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bradheath.bsky.social
Brad Heath
@bradheath.bsky.social
55K followers 470 following 1.6K posts
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, [email protected]
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bradheath.bsky.social
Brad Heath @bradheath.bsky.social · Nov 12
How to reach me:

Email: [email protected]
Phone, Signal: 202 527-9709
WhatsApp: 703 835-7998

1333 H St., NW, Suite 700
Washington, DC 20005
Reposted by Brad Heath
rparloff.bsky.social
The @ACLU has filed a class action damages suit against federal & state officers over an Idaho immigration raid last October. 200 armed officers raided a horse-race festival, detaining 400 Latinos for 4 hrs. All adults & many teens ziptied & searched.
1/8
storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
#1 in Rodriguez v. Porter (D. Idaho, 1:26-cv-00075) – CourtListener.com
COMPLAINT against All Defendants ( Filing fee $ 405 receipt number AIDDC-3055371.), filed by All Plaintiffs. (Attachments: # 1 Cover Sheet Civil Cover Sheet, # 2 Cover Sheet Civil Cover Sheet Attachme...
storage.courtlistener.com
February 15, 2026 at 7:15 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
ryanjreilly.com
Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters www.nbcnews.com/news/us-news...
Broken bones, burning eyes: How Trump's DHS deploys 'less lethal' weapons on protesters
Federal immigration officers have repeatedly used force in ways that appear to violate their own policies or general policing guidelines, NBC News found.
www.nbcnews.com
February 14, 2026 at 2:07 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
President Trump's lawyers have told a court he shouldn't have to respond to lawsuits because it would distract him from running the government.

But he's found time to bring lawsuits of his own, against the New York Times and even against his own administration.

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
February 14, 2026 at 12:17 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
nateraymond.bsky.social
My latest with @bradheath.bsky.social and @kristinacooke.bsky.social, examining the more than 20,200 habeas lawsuits that people detained by immigration authorities have filed since Trump took office.
February 14, 2026 at 11:33 AM
bradheath.bsky.social
NEW: Hundreds of judges around the country have ruled more than 4,400 times since October that President Donald Trump’s administration is detaining immigrants unlawfully, a Reuters review of court records found.

The government keeps doing it nonetheless.

www.reuters.com/legal/govern...
February 14, 2026 at 12:14 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
joshgerstein.bsky.social
JUST IN: Knight 1st Amend. Institute & American Oversight ask 11th Circuit to force Judge Aileen Cannon (Trump) to release Vol. II of Special Counsel Jack Smith's report AND to block her from ordering it destroyed as Trump's co-defendants have asked. Doc: www.documentcloud.org/documents/27...
2026.02.13--Smith-Mandamus--Second-Mandamus-Petition-FINAL PDFA
www.documentcloud.org
February 13, 2026 at 11:19 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: After Secretary Rubio declined a judge's suggestion to return illegally deported Any Lopez Belloza – a 20 year old Babson student who was sent to Honduras in defiance of a court order — Judge Stearns has orderd the admin to facilitate her return. storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 13, 2026 at 6:45 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
drewharwell.com
Meta's plan for launching glasses that people can use to secretly identify strangers on the street is to do it "during a dynamic political environment" when people who care about why that's bad are "focused on other concerns."

www.nytimes.com/2026/02/13/t...
Meta Plans to Add Facial Recognition Technology to Its Smart Glasses
www.nytimes.com
February 13, 2026 at 2:54 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
jenafifield.bsky.social
NEW: A federal tool meant to find noncitizens on voter rolls is consistently marking citizens as noncitizens, especially if they were born outside the U.S., causing chaos as election clerks try not to disenfranchise voters, @zachdespart.bsky.social and I found. 🧵 www.propublica.org/article/save...
“Not Ready for Prime Time.” A Federal Tool to Check Voter Citizenship Keeps Making Mistakes.
The Department of Homeland Security pushed out the revamped tool while it was still adding data. That led to widespread misidentification, particularly for citizens born outside the U.S.
www.propublica.org
February 13, 2026 at 1:21 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
The White House is using millions of dollars from the former U.S. foreign aid agency to pay for the security detail of Russell Vought, President Donald Trump's budget chief and an architect of the government overhaul that has cut thousands of federal jobs.

www.reuters.com/world/us/whi...
February 13, 2026 at 1:33 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: The Trump administraiton has committed a mass violation of ICE detainees' constitutional rights in MN, effectively blocking their acess to attorneys in the Whipple building, a judge ruled tonight.

