Madison Pauly
@msjpauly.bsky.social
Reporter covering gender and politics at @motherjones.com, part of the Center for Investigative Reporting Tips to mpauly at motherjones dot com Signal: madisonpauly.15 https://www.motherjones.com/author/madison-pauly/
"But something else has shifted in Tremont. After the [successful] fight against the detention center, 'It doesn’t matter if they’re Democrat, Republican, the town has come together'...” www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the threat of an ICE detention center galvanized a Trump-country coal town
“We do deserve better than a plethora of data centers, detention centers, warehouses, biosolids processing plants, massive landfills.”
motherjones.com
Well, this had DLR Group written all over it, and sure enough, it's them! Employees who believed in this "humane prison design" PR-speak got a rude awakening this year when they learned DLR Group was working on an ICE detention center:
shawn@mulchy.bsky.social · last wk.new: officials are building a $7 million “trauma-informed” visitation center at the cook county jail, part of at least $400 million in projects planned at the jail over the next decade. it’s supposed to make for a more “humane” experience—but it’ll do little to address the dismal conditions at ccj.
“We never went far enough to repair the original sin of the separations at the border. And now we’re perpetrating that same harm all over again.” I wrote about how the Trump administration is violating a landmark settlement agreement for families who were separated at the border years ago.
Separated at the Border, Torn Apart Again
Years after being split up and reunited, a family gets caught in Trump’s immigration dragnet.
motherjones.com
The thing about that Heritage Center paper against women's sports is not just the hypocrisy, or even the blatant sexism. A real argument is building in the courts to toss the longstanding rules that have caused schools to expand girls' sports. The story: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Heritage Foundation only wanted to protect women's sports when it was about trans athletes
Not anymore.
motherjones.com
You know the ICE officer who killed someone in Maine and was then accused by two ex-wives of abuse? Turns out he was likely eligible to skip a significant portion of training after ICE hired him, due to a policy change under this administration. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
What ICE should have known when it hired David Brouillette
The officer who killed a young father in Maine had been accused of abuse by two ex-wives. He was also eligible to skip weeks of training in Georgia.
motherjones.com
I've been joking with journalist friends that I went to a rural diner in Trump country and all I found were secret Democrats and a non-voter. It's true! How Schuylkill County, PA, rose up against an ICE warehouse—and decades of being treated as a "dumping ground" www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How the threat of an ICE detention center galvanized a Trump-country coal town
“We do deserve better than a plethora of data centers, detention centers, warehouses, biosolids processing plants, massive landfills.”
motherjones.com
Rep. Max Miller (R-Ohio) previously denied a report, also alleged in court records, that he pushed a girl down a flight of stairs in high school. But the woman recently told me the alleged incident remains "one of the more traumatic nights of my life." Inside the investigation: ow.ly/8xU450ZpaNp
Assault, misogyny, verbal threats: Records detail new allegations against Rep. Max Miller
Police reports and filings in a bitter custody dispute raise new questions about the conduct of an Ohio Republican as he campaigns for a third term.
ow.ly
Huge news: NPR reports that the Trump administration has abandoned its proposed "nuclear weapon" against trans youth care—a rule that would have pulled *all* Medicaid and Medicare funding for *all* patients from hospitals that provided gender-affirming care for minors www.npr.org/2026/07/13/n...
Trump's HHS abandons threat to withhold Medicare and Medicaid funding over trans care
NPR has learned that the Department of Health and Human Services will not be finalizing its most aggressive attempt to end gender-affirming care for youth nationally.
npr.org
Madison Pauly@msjpauly.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe authors of the HHS report on trans youth health care were chosen by the Manhattan Institute's Leor Sapir. Now, a rule based on the controversial report could wipe out this care at hospitals. Parents are begging the administration not to go through with it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Publishing this story in this political climate takes ridiculous levels of nerve and nuance. But @julialurie.bsky.social pulls it off. Her investigation into the psychological side effects of hormonal birth control, and the researchers working to improve it: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Did birth control make my depression worse?
What I wish I'd known about my IUD.
motherjones.com
Today, SCOTUS ruled that states can ban trans girls from girls' sports. To get there, it watered down the way it analyzes Constitutional protections against sex discrimination. My analysis with comments from @maryrziegler.bsky.social and @avaayers.bsky.social: www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
The Supreme Court's trans athlete ruling is a threat to gender equality
Justice Brett Kavanaugh is "not only creating a bad precedent for trans people, he’s significantly lowering the protection all women get."
motherjones.com
Riley Gaines was paid at least $6,600 from the private PayPal account of Polymarket's chief marketing officer to hype up the service, per this Politico scoop: www.politico.com/news/2026/06...
‘Unbelievable how accurate’: How paid influencers hype Polymarket’s odds
The company’s chief marketing officer, Matthew Modabber, used a personal PayPal account to send money to content creators, according to records reviewed by POLITICO.
politico.com
Had a blast last night at the Sports Emmys with @pablo.show's hilarious and talented crew. Such an honor to be there!
David Venturella, who spent more than a decade as an executive at the private-prison behemoth GEO Group, will be the next acting director of ICE. This has been a banner year for GEO Group, the largest private prison contractor incarcerating immigrants in the US: ICE is its single largest client.
Trump taps former private prison exec to run ICE
GEO Group's biggest client is ICE—and ICE's new leader helped run GEO Group.
motherjones.com
After many failed attempts to subpoena trans kids' private health records, DOJ is now trying to get them via criminal grand jury in Texas. "This is mafia-type behavior," Shannon Minter tells @hurwitz.bsky.social. This will be a new test of blue-state shield laws. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
New York hospital faces criminal subpoena in Texas over trans youth care
"This is mafia-type behavior."
motherjones.com
A mystery donor in Nebraska is spending $1.6 million on a ballot initiative banning trans girls from girls' sports—duplicating an existing state law. Uihlein is spending $800k on the same in Maine. What do these two states have in common? Close Senate races. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Are anti-trans ballot initiatives being used as Republican “ballot candy”?
