Dani Schulkin
@dschulkin.bsky.social
Lawyer, writer & Director of Democracy Initiatives at Just Security at NYU Law. Former White House & DOJ. I think about democracy, corruption, nat sec & how to fix what’s broken.
Federal Judges Chastise Trump’s Justice Department for ‘Unlawful,’ ‘Unethical’ and ‘Unseemly’ Conduct talkingpointsmemo.com/news/federal...
Federal Judges Chastise Trump’s Justice Department for ‘Unlawful,’ ‘Unethical’ and ‘Unseemly’ Conduct
This story was originally published by ProPublica. Across the country, federal judges...
talkingpointsmemo.com
One thing to keep in mind about leak stories is that they're often — not always, but often — about the losers in an internal conflict who don't accept the final decision, and so they try to alter the politics of the thing by going public with a rejected argument. www.status.news/p/cecilia-ve...
Earlier this week I teamed up to publish a new resource that shows how grand juries and federal judges keep blocking the government's demands to get information and to open investigations (e.g. subpoenas, search warrants, even indictments). This is a remarkable development for several reasons. 🧵/1
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
A detailed record of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump administration’s use of subpoenas, search warrants, and indictments.
justsecurity.org
Charitable giving platforms should not become agents of the Trump administration’s campaign against civil rights organizations, write @democracyforward.org's Regan Rush and Megan Marks, and Just Security's @dschulkin.bsky.social (Dani Schulkin). The indictment against @splcenter.org explains why.
If Federal Courts Don’t Trust Trump’s DOJ, Should Civil Rights Funders?
After suspending donations to SPLC, major charitable giving platforms must question whether it is prudent to defer to a DOJ that courts no longer trust.
justsecurity.org
Trump’s DOJ has unleashed investigations against critics and political opponents. Courts and grand juries have blocked case after case, finding the government had little or no evidence and was abusing its power. An essential new report from @justsecurity.org.
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
A detailed record of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump administration’s use of subpoenas, search warrants, and indictments.
justsecurity.org
I joined forces with @dschulkin.bsky.social and Huzaifa Khan. “Zero Evidence”: How Judges and Grand Juries Have Rejected Trump Administration’s Efforts to Investigate and Prosecute We document EXTRAORDINARY number of subpoenas, indictments and more rebuffed. New searchable resource.
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
A detailed record of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump administration’s use of subpoenas, search warrants, and indictments.
justsecurity.org
We tracked all the instances of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump Administration's attempts to investigate or prosecute its targets. These numbers are unheard of and an extraordinary development in the rule of law. See more from me, @rgoodlaw.bsky.social, and Huzaifa Khan 👇
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
A detailed record of federal courts and grand juries rejecting the Trump administration’s use of subpoenas, search warrants, and indictments.
justsecurity.org
NEW TRACKER: “Zero Evidence”: How Judges and Grand Juries Have Rejected the Trump Administration’s Efforts to Investigate and Prosecute - At least 18 grand juries refusing to indict (unheard of) - At least 16 grand jury subpoenas blocked by courts or withdrawn - And thousands more
Judges and Grand Juries Reject Trump's Efforts to Investigate
We document actions that blocked warrants, subpoenas, and indictments.
justsecurity.org
New, from @splawinski.bsky.social at Can We Still Govern? The more we learn about how prediction markets operate, the clearer the need for regulation. So whats happening? Congress seems unable to act, while the Trump admin is blocking states from doing so. donmoynihan.substack.com/p/the-only-t...
The Only Thing Congress Has Banned Is Itself, Kinda
The Prediction Market Regulatory Vacuum Keeps Getting Bigger
donmoynihan.substack.com
Thursday night, President Trump removed all members of bipartisan Election Assistance Commission. We just published an expert backgrounder on the implications and what the commission's professional staff can and cannot now do. By the Institute for Responsive Government's Aaron Blacksberg
What is the Election Assistance Commission With No Commissioners?