The judge: Trump appointeee Nancy Brasel

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 13, 2026 at 12:00 AM
Reposted by Brad Heath
dustinvolz.bsky.social
News: The top-secret whistleblower complaint against Tulsi Gabbard is related to a conversation intercepted last spring in which two foreign nationals discussed Jared Kushner, according to U.S. officials familiar with the matter. www.wsj.com/politics/nat...
Gabbard Whistleblower Complaint Based on Intercepted Conversation About Jared Kushner
The substance of the conversation, which covered in part issues related to Iran, isn’t known.
www.wsj.com
February 12, 2026 at 9:00 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
jsweetli.bsky.social
SCOOP: An FBI counterterrorism agent spent weeks pursuing a nonviolent climate activist, and showed up at his door. The visit suggests a possible probe into the climate group as the Trump admin increases surveillance of activists, calls them domestic "terrorists."

theintercept.com/2026/02/12/f...
FBI Counterterrorism Agents Spent Weeks Seeking a Climate Activist — Then Showed Up at His Door
The visit suggests a possible FBI probe into Extinction Rebellion NYC as the Trump administration increases surveillance of activist groups.
theintercept.com
February 12, 2026 at 6:47 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
A fifteen-exclamation-pointer.
chrisgeidner.bsky.social Chris Geidner @chrisgeidner.bsky.social · 4d
BREAKING: Judge blocks Hegseth effort to punish Sen. Kelly.

"This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees."

Background: www.lawdork.com/p/breaking-k...
UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURT FOR THE DISTRICT OF COLUMBIA MARK KELLY, Plaintiff, Civil Case No. 26-81 (RJL) V. PETE HEGSETH, et al., Defendants. MEMORANDUM OPINION February 12, 2026 [Dkt. #2] United States Senator Mark Kelly, a retired naval officer, has been censured by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth for voicing certain opinions on military actions and policy. In addition, he has been subjected to proceedings to possibly reduce his retirement rank and pay and threatened with criminal prosecution if he continues to speak out on these issues. Secretary Hegseth relies on the well-established doctrine that military servicemembers enjoy less vigorous First Amendment protections given the fundamental obligation for obedience and discipline in the armed forces. Unfortunately for Secretary Hegseth, no court has ever extended those principles to retired servicemembers, much less a retired servicemember serving in Congress and exercising oversight responsibility over the military. This Court will not be the first to do so! Worse still, Secretary Hegseth contends that this Court is not yet competent to decide the issues in this case. He and his fellow Defendants argue that military personnel 1 Case 1:26-cv-00081-RJL Document 37 Filed 02/12/26 Page 2 of 29 decisions are exempt from judicial review and, in any event, that Senator Kelly should first be required to go through the military appeals process so the military can have the first crack at adjudicating his First Amendment rights. I disagree. This Court has all it needs to conclude that Defendants have trampled on Senator Kelly's First Amendment freedoms and threatened the constitutional liberties of millions of military retirees. After all, as Bob Dylan famously said, "You don't need a weatherman to know which way the wind blows." To say the least, our retired veterans deserve more respect from their Government, and our Constitution demands they receive it! Senator Kelly's First Amendment claim is not only justiciable; he is likely to succeed on the merits. He has also shown irreparable harm, and the balance of the equities fall decidedly in his favor. As such, his motion for a preliminary injunction on his First Amendment claim is hereby GRANTED.
February 12, 2026 at 6:27 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: Judge Leon *rejects* Secretary Hegseth's bid to punish Sen. Kelly for advising troops to ignore illegal orders. ecf.dcd.uscourts.gov/cgi-bin/show...
February 12, 2026 at 5:45 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
gabrielmalor.bsky.social
Fed. judge (Boasberg) orders the Trump administration to facilitate the return of J.G.G. class members who were deported to third countries and want to return bc "the Government's responses essentially told the Court to pound sand."

