Group Founded by Trump Aides Sues for Judiciary Office Records

The conservative litigation group founded by Trump administration officials is suing to make the federal judiciary’s policy making body and its administrative office subject to the federal freedom of information law.

America First Legal Foundation filed a lawsuit Tuesday against Chief Justice John Roberts and the director of the Administrative Office of the US Courts after it was denied a requests for records of communications the administrative office and Judicial Conference have had with Sen. Sheldon Whitehouse (D-R.I.), Rep. Hank Johnson (D-Ga.), or their staff.

The nonprofit, which was co-founded by President Donald Trump’s now deputy chief of staff, Stephen Miller, said Whitehouse and Johnson have falsely accused Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito of ethical improprieties. Gene Hamilton, who served as counselor to the attorney general during Trump’s first term, is also a founder of the group.

America First Legal said the Supreme Court’s legal counsel told it that records can’t be requested from the administrative office and the Judicial Conference, which the chief justice presides over, because the agencies are exempt from the Freedom of Information Act.

That decision is a legal error because neither the Judicial Conference nor the administrative office are courts, America First Legal argued in its complaint filed in the US District Court for the District of Columbia.

The Judicial Conference is an “independent executive agency” that holds “inherent regulatory power from which it formulates rules relating to its organization, procedures, and practice requirements” and the administrative office, which is a subsidiary if the Judicial Conference, “is an independent agency within the executive because it engages in executive functions,” the group said.

This is not the first lawsuit to test limits of FOIA against the judiciary and courts have so far rejected arguments that records can be requested from the AO.

The federal district court in the Eastern District of New York ruled the AO is not an agency that’s subject to FOIA in a 2003 decision that was affirmed by the US Court of Appeals for the Second Circuit and the federal district court in DC ruled similarly in 2008, according to the Justice Department’s FOIA guide online.

In its complaint, America First Legal cites guidance the Judicial Conference released in March 2023 to clarify Supreme Court justices must disclose travel and gifts paid for by others. Only meals, lodging, and entertainment are personal hospitality that’s exempt from disclosures.

Whitehouse has long been voicing concerns about outside interests influencing the justices. He spearheaded legislative efforts to impose an ethics code on the justices after it was reported both Thomas and Alito failed to disclose lavish trips that were paid for by Republican donors.

He also filed a ethics complaint with Roberts in September 2023 that accused Alito of violating judicial standards for publicly commenting on Congress’ ability to enforce an ethics code. Alito made the comments in an interview with the Wall Street Journal. A few months later, the Supreme Court adopted a code of conduct on its own, but it has been criticized for lacking an enforcement mechanism.

“The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are central levers for Senator Whitehouse and Representative Johnson’s lawfare enterprise,” AFL argued in its complaint. “The Conference and the Administrative Office have actively accommodated oversight requests from these congressmen concerning their allegations against Justices Thomas and Alito.”

America First Legal is asking the district court to declare the AO and the Judicial Conference subject to FOIA, order searches for the records sought, and set a deadline for when they must be produced.

A spokesman for the administrative office said the office doesn’t comment on pending litigation.

The case is America First Legal Found. v Roberts, D.D.C., No. 25-cv-01232, 4/22/25.