Federal Courts and FOIA

U.S. District Judge Trevor McFadden on Thursday dismissed a lawsuit by the pro‑Trump America First Legal Foundation seeking to force disclosure of records from the Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, including materials tied to ethics scrutiny of Supreme Court Justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito. McFadden, a Trump appointee, ruled that both entities are components of the judicial branch and thus fall under FOIA’s exclusion for “the courts,” rejecting AFL’s argument that their recent cooperation with congressional ethics inquiries turned them into executive‑branch agencies subject to presidential oversight and public records requests.