An expert backgrounder on the implications of President Trump's removal of all members of the bipartisan Election Assistance Commission.
justsecurity.org
Together, these developments reflect ongoing changes to the civil service, independent agencies, federal enforcement, and institutional checks within the executive branch. Stay tuned for more from Dani Schulkin (@dschulkin.bsky.social) & Amy Markopoulos and team👇
The Anti-Corruption Tracker: Mapping the Erosion of Oversight and Accountability
This Anti-Corruption Tracker focuses on the erosion or dismantling of oversight and accountability systems within the United States Executive Branch
justsecurity.org
A pleasure to work with John and Chelsea on this piece to get this important resource out to magistrate judges and others who need it: 🚨👇
Just Security@justsecurity.org · 2mo agoWhat stops the federal government from seizing a state's ballots in the middle of an election? Increasingly, just one thing: the magistrate judge reviewing the warrant. John Keller and Chelsea Rice on the last check standing and new resources at UC Berkeley Edley Center for magistrate judges:
ProPublica used leaked tax returns to calculate that through complex tax avoidance schemes, Jeff Bezos pays a tax rate of 0.98% www.propublica.org/article/the-... So if we doubled the taxes he pays, that would mean he'd still be paying less than 2%.
The Secret IRS Files: Trove of Never-Before-Seen Records Reveal How the Wealthiest Avoid Income Tax
ProPublica has obtained a vast cache of IRS information showing how billionaires like Jeff Bezos, Elon Musk and Warren Buffett pay little in income tax compared to their massive wealth — sometimes, ev...
propublica.org
Aaron Rupar@atrupar.com · 3mo agoBezos on CNBC: "You could double the taxes I pay, and it's not gonna help that teacher in Queens. I promise you."
First complaint filed against the new Trump DOJ Slush Fund: storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Complaint – #1 in DUNN v. BESSENT (D.D.C., 1:26-cv-01719) – CourtListener.com
COMPLAINT against All Plaintiffs with Jury Demand ( Filing fee $ 405 receipt number ADCDC-12432684) filed by HARRY DUNN, DANIEL HODGES. (Attachments: # 1 Exhibit Ex. 1 (Blanche letter), # 2 Exhibit Ex...
storage.courtlistener.com
Trump's $1.8 billion theft, made simple: Lawsuits are supposed to be real. His lawsuit against the IRS was fake. "It is illegal, because Congress has said you can use this money only to settle real cases," @harrylitman.bsky.social tells me. Much more on the pod: newrepublic.com/article/2106...
Trump’s $10 Billion IRS Shakedown Takes Darker Turn, Unnerving Experts
As Trump reaches a “settlement” with DOJ that hands $1.8 billion in taxpayer money to a fund he controls, a legal expert explains just how corrupt this truly is—and why it might backfire for the GOP.
newrepublic.com
Congress should pass a targeted amendment to the Judgment Fund statute (31 U.S.C. § 1304) making explicit that, under Congress' power of the purse, DOJ and other federal agencies cannot create settlement funds for a sitting president. 👇 www.nytimes.com/live/2026/05...
Trump Administration Live Updates: $1.8 Billion Fund Could Funnel Money to Trump Allies
nytimes.com
For decades, America has stood as the greatest leader in the sanctions space and as the greatest provider of tools for sanctioned entities to evade the restrictions placed on them, says Casey Michel (@cjcmichel.bsky.social). On why sanctions alone will not fully succeed in deterring corruption:
The United States: Sanctions Implementer and Sanctions Safe Haven?
U.S. receptiveness to illicit finance remains under-discussed, and undermines the effectiveness of sanctions against corruption.
justsecurity.org
Great, if sometimes bleak, conversation with Bruce Swartz and @dschulkin.bsky.social on the @justsecurity.org Podcast www.justsecurity.org/138942/podca...
Podcast: The Latest on International Anti-Corruption Enforcement
Host Dani Schulkin is joined by Richard Nephew and Bruce Swartz to discuss shifts in U.S. anti‑corruption policy, international cooperation, and enforcement.
justsecurity.org
David Venturella, formerly of private prison company Geo Group, will lead ICE. A federal ethics rule generally bars government employees from working on contracts awarded to their former employers for one year, but the Trump admin. granted him a waiver. https://wapo.st/42sRsYe
This is mass political violence. “More than 10,000 times, judges have said those detentions, typically carried out with no opportunity for detainees to plead their case, were illegal. That’s roughly 90 percent of all cases — a staggering rejection of a core piece of Trump’s immigration agenda.”
