Legal entity America First Legal filed a lawsuit against Chief Justice John Roberts in his capacity as Presiding Officer of the Judicial Conference of the United States, alleging he acted outside of his scope. The lawsuit also targets the Director of the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts, Robert Conrad.
“For several years, the media and enterprising lawmakers have launched an onslaught to destroy the impartiality and political neutrality of Article III courts and, particularly, the Supreme Court,” the lawsuit says, adding that several justices have “faced political and physical threats because of the politicization and weaponization of the law.”
“This lawfare has been led by Senator Sheldon Whitehouse and Representative Hank Johnson, relying upon an ideologically favorable legacy media to falsely accuse Justices Thomas and Alito of ethical improprieties. Their aim was simple: to chill the judicial independence of these Supreme Court Justices,” the filing asserts.
“The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are central levers for Senator Whitehouse and Representative Johnson’s lawfare enterprise,” the lawsuit adds, going on to state that the Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office “actively accommodated oversight requests” from the congressmen.
“Under our constitutional tradition, accommodations with Congress are the province of the executive branch. The Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are therefore executive agencies,” the legal team wrote. “Such agencies must be overseen by the President, not the courts. Judicial relief here not only preserves the separation of powers but also keeps the courts out of politics.”
Because of its claim that the Judicial Conference and the Administrative Office are executive agencies, they are subject to Freedom of Information Act Requests. Their refusal to cooperate with the legal team’s FOIA request is “unlawful,” the lawsuit states.
