Hi Reader,

ProPublica’s investigation last year revealing Supreme Court justices’ beneficial relationships with billionaire donors ignited an impassioned debate about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court. Today, we learned that this series was awarded the Pulitzer Gold Medal for Public Service, journalism’s highest honor.

This is ProPublica’s second Gold Medal in our 16 year history and seventh Pulitzer overall. The Gold Medal in Public Service is a unique prize, one that validates our conviction that a functioning democracy depends on investigative journalism to expose abuses of power and breaches of the public trust. As this series shows, with the collective might of our readers and supporters, ProPublica can hold to account the highest echelons of power, expose corruption and spur change.

Our bombshell revelations that justices had routinely accepted luxury travel and other gifts from billionaire Republican donors for decades without disclosing them led the Supreme Court to unanimously adopt the first ethics code in its 235-year history. Following ProPublica reporting, the Senate Judiciary Committee also voted to authorize subpoenas of billionaire Harlan Crow and conservative legal activist Leonard Leo as part of its ongoing effort to investigate ethics lapses by justices. In our “Friends of the Court” series, ProPublica reporters Justin Elliott, Joshua Kaplan, Alex Mierjeski, Brett Murphy and Kirsten Berg brought renewed and rigorous attention to this incredibly consequential and relatively underscrutinized branch of our democracy. Our reporting exposed the most serious ethical scandal in the modern history of the court, and it compelled new avenues for accountability. And reader support helped make that possible.

In “Friends of the Court,” our reporters were able to amass a detailed picture of decades of unreported trips by interviewing yacht workers, luxury fishing resort staff, scuba instructors and private jet pilots. “I want to express my gratitude and appreciation to all the people that spoke to us, both named and unnamed, for these stories,” Elliott said. “They all came from different walks of life and in some cases were taking risks, but they spoke to us because they believed in the public interest of these stories and the need to hold public officials accountable.”

The Pulitzer Board also recognized a collaboration between The Texas Tribune, ProPublica and FRONTLINE as one of two finalists in the explanatory reporting category. The investigation provided a detailed analysis of the deeply flawed law enforcement response to the mass shooting at Robb Elementary School in Uvalde, Texas. ProPublica has been a Pulitzer finalist 17 times in 16 years. This is also a reaffirmation of our approach to local journalism through our 50 State Initiative, which aims to expand the scope of our work at the local and regional level and replicate the successes of our partnerships with world-class journalism organizations like the Tribune.

ProPublica has the freedom and resources to pursue investigations into our most powerful leaders because we’re funded by folks like you: readers who know how important independent journalism is to our democracy. Donate today and help sustain our work for the public good.

Best wishes,
Robin Sparkman
President, ProPublica