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
On December 22, 2025, this Court issued a Memorandum Opinion finding that the Government had denied due process to a class of Venezuelans it deported to El Salvador last March in defiance of this Court’s Order. See J.G.G. v. Trump, 2025 WL 3706685, at *19 (D.D.C. Dec. 22, 2025). The Court offered the Government the opportunity to propose steps that would facilitate hearings for the class members on their habeas corpus claims so that they could “challenge their designations under the [Alien Enemies Act] and the validity of the [President’s] Proclamation.” Id. Apparently not interested in participating in this process, the Government’s responses essentially told the Court to pound sand. See ECF Nos. 229 (Gov. Resp.), 239 (Gov. Reply). Believing that other courses would be both more productive and in line with the Supreme Court’s requirements outlined in Noem v. Abrego Garcia, 145 S. Ct. 1017 (2025), the Court will now order the Government to facilitate the return from third countries of those
February 12, 2026 at 4:11 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
U.S. Attorney Jeanine Pirro tapped a dance photographer with very little experience in federal law enforcement to oversee the investigation of six Democratic law makers. That effort tried - and failed - to secure indictments on Tuesday.

news.bloomberglaw.com/us-law-week/...
February 11, 2026 at 8:19 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
It's unusual when the government can't persuade a sufficient number of grand jurors to return an indictment. But this is a whole other kind of unusual.
February 11, 2026 at 4:02 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
ryanjreilly.com
NEW: Trump DOJ tries, fails to secure indictment over Democratic lawmakers' social media video on unlawful orders. www.nbcnews.com/politics/tru...
Trump administration fails to secure indictment in connection with Democrats involved in 'illegal orders' video
President Donald Trump had accused six Democratic lawmakers of "seditious behavior" after they urged members of the military and intelligence communities to refuse unlawful orders.
www.nbcnews.com
February 11, 2026 at 1:13 AM
Reposted by Brad Heath
pbump.com
So a Trump attorney that aided his 2020 campaign (and wrote a memo encouraging Pence to skip counting electoral votes) was given an "election integrity" job in the administration, where he made a referral to investigate Fulton County. 1/2
February 10, 2026 at 7:58 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
annabower.bsky.social
BREAKING: The supporting affidavit for the warrant to search Fulton County election records has been unsealed.

Read it via @lawfaremedia.org:

www.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
February 10, 2026 at 7:43 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
kyledcheney.bsky.social
JUST IN: A federal judge in Michigan has rejected the administration's attempt to obtain the state's voter rolls.

Judge Hala Jarbou, a Trump appointee, said the law does not require the state to turn them over.

storage.courtlistener.com/recap/gov.us...
February 10, 2026 at 2:37 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
The Trump administration is cracking down on Americans who protest its immigration raids, the government is charging people with assaulting or impeding federal agents at a rate even faster than after the Jan. 6 siege of the U.S. Capitol.

www.reuters.com/world/us/ice...
February 10, 2026 at 2:14 PM
bradheath.bsky.social
Today in U.S. District Court ->
February 9, 2026 at 9:55 PM
Reposted by Brad Heath
kyledcheney.bsky.social
BREAKING: A 5th Circuit panel has backed ICE's mass detention policy, a decision that clears the way for the administration to lock up people who are in immigration proceedings

It's a 2-1 ruling
Majority: Jones (Reagan), Duncan (Trump)
Minority: Douglas (Obama)

s3.documentcloud.org/documents/26...
February 7, 2026 at 1:56 AM