Judicial FOIA Expansion Act

Title 5, United States Code, is amended—

(1) in section 551—

(A) in paragraph (1)(B), by inserting after the courts of the United States the following:, except for purposes of sections 552 and 552a;

(B) in paragraph (13), by striking; and and inserting a semicolon;

(C) in paragraph (14), by striking the period at the end and inserting; and; and

(D) by adding at the end the following:

(15) court of the United States —

(A) means—

(i) a court or other entity in the judicial branch that receives funds appropriated by the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act, including the United States Supreme Court, the United States Court of Appeals for the Federal Circuit, the United States Court of International Trade, the United States Courts of Appeals, the United States district courts, the Administrative Office of the United States Courts, the Federal Judicial Center, the United States Sentencing Commission, the Federal defender organizations; and

(ii) a security or protective service provided using funds appropriated by the Financial Services and General Government Appropriations Act for a Federal courthouse, or for an officer or employee of the judicial branch; and

(B) does not include the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court.

(D) ; and

(2) by inserting after section 552b the following new section:

In addition to what is required under section 552, the following types of information are subject to a record request with respect to the courts of the United States:

(A) Any record of attorney disciplinary proceeding or sanction, excluding any case record relating to the deliberation of the disciplinary hearing in accordance with paragraph (2)(A).

(B) Any complaint, investigation, and order against a judge or other court personnel.

(C) Meeting calendars and minutes of the Federal Judicial Conference and the membership list for each committee.

(D) Research and educational material produced by the Federal Judicial Center.

(E) Any completed jury selection form.

(F) Any performance report for a judge or personnel.

(G) Any technical audit or update plan for PACER.

(H) Any annual report to Congress, including each committee and subcommittee of Congress.

In addition to the matters described under section 552(b), section 552 does not apply to the following with respect to the courts of the United States:

(A) Any matter related to an ongoing case.

(B) Any information not in the possession of the courts of the United States.

Any information published or provided under section 552 or 552a by a court of the United States shall be machine-readable (as such term is defined in section 3502 of title 44).

The Attorney General shall represent a court of the United States in any claim brought under section 552 or section 552a.

Nothing in this section, or any amendment made by this section, may be construed as displacing the common law right of public access to judicial records.

There is authorized to be appropriated $10,000,000 for fiscal year 2025 to meet the requirements of this Act, including the creation of an office to meet such requirements within the Administrative Office of the United States Courts.

If any provision of this Act, or the application thereof, is held invalid, the validity of the remainder of this Act and the application of such provision to other persons and circumstances shall not be affected thereby.