Soon-Shiong’s biotech firm is preparing three applications needing approval from the Food and Drug Administration.

NEW from me: Why has Patrick Soon-Shiong touted RFK Jr repeatedly and run interference for him at his paper, the LA Times? Maybe because his biotech company has 3 applications pending at the FDA, whose parent agency Kennedy is about to be running.
prospect.org/power/2025-0...

Buckle up

Donald Trump has just released a national under 18 trans care ban executive order. I am working through specifically how it tries to do this, and will live tweet here section by section as I read through it.

It is not yet on the website, but has been released via press release.