Sponsors (5)
Official title: To amend title 5, United States Code, to create a right of public access to certain records relating to the courts of the United States, and for other purposes.
Introduced July 20, 2026 by Daniel Goldman · Last progress July 20, 2026
The bill materially increases public transparency and machine‑readable access to federal court records and centralizes legal defense with modest implementation funding, while creating meaningful privacy risks for jurors and staff, additional administrative and litigation costs, and potential chilling effects on internal judicial processes and independence.
Members of the public, journalists, and researchers gain broader access to court records (disciplinary files, judicial performance reports, Federal Judicial Conference minutes) published in machine‑readable form, improving transparency and enabling analysis of judicial conduct and administration.
Courts benefit from centralized legal defense because the Attorney General will represent courts in FOIA/Privacy Act claims, reducing the litigation burden on individual courts and streamlining responses to disclosure requests.
Provides $10 million for FY2027 to support implementation (Administrative Office and a new office) so the judicial branch can operationalize disclosures and staff the new requirements.
Jurors and court staff could have sensitive personal information (completed jury questionnaires, personnel performance reports) exposed, creating privacy harms and potential safety risks.
Courts may incur increased administrative burdens and litigation costs to process and defend expanded disclosures, diverting resources from case processing and imposing financial costs on taxpayers.
Making disciplinary and complaint records public could chill internal investigations and candid deliberations, hindering fact‑finding and complicating vetting of attorneys, judges, and court staff.
Based on analysis of 2 sections of legislative text.
Applies FOIA and the Privacy Act to many federal courts and judicial entities, requires publication of specified records in machine-readable form, directs DOJ representation, and authorizes $10M for implementation.
Applies the Freedom of Information Act and the Privacy Act to many parts of the federal judicial branch by adding a definition of “court of the United States,” listing covered judicial entities, and creating a new statutory scheme for disclosure and publication of specified court records. It preserves common-law public access, requires machine-readable publication for released information, directs the Attorney General to represent courts in FOIA/Privacy Act litigation, authorizes $10 million for implementation in FY2027, and creates an office in the Administrative Office of the U.S. Courts to support the new requirements. The bill also exempts records that courts do not possess and ongoing case-related matters from disclosure, excludes the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Court from coverage, and includes a severability clause to preserve other access doctrines and requirements not displaced by the new provisions.