At least one candidate has admitted his statewide referendum targeting trans kids is intended to drive GOP voter turnout.
motherjones.com
The ruling does not affect misoprostol, the second medication used with mifepristone to terminate pregnancies—and a powerful abortion drug on its own. “Abortion is too important,” says @greerdonley.bsky.social. “People are going to find ways around the law." www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
A right-wing court just moved to choke off abortion by mail
A sweeping decision threatens to unravel one of the last remaining pathways to care post-Dobbs.
motherjones.com
Today's demolition of Voting Rights Act by Roberts Court will likely trigger largest drop in Black representation since end of Reconstruction. They're taking America back to Jim Crow, when white supremacy and one party rule enshrined across South www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Supreme Court deals a death blow to the Voting Rights Act
The "now-completed demolition" of the law could take us back to the Jim Crow era.
motherjones.com
Update: A federal judge this weekend issued a *permanent injunction* blocking HHS from defunding healthcare providers for offering trans youth care—likely including the proposed Medicare & Medicaid regs, per @gladlaw.bsky.social. And it's a spicy opinion! www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Federal judge calls RFK Jr. an “unsafe” leader in order protecting trans youth health care
The broad ruling was designed to deflect future attacks on gender-affirming care for kids.
motherjones.com
Madison Pauly@msjpauly.bsky.social · 4mo agoThe authors of the HHS report on trans youth health care were chosen by the Manhattan Institute's Leor Sapir. Now, a rule based on the controversial report could wipe out this care at hospitals. Parents are begging the administration not to go through with it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Considering starting every future article with "Here is the promise you and I must cling to across the thousands of words that follow." @caity.bsky.social www.theatlantic.com/magazine/202...
I Found It: The Best Free Restaurant Bread in America
Thirteen thousand miles. Infinite contenders. One beautiful loaf.
theatlantic.com
The authors of the HHS report on trans youth health care were chosen by the Manhattan Institute's Leor Sapir. Now, a rule based on the controversial report could wipe out this care at hospitals. Parents are begging the administration not to go through with it. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Trump is about to drop a “nuclear weapon” on trans youth health care
How a report led by a right-wing pundit laid the groundwork for upending gender-affirming treatment
motherjones.com
"This was one of the big reasons that we all won....I want to thank Riley. She really has been in the forefront.” - Trump, February 2025
Chris Geidner@chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4mo agoFrom @metzger.bsky.social, I am HOWLING.
The conversion therapy interest group profiled in this story with @hencarnell.bsky.social is cheering today's SCOTUS ruling. "Clients who have been forced to believe in LGBTQ ideology have faced irreversible harm in some cases," president David Pickup says. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
First they tried to "cure" gayness. Now they're fixated on "healing" trans people.
Inside the movement to resurrect conversion therapy.
motherjones.com
The Supreme Court's "conversion therapy" decision today is indefensible on its own terms. A ton of medical regulations restrict speech on the basis of "viewpoint." Nobody thinks they're unconstitutional. This court just subjects pro-LGBTQ protections to special hostility. slate.com/news-and-pol...
In an 8-1 decision on this year's Trans Day of Visibility, the Supreme Court ruled against a Colorado law forbidding licensed therapists from a practice known as conversion therapy that the medical profession has long since discredited and condemned.
On Trans Day of Visibility, Supreme Court sides with conversion therapy
The 8-1 ruling threatens to overturn bans on the discredited practice in 23 states.
motherjones.com
if you want to know the history of this kind of policy, I made a podcast two years ago that explained why these tests make no sense, how they were already used and eventually abandoned by the IOC in the 80's and 90's, and the devastating impacts they have on real athletes: www.tested-podcast.com
TESTED – A surprising history of women’s sports
tested-podcast.com
Reo Eveleth@reveleth.com · 4mo ago*sigh* well... I guess we're doing this again www.olympics.com/ioc/news/int...
Holy cow my investigation into Riley Gaines for @pablo.show was nominated for an Emmy in Outstanding Sports Journalism!!! Cannot stop dancing around my apartment. Here's the show if you missed it! www.youtube.com/watch?v=iKUl...
@byninamartin.bsky.social has written the definitive policy story on how it came to be that abortions are more accessible than ever *after* the fall of Roe v. Wade. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
How blue states got around the GOP’s efforts to ban abortion in red states
Four years ago, shield laws didn't exist. Now, they are one of the strongest weapons in the reproductive-rights arsenal.
motherjones.com
SCOOP: The #1 "Justice Facility" architecture firm in the country, DLR Group, has committed not work on ICE detention or deportation facilities, after workers raised ethical objections to a deal to turn an an old private prison in Oklahoma into a new ICE jail. www.motherjones.com/politics/202...
Top architecture firm won’t design more ICE prisons after employees revolt
They thought their firm focused on humane design. Then they learned of the private detention center contract.
motherjones.com
Kris Kobach started trying mess with trans people’s drivers licenses as soon as Kansas legislators approved the so-called “Women’s Bill of Rights,” imposing a legal definition of sex, in 2023 but courts held him back. Until the legislature decided to escalate. Revoking licenses with 3 days notice.
Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com · 5mo ago1. Numerous transgender people in Kansas are reporting that the state has sent them a letter demanding the immediate surrender of drivers licenses. Those driving could be arrested, charged, and see privileges revoked. Subscribe to support our journalism. www.erininthemorning.com/p/kansas-sen...
