Seamus Hughes
@seamushughes
I read a lot of court records because I like a good story. Won a Pulitzer a couple times. “A well-known PACER watcher” - Justice Department
“We’re not sure how we feel about federal judges being more terminally online than us.” www.courtwatch.news/p/186-ok-goo...
Writing draft ledes is my jam. See how we clean it up by subscribing this Friday's weekly roundup of the most fascinating court records. www.CourtWatch.news/subscribe
Newsmax had over 200 million in revenue last year. It’s tough out there for independent news rooms. Support us.
Trying out a new way to break news www.courtwatch.news/p/183-bribin...
Woke up and chose violence with @pwbeck.bsky.social in our Sunday morning piece about the tradeoffs for performative lawsuits. www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
I’m taking the nobody puts baby in the corner approach to choosing a reporter beat.
Authorities arrested a Puerto Rican man who created a “tactical map” of a local gay bar and was an admirer of the Pulse Night club shooter. www.courtwatch.news/p/181-an-exe...
Folks will support good journalism if you just give them the opportunity. Here’s our nonpaywalled deep dive piece on the rarity of murder prosecutions in the federal courts, courtesy of you all. www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit... You can keep the streak going here: www.CourtWatch.news/upgrade
1 new subscriber down, 9 more to go. Upgrade link: www.CourtWatch.news/upgrade Story Link: www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
Turns out the last line of transparency in the justice system is just a random guy emailing chief judges around the country www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
Writing the lede for tomorrow morning's Court Watch roundup. People still awake: Does this work?
This week, you missed the real story in Minneapolis. www.courtwatch.news/p/176-moon-r...
I don't know who needs to hear this but there's nothing stopping you from seeing a "real moon rock" at a federal courthouse for America's birthday.
They asked if I wanted to spend early mornings, late nights, weekends, & at least one vacation going through tens of thousands of pages of court records. It sounded like heaven Honored to have been awarded today a Pulitzer Prize for investigative reporting w/ NYTimes colleagues
New — My friends and I were interested in what makes an American ISIS supporter decide to plot an attack at home or travel overseas to join the terror group so we went through thousands of pages of court records. Full research brief here: digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/cgi/viewcont...
“When the trial ended, the desks remained, but no other news organization had a reporter devoted to the Eastern District of Virginia.” www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
This is your sign that you can & should start a news site so that 3 years later you can commission a 3,000 word story on sports & crime in order to insert one paragraph about baseball journeyman Tacks Latimer’s life after playing for the 1901 Orioles. www.courtwatch.news/p/the-rabbit...
Update on this: Regan Prater has just entered a plea agreement. Admits to setting a fire at a Highlander Research and Education Center, spray painting Nazi symbols on the building, and giving a list of 35,000 people he thought was connected to Israel to a person he believed to be Hezbollah
Here’s the indictment filed for Don Lemon on PACER. You don’t hate the current status of public access to public court records enough.
New research out today— my colleagues and I looked at tens of thousands of pages of legal documents to get a sense of how prevalent threats against public officials is. 2025 was a record year for federal arrests. digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/ncitereports...
At @ncite.bsky.social we ran the numbers on the types of criminal charges that 764 adherents face. www.unomaha.edu/ncite/news/2...
Alas, PACER is more expensive than therapy. depthperceptionbyll.substack.com/p/seamus-hug...
Marshal Plummer, an Arizona man, was indicted for allegedly threatening to kill Netanyahu's son and a state rep on X.
Apologies in advance for drafting the greatest lede of our time for tomorrow’s newsletter “Not all news organizations wear capes. Some simply pay their PACER fees.” Subscribe here to get our weekly roundup in your inbox tomorrow morning. www.CourtWatch.news/subscribe
A Missouri man was charged with allegedly setting a number of Tesla vehicles on fire. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
Out Friday: In which we praise Trump’s DOJ. (Subscribe here to get the full piece in your inbox tomorrow morning. www.courtwatch.news/subscribe )