On the Scent

Investigative journalism — the deep-dig pieces. Where Freedom Beagle follows a story until there's nothing left to find.

On the Scent49

The Capitol Audit: We Graded Redistricting Against Article I. It Got a 49.

Congress has the constitutional power to override any state's district maps and never uses it. The courts refuse to police one entire category of gerrymander. And nothing in the document stops a state from redrawing its maps mid-decade for naked partisan advantage — which is exactly what Texas and California are doing to each other right now.

On the Scent

The Cameras, Update: The Appeal Is Waiting, the Laws Are Unenforced, and Colorado's Bill Died

Six months ago we said we'd follow the Fourth Circuit appeal and any state legislation that landed. Here's where both stand: the appeal is fully briefed and going nowhere fast, one state's ICE-data law has no audit trail to prove it's working, and the toughest bill on the table died on the floor.

On the Scent64

The Capitol Audit: We Graded the Committee Chairs. It Got a 64.

Nine committees run the real business of Congress — spending, taxes, judiciary, armed services, the House floor calendar itself. This audit grades the nine chairs sitting atop them by the same yardstick as the leadership piece: attendance, bills personally sponsored that became law, who funds them, and what sits on the record.

On the Scent69

The Capitol Audit: The House. We Graded the People's Chamber Against Article I. It Got a 69.

The House can do what the Senate can't — pass what it wants by simple majority, no filibuster in the way. But that power now runs through one committee the Speaker controls, a revenue clause the Senate quietly guts, and a floor so unstable it fired its own Speaker for the first time in history. This is the fourth Capitol Audit entry: the House, graded clause by clause against Article I.

On the Scent68

The Capitol Audit: The Senate. We Graded the Upper Chamber Against Article I. It Got a 68.

The Senate that exists today runs on a rule the Constitution never wrote — the filibuster — while two of its actual constitutional powers, ratifying treaties and confirming nominees, have quietly become things the chamber mostly doesn't do anymore. This is the third entry in the Capitol Audit series: not a person, not an office, but the whole institution, graded clause by clause against Article I.

On the Scent58

The Capitol Audit: Parliamentarian Edition: Unelected but Overridable: Grading the Senate (and House) Parliamentarian.

No one elects the Senate Parliamentarian. No one elects the House Parliamentarian. Both can be fired without cause by a single person, and one ruling from either desk can strip a policy out of a bill that a majority of Congress already voted to pass. We rate the office against Article I — then grade all nine people who've actually held the job over the last 50 years.

On the Scent63

The Capitol Audit: We Graded Congress's Leadership. It Got a 63.

Nine people run the floor of Congress. Same yardstick for all of them, no matter the party: how often they show up, how many bills they actually get signed into law, who funds them, and what — if anything — sits on their record. This is the first entry in a new series grading individual members of Congress, starting at the top.

On the Scent

The Cameras Don't Need a Warrant. That's the Problem.

There are currently 116,943 license plate readers bolted to poles across the United States (that we know of), and counting — and the courts still can't agree on whether that counts as a search.