Trump emboldened ICE. Judges have ruled against it over 10,000 times.
A POLITICO analysis reveals judges have ruled against ICE detention practices in roughly 90 percent of cases since the agency mandated that millions of immigrants must be locked up while they face dep...
politico.com
Worked with the brilliant Jodi Vittori and Matt Stephenson on this. Congress is poised to repeal a law that has broad bipartisan support and strong backing from federal and state law enforcement. Read on for why repeal would be a mistake:
Just Security@justsecurity.org · 3mo agoThe CTA was designed to give law enforcement a tool to track drug cartels, kleptocrats, and sanctioned actors hiding behind anonymous U.S. shell companies. Now Congress is threatening to repeal it. What's at stake — from @dschulkin.bsky.social, Jodi Vittori, and Matthew Stephenson
Exquisitely written. Important issues for U.S. public corruption. Solution oriented. "Lessons can be drawn from peers like Canada, Mexico, and France, which do not exempt their heads of state from conflict-of-interest rules." @abigailbellows.bsky.social, former NSC Director for Anti-Corruption
How to Stop Modern Profiteering in Public Office
Analysis of presidential profiteering under Trump and a proposed solution to restore public trust in government.
justsecurity.org
NEW in our Guardrails Series from @abigailbellows.bsky.social: how to ban a president from profitting from being in office. Grateful for Abigail's thoughtful, comparative, and solutions-oriented approach to this hard subject. Worth a full read 👇
Just Security@justsecurity.org · 3mo agoThe United States needs a flat ban on presidential profiteering, writes @abigailbellows.bsky.social of @commoncause.org The schemes are evolving faster than the laws can catch them: www.justsecurity.org/137399/pione... #Anti-Corruption #WhenGuardrailsErode
An important piece to read from former DOJ Civil Rights leaders, breaking down the department's new FACE Act report (the law protecting access to reproductive health clinics and places of worship) section-by-section. 👇 @democracyforward.org
Just Security@justsecurity.org · 4mo agoThe Trump DOJ released a report today claiming Biden-era FACE Act enforcement was weaponized against religious Americans. Regan Rush and Megan Marks interrogate the report's five central claims. Each fails when measured against the actual enforcement record.
Congress is fighting over whether ICE needs a warrant to enter your home. But ICE arrest warrants aren’t reliable enough to protect anyone from wrongful detention, writes Chris Hardee (@stereotopical.bsky.social). Why — and how Congress must fix it: www.justsecurity.org/132934/deepe...
The Deeper Problem with ICE's Arrest Warrants
DHS regulations do not ensure that ICE warrants are supported by probable cause findings. This poses significant Fourth Amendment risks.
justsecurity.org
New updates on the "White House Fraud Task Force" (a pivot from the administration's original announcement) 👇
Jennifer Jacobs@jenniferjjacobs.bsky.social · 6mo agoScoop: White House anti-fraud task force targeting abuse in California and other states will be led by VP Vance. Trump intends to sign an EO in coming days. Andrew Ferguson will be vice chair. @cbsnews.com www.cbsnews.com/news/trump-a...
🚨 New piece -- We traced the legal origins of every DOJ AAG position and examined the legal and policy questions raised by the proposed new "Fraud" Division. Designed to help answer key Qs for anyone following along as well as those mapping the institutional structure for what comes next.
Just Security@justsecurity.org · 6mo agoCan the White House create a new DOJ fraud division—and run it from the West Wing? New piece from @dschulkin.bsky.social and Amy Markopoulus unpacks the legal, constitutional, and enforcement risks of the administration’s proposed “National Fraud Enforcement Division.”
Our new golden age of free speech, where opposition to immigration enforcement can trigger a federal